ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 48, BRADFORD 47

D9Sports.com powered by the RRR Roadhouse

Jan. 15, 2008

ST. MARYS – Elk County Catholic avenged an earlier loss to the Bradford Owls with a hard-fourth 48-47 D9 League win Tuesday night in the Aaron J. Straub Gymnasium at ECC.

“It was an intensely competitive game,” Bradford head coach Dave Fuhrman said. “We had our chances to win, but you can’t shot 31 percent (18 of 58) against a quality team like Elk and expect to win no matter what kind of defense you are playing. We had a lot of good look but shot it very poorly. I know their defense has to be given some credit, but we had our opportunities and couldn’t take advantage of them.”

Bradford (10-5 overall, 6-1 D9 League), the No. 2 team in the RRR Roadhouse D9Sports.com District 9 rankings, had three good looks in the final 20 seconds all within 12 feet of the basket to win the game but couldn’t get the winning shot to fall.

ECC (14-2, 5-2), which entered the game ranked No. 5 in D9 by the RRR Roadhouse D9Sports.com rankings, shot 50 percent (18 of 36) for the game and got a big game from Kiel Nissel who had 15 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots. Nate Higgins added 10 points and seven rebounds, while sophomore Robby Wortman contributed nine points off the bench. The Crusaders also got a lift from senior guard Eric Mastrogiacomo, who played for the first time in nearly a month after spraining his ankle.

“Wortman’s play off the bench was huge for them,” Fuhrman said. “And Mastrogiacomo’s return certainly helped.”

Tommy Taylor led Bradford with 13 points including 11 in the fourth quarter.

“Tommy almost won the game for us with his play in the fourth quarter,” Fuhrman said. “He had an outstanding defensive game as well.”

Ryan LaBrozzi added 12 points for Bradford but had an off shooting night going 5 of 17 from the floor. Ben Lanich chipped in with 11 points and nine rebounds.

“ECC did a good job of limiting Lanich’s touches,” Fuhrman said. He only took six shots.

“But it was exactly the kind of game I thought it would be. The loss tightens the league standings and certainly makes things interesting in the league race the rest of the way. Hopefully, we will bounce back and put this one behind us.”

Bradford is back in action Friday when it hosts Brookville, while ECC is at DuBois Friday.

ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 48, BRADFORD 47

Score by Quarters

Bradford 12 7 13 15 – 47

ECC 14 8 9 17 – 48

Bradford – 47

Taylor 5-0-0-13, Matthew White 0-0-0-0, LaBrozzi 5-1-1-12, Kelly 1-0-0-3, Mackey 0-0-0-0, Kline 0-0-0-0, Fuhrman 0-0-0-0,Lanich 3-5-8-11, Confer 4-0-0-8    Totals 18-6-9-47

3 Pt. FG:  Taylor 3, LaBrozzi 1, Kelly 1

Elk County Catholic – 48

Garner 0-0-0-0, Agosti 1-2-3-4, Nick Wortman 0-0-0-0, Bauer 0-0-0-0, Robby Wortman 4-1-2-9, Higgins 3-4-7-10, Haberberger 3-0-0-6, Mastrogiacomo 2-0-0-4, Nissel 5-3-4-15    Totals 18-10-16-48

Three-pointers – Bradford 5 (Taylor 3, LaBrozzi, Kelly). ECC 2 (Nissel 2)