ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 63, SERRA CATHOLIC 51

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March 13, 2009 - PIAA Boys' Class A Quarterfinals at Central Cambria High School

PIAA Playoff Home Page

By Bryan Swan – For D9Sports.com

EBENSBURG – Elk County Catholic used a strong start and an even better finish to knock out defending state champion Serra Catholic from the quarterfinals of the PIAA Class A state playoffs with a 63-51 win at Central Cambria High School.

The Crusaders (23-7) will now face long-time state-playoff rival Kennedy Catholic for the right to go to State College and the championship game Tuesday night at a site and time to be announced.

ECC took Serra Catholic (23-4), the second-place team out of the WPIAL, out of its game holding the Eagles to 21 points below their season average. The Crusaders defense was especially strong in the first quarter when ECC built a 20-12 advantage.

While ECC held the lead the rest of the game, Serra Catholic made things interesting in the fourth quarter getting to within 44-42 after an A.J. Merzlak steal and layup less than a minute into the fourth quarter.

However, the Crusaders were too strong down the stretch offensively, not allowing Serra Catholic to get consecutive stops on defense while hitting 9 of 11 fields goals in the final frame.   

“We got some really good shots, and we had some kids finish and attack the glass well,” ECC head coach Aaron Straub said. “Every time we shot it quick, the momentum would swing in Serra’s favor. We needed to make some passes and break them down a little bit. Fortunately, we were able to do that.”

Thanks to the strong shooting, ECC built the lead back to seven, 56-49, with under two minutes left in the contest thanks in large part to six straight points from Joe Jacob before Serra Catholic senior T.J. Heatherington scored to get the Eagles to within five, 56-51.

But ECC didn’t flinch.

Nate Higgins scored an easy bucket for the Crusaders, and then Higgins blocked a shot by Heatherington on the Eagles next trip down the court. Tony Chiodo gained the loose ball and was fouled on the play. He then knocked down both free throws helping the Crusaders go 5 of 7 from the foul line in the fourth quarter.

Chiodo had a career-high 18 points, only the third time this season he has scored in double digits. He was one of four ECC Players in double figures. Higgins added 16 points, including nine in the first quarter, while Robby Wortman continued his strong play with 12 points and Jacob had 10.  

Heatherington and Dave Menzies combined for 41 of Serra Catholic’s 51 points. Heatherington had 24 points, with 17 coming in the second half. He scored 10 consecutive points in the third quarter to keep the Eagles close but also was whistled for his third foul and then a technical foul, which counted as his fourth foul, late in the third quarter. Menzies, who had 26 in Serra’s second-round win over Shade, added 17.

Despite the 24 points from Heatherington, ECC held him to 10 of 26 shooting on the night while limiting Serra Catholic to 37.9 percent (22 of 58) as a team.

“I’d like to give credit to our defense making them take some tough shots,” Straub said. “We knew the teams wanted to play at a different pace. We wanted to control the ball to be successful.”

ECC shot 53.1 percent (26 of 49) for the contest.

NOTES – It was the third straight year ECC and Serra Catholic met in the PIAA playoffs and the first time ECC was the winner. The Eagles handed the then PIAA defending champion Crusaders a 65-58 loss in the second round in 2007 before picking up a 72-48 first-round win last year on their way to the state title … ECC is in the semifinals for the second time in four years and for the fourth time in Straub’s 27 years as the head coach. The Crusaders are 1-2 in semifinal games beating Blairsville 77-62 on their way to the state title in 2006 and losing to Duquesne 43-33 in 1992 and Monessen 54-44 in 19888 … ECC has now won two straight quarterfinal contests (2006 and 2009) after losing their previous five quarterfinal games (1994, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005) … ECC will meet Kennedy Catholic for the first time since beating the Golden Eagles 67-34 in the second round in 2006. That was just the third win in 10 tries vs. Kennedy Catholic for the Crusaders, who had lost four straight to the Golden Eagles prior to the 2006 victory … ECC’s appearance in the semifinals means District 9 has had a Class A boys’ team reach the semifinals for the third time in four years (DCC was state runner-up in 2007) and for the fourth time since 2004 (Johnsonburg lost in the semifinals in 2004) … ECC is now 33-22 in PIAA playoff action under Straub including 13-4 in since 2004 … ECC denied Serra Catholic coach Bob Rozanski his 500^th career win … Straub won his 600^th game as a boys’ coach in the District 9 semifinals and now has 604 career wins as a boys’ coach and 631 as a varsity coach including two seasons as the girls’ coach at ECC.

ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 63, SERRA CATHOLIC 51

Score by Quarters

Elk CC 20 12 10 21 – 63

Serra 12 14 12 13 – 51

Elk County Catholic – 63

Matt Bauer 1 0-0 2, Tyler Herzing 1 0-0 3, Nate Higgins 6 3-5 16, Robby Wortman 5 2-2 12, Joe Jacob 5 0-0 10, Tony Chiodo 7 4-4 18, Tyler Healy 1 0-0 2, David Rupprecht 0 0-0 0, Michael Wachter 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 9-11 63.

Serra Catholic – 51

T. J. Heatherington 10 2-5 24, Rob Heatherington 2 2-4 6, Dave Menzies 8 1-2 17, Alex Matta 1 0-0 2, A. J. Merzlak 1 0-0 2, Evan Sargo 0 0-0 0, Matt Loftis 0 0-0 0, Kyle Taylor 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 5-11 51.

Three-pointers: Elk County Catholic 2 (Herzing, Higgins), Serra Catholic 2 (T. J. Heatherington 2).