ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 59, HOMER-CENTER 56, OT

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March 10, 2009 - PIAA Boys' Class A Second Round at DuBois Middle School

PIAA Playoff Home Page

By Chris Rossetti

DUBOIS – Close game? Maybe even an overtime game? No sweat for the Elk County Catholic Crusaders. They’ve been there and done that this year.

ECC, acting like the Little Engine that Could, won its second consecutive PIAA Class A overtime game and its third overtime game of the 2009 playoffs with a 59-56 win over District 6 Champion Homer-Center Tuesday night at an overflowing DuBois Middle School.

The win marks the fourth time in its last five playoff games that the Crusaders have either won in overtime or won by a point and it was the fifth game out of the last seven for the District 9 Champions that has been decided by one point or overtime with ECC going 4-1 in those games with four straight victories.

“It’s nice to be in close games,” ECC head coach Aaron Straub said. “We have played a lot of them, especially lately. I think you get a comfort level when you play close games. I think you saw that in our kids tonight. I think this is probably the best job we’ve done of being patient on our dribble spread and the best job we’ve done spacing the floor. Fortunately, we got some big finishes when we needed to.

“It’s a funny game. We played at Cameron County in the quarterfinals in the district, and it was a one-point game and they had the last shot. We could just as easily be sitting home as we are here and never play in the district semifinals, never play in an interdistrict game. We played all kinds of one-point games and overtime games. A lot of times it comes down to who gets a good bounce and who makes a big play. Fortunately, we made some plays when we had to.”  

Joe Jacob, who was held scoreless in regulation, ended up being the hero of overtime for the Crusaders scoring five of ECC’s 10 overtime points including going 3 of 4 from the free-throw line, no small feat considering his team was only 9 of 21 from the line on the night.

“He played very well,” Straub said. “He made a big shot and made big free throws. He is one of our best free-throw shooters. We want the ball in his hands.”

ECC led 31-26 at halftime only to see Homer-Center start the second half on a 10-0 run to take a 36-31 lead halfway through the third quarter. The Wildcats still led 38-33 three minutes later.

“They did a very nice job (in the third quarter),” Straub said. “They came out and punched us right in the nose in the third quarter playing man-to-man and taking it to our man-to-man. That was disappointing. They just owned us in the first four or five minutes of the second half. I thought we were going to be in trouble.

ECC, though, ended the quarter with a 6-2 spurt to get within one, 40-39, going to the fourth quarter.

 “I think we changed a little bit offensively,” Straub said. “We spread the floor a little bit more and were able to get a couple of things at the basket.”  

The lead then changed hands seven times in the fourth quarter with two ties. ECC led 49-47 following a Robby Wortman basket off a Jacob pass with 1:48 to play before two free throws by Michael Walker with 1:34 to play tied the game at 49.

Both teams then had chances to win in the last 10 seconds.

First, Walker missed a shot with 10 seconds to play that was rebounded by ECC’s Nate Higgins. Then, Higgins’ 15-foot turnaround jumper at the horn was too strong sending the game to overtime.

“I really didn’t do a good job giving us a good look at the end of regulation,” Straub said. “I was a little disappointed in what we called. I was proud of our kids that we got a stop. I then sort of left it hang out there with the set we called. We should have gotten something going toward the basket. (The kids) picked me up in overtime and gave us an opportunity to win. I was happy with that.”

In the overtime, ECC went ahead 51-49 1:35 in on a layup by Jacob before a layup and a 3-pointer by Walker gave Homer-Center a 54-53 lead with 1:55 to play. The three was especially impressive considering Walker was well defended but took a step back before drilling the triple.

ECC, however, went back ahead for good when Wortman score on a layup off an assist by Jacob 1:30 to play. Wortman then hit two free throws with 41.3 seconds left to put the Crusaders ahead 57-54 before he hit one of two charity shots with 21.3 remaining to make it a four-point game.

“I guess if you are going to pick a time to make free throws, the end of the game and overtime is as good as any,” Straub said. “We weren’t very good early on from the free-throw line. Fortunately, down the stretch we made our free throws and finished at the basket. We beat a very good team. They are well-balanced. We knew they were well coached.”

Homer-Center got a jumper by Aaron Lenzi off an offensive rebound with 2.4 seconds left to give it a tiny bit of life, but Matt Bauer hit the front-end of a 1-and-1 with 1.2 seconds left to close out the scoring. Even though he missed the second one, the rebound took too long for Homer-Center to get a final shot off.

Wortman had another big game for ECC scoring a game-high 19 points to go with nine rebounds and four assists. It marks the fifth straight game the junior has either led or been tied for the lead in points for the Crusaders, and he is averaging 15 points per game since the start of the District 9 playoffs.

“Bottom line is Rob is a really good player,” Straub said. “He was a good player on Day One, and he is a good player after 29 games. He’s a competitor, like all of our kids. I’m really proud of how he’s handling himself and the role he has taken on.”

Higgins added 13 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots and a steal for ECC, while Bauer had nine points.

Walker led Homer-Center with 18 points, while Craig Ciranni had a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Garrett Sisak added seven points and 10 boards.

The Crusaders won despite not having the services of starting point guard Kyle Detsch (5.5 ppg) for the second straight game. Tyler Herzing (4 points, 2 assists) and Tony Chiodo (4 points, 2 assists) got the bulk of the playing time at the point.

“It’s not easy playing your first 27 games with your point guard and then all of a sudden not have him,” Straub said. “I think our whole team has stepped up. Certainly, Tyler Herzing has stepped up at the one guard spot. To do that in that blink is real impressive.”  

ECC will now take on WPIAL runner-up and defending state champion Serra Catholic in the quarterfinals Friday night at a site and time to be announced. It is the third straight year the Crusaders and the Eagles have met in the PIAA playoffs. Serra Catholic has ended ECC’s season in each of the last two years knocking off the then defending PIAA Class A Champion Crusaders 65-58 in the second round in 2007 and beating ECC 72-48 in last year’s opening round.  

 “Every team is different and every team takes on its own personality,” Straub said. “We didn’t play our best basketball early in the year. Fortunately, we are playing better basket now. You either live up to or live down to expectations. Fortunately for us, we are living up to expectations.”

NOTES – ECC beat Union-New Castle 67-62 in overtime in the opening round of the PIAA playoffs Friday night. The Crusaders also beat Keystone 37-36 in overtime in the District 9 semifinals Feb. 25 and knocked off Cameron County 57-56 in the District 9 quarterfinals Feb. 20. The one close loss in the last seven contests for ECC was in the AML Semifinals when the Crusaders fell 40-39 to DuBois Central Catholic … ECC has now played 11 games this season that have been decided by six points or less and are 9-2 in those games. Of that grouping, seven have been decided by three points or less with the Crusaders going 5-2 in those contests … This was the third time ECC and Homer-Center met in the PIAA playoffs and the second time the Crusaders have won. ECC beat Homer-Center 65-40 in the opening round in 2004 and lost to the Wildcats 74-57 in the opening round in 1993 … ECC is making its 10^th appearance in the PIAA quarterfinals under Straub, who has been head coach since 1983. The Crusaders are 3-6 in quarterfinal games under Straub. ECC is making its first trip to the quarterfinals since its state-title winning season in 2006. That year, the Crusaders made their third straight trip to the quarterfinals and their sixth trip in an eight-year span … ECC is now 32-22 under Straub in PIAA playoff games including 12-4 in its last 16 PIAA playoff contests.

ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 59, HOMER-CENTER 56

Score by Quarters

Elk CC 14 17 8 10 10 – 59

Homer-Center 12 14 14 9 7 – 56

Elk County Catholic – 59

Matt Bauer 4 1-2 9, Tyler Herzing 2 0-0 4, Joe Jacob 1 3-4 5, Robby Wortman 8 3-6 19, Nate Higgins 6 1-6 13, Tony Chiodo 2 0-0 4, David Rupprecht 1 1-2 3, Tyler Healy 1 0-1 2, Michael Walker 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 9-21 59.

Homer-Center – 56

Garrett Sisak 3 0-0 7, Aaron Lenzi 2 0-0 4, Michael Walker 7 3-4 18, Craig Ciranni 5 1-1 11, Matt Wilden 3 1-2 7, Ryan Bernat 1 0-0 2, Evan Bencic 0 2-2 2, Nick Citeroni 2 0-0 5. Totals 23 7-9 56.

Three-pointers – Homer-Center 3 (Sisak, Walker, Citeroni).