COUDERSPORT 63, CLARION-LIMESTONE 61

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Feb. 27, 2010 - District 9 Class A Quarterfinals

By Rich Rhoades

COUDERSPORT – Coudersport’s home playoff spell continued as the seventh-seeded Falcons held off 15^th-seeded Clarion-Limestone, 63-61, Saturday night in the District 9 Class A quarterfinals.

The Falcons haven’t lost a home district playoff game since 1999 when they lost to eventual Class A champion Elk County Catholic, the 10^th seed, 64-60.

Since then, it’s been 10 straight wins at the friendly confines in Potter County. Even though the visiting Lions shot 50 percent (24-of-48) from the field, the Falcons (17-7) were just a little bit better at 51.1 percent (23-of-45), especially in the fourth quarter when they made 6 of 8 field goals.

C-L (10-12) led 47-41 entering the fourth quarter and all seemed to be well considering the Lions outscored the Falcons, 20-9, in the third quarter as sophomore Billy Kelley scored seven of his career-high 17 points and the Lions hit 8 of 9 shots from the floor.

Coudersport started the fourth, however, on a 9-0 run and never trailed the rest of the way. Tim McCusker scored all nine of his points in the final quarter, including seven during the run, to spark the Falcons.

Zach Kemmer hit one of two free throws to get the Lions back in a 53-53 tie with 3:03 remaining, but Coudersport responded with a 7-0 to give the Falcons a 60-53 advantage with 1:07 left.

Still, it wasn’t quite locked up as the Lions made things interesting in the final minute. After a Falcons turnover, Bell hit two free throws to get the Lions within 61-59 with 17.6 seconds left. Two clutch free throws by Andrew Mickle put the Falcons up 63-59 with 12.9 seconds remaining.

Kemmer scored again to make it 63-61, but even two missed free throws by the Falcons’ Mickle with 1.8 seconds left didn’t give the Lions a chance for a legitimate shot at the end.

The quarterfinal round win not only lands the Falcons in Wednesday’s semifinals against Elk County Catholic, but it also guarantees them one of four state playoff berths.

After missing the postseason last year for the first time since 1992, the Falcons (17-7) return to states for the sixth time in seven seasons.

Senior David DuPont led Coudersport with 15 points, Mickle scored 14 and Jason Gibson finished with 13 points.

Also for C-L, Brandon Bell scored 18 points, 14 of them coming in the first half. Eric Hesdon finished with 14 points.

COUDERSPORT 63, CLARION-LIMESTONE 61

Score By Quarters

C-L                  16        11        20        14        -           61

Coudersport    14        18        9          22        -           63

Clarion-Limestone - 61

Ross Munsee 0 0-0 0, Billy Kelley 7 1-1 17, Zach Kemmer 2 2-4 6, Eric Hesdon 6 0-0 14, Brandon Bell 6 5-5 18, Adam Mellott 3 0-0 6, Billy Leadbetter 0 0-0 0, Matt Wieszczyk 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24 8-10 61.

Coudersport - 63

Andrew Mickle 4 5-9 14, Kevin Wolfinger 2 0-1 5, Tim McCusker 4 0-1 9, David DuPont 7 0-0 15, Jason Gibson 4 5-7 13, Taylor Hathaway 0 2-2 2, Rafael Pacheco 1 0-0 2, Jayme Wilcox 1 0-0 3. Totals: 23 12-20 63.

Three-pointers: C-L 5 (Kelley 2, Hesdon 2, Bell), Coudersport 4(Mickle, Wolfinger, McCusker, DuPont).