DCC 58, KEYSTONE 57

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March 3, 2010 - District 9 Class Boys' Semifinals

By Chris Rossetti

CLARION – In a slugfest between two heavyweights, Central Catholic wobbled but never went down for the count in getting a 58-57 win over Keystone in the District 9 Class A boys’ basketball semifinals Wednesday night at Clarion University’s Tippin Gym.

DCC (20-5) withstood two second-half comeback attempts by the Panthers (16-9), who were trying to pull their third straight upset in the postseason, before riding four straight Chris Marshall free throws in the final 53 seconds to move in the District 9 title game for the second time in three seasons.

 “You have to give out kids credit,” DCC head coach Mike Nesbit said. “They punched us hard in the mouth and we wobbled. But in the fourth quarter we came back and kept our composure. We are showing mental toughness that I haven’t seen out of our team in the last couple of years.”

The Cardinals led by as many as 13 in the first half, by 10 at halftime and by seven with 2:18 to play only to watch Keystone battle back and knot the game at 54 on a 3-pointer by Dan Reed with 1:12 to play.

“Sure, I was worried,” Nesbit said. “They have five seniors starting. Do you think they are just going to quit? No, Greg Heath’s teams don’t quit and especially when you have five seniors on the floor who have been through this before. You have to give Keystone a lot of credit. (Greg always has great teams, and his kids always step up.”

Marshall, though, wasn’t going to allow DCC to lose. He was fouled by Ben Marchand with 53 seconds left and calmly sank both free throws to give the Cardinals a 56-54 lead. Then, after Keystone failed to convert on the other end, Marshall was fouled again with 10 seconds to play and hit two more free throws to put DCC up four, 58-54.

“Foul shooting has been a problem for us,” Nesbit said. “It was problem for us last year, and it has continued to be a problem for us this year. It won the game for us tonight.”

Marchand made things interesting when he banked home a 3-pointer with just over two seconds left to pull the Panthers within one. But DCC was able to get the ball inbounds, and Dan Fitzpatrick was fouled with just over a second left. Fitzpatrick missed the free throw, but without a time out, Keystone wasn’t able to get a shot off.

“That was just a well played high school basketball game by two good teams,” Nesbit said. “I thought it was well played by both teams and well officiated. Everything about it this game was good.”

DCC came out of the gates on fire hitting seven of their first eight shots to build a 15-7 lead midway through the first quarter. The Cardinals continued that good shooting throughout the first half connecting on 14 of 19 shots in the half (73.7 percent) while taking a 34-24 halftime lead.

“That is the best half of basketball we have played all year,” Nesbit said. “We played as well as we could possibly play.”

Keystone wasn’t shabby in the first half either hitting 57.1 percent (8 of 14) of its shots to stay within shouting distance.

That proved important in the third quarter when the Panthers used a 14-2 run to erase a 38-28 deficit and take their only lead of the game, 42-40, on a Marchand 3-pointer with 1:57 left in the quarter.

“We knew the adjustments they were going to make,” Nesbit said. “Our kids just didn’t do what they needed to do. So we had to start running different sets.”

The changes DCC made worked, as the Cardinals retook the lead by the end of the quarter at 44-42 thanks to layups by Seth Galluzzi and Marshall. Those layups started a 13-4 run that put DCC up seven, 53-46, following a Marshall layup with 2:18 to play.

But Keystone had one more comeback left in them, as Reed hit a 3-pointer at 1:56 to start an 8-1 run that ended with Reed’s second three of the game tying the contest.

Marshall led all scorers with 22 points while adding five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Fitzpatrick chipped in 14 points, while Joe McNally had 10, all in the first half.

Marchand and Reed led Keystone with 18 points apiece with Reed going 8 of 11 from the free-throw line and also dishing out four assists. Nick Bowser added six points and six rebounds for the Panthers.

DCC will now face Elk County Catholic in the title game at 7 p.m. Saturday at Tippin Gym. The Cardinals are looking for their first District 9 title since winning their only one in 1976.

“I could care less,” Nesbit said. “If we win we win. If we lose, please don’t take it to your grave. Everyone is still going to love you. There should be no pressure on them to win a district title. Our program has spoken for itself over the last 10 years. If we have to justify our program with a district title then that is other people’s problems. We know we don’t have to do that. We are going to try like heck to win it. We are going to give it our best. If we don’t, I don’t want them to feel that pressure. That’s not fair.”

Keystone will face Coudersport in the consolation game at a time, date and site to be announced.

NOTES – DCC shot 64.7 percent from the field (22 of 34) while Keystone shot 50 percent (20 of 40) … DCC outscored Keystone 36-22 in the paint, but Keystone hit eight 3-pointers to the Cardinals two … Both teams had 15 points off turnovers, but seven of DCC’s came in the fourth quarter … This is the first time DCC and ECC will meet in the championship game.

KEYSTONE 58, CENTRAL CATHOLIC 57

Score by Quarters

Keystone 10 14 18 15 – 57

DCC 15 19 10 14 – 58

Keystone – 57

Ben Marchand 7-14 0-0 18, Brett Zuck 3-4 1-2 8, Dan Reed 4-8 8-11 18, Lexan Montana 3-5 0-0 7, Nick Bowser 3-8 0-0 6, Mitch Rearick 0-0 0-0 0, Logan Daugherty 0-0 0-0 0, Ben Wolbert 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-40 9-13 57.

DCC – 58

Chris Marshall 7-11 8-10 22, Brad Gallagher 2-3 0-0 4, Alex Welch 1-1 0-0 2, Joe McNally 4-5 0-0 10, Dan Fitzpatrick 6-10 2-3 14, Jake Krause 0-2 0-0 0, Seth Galluzzi 1-1 2-2 4, Will Gangewere 1-1 0-0 2, Taylor Pentz 0-0 0-0 0, David Gangewere 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-34 12-15 58.

Three-pointers – Keystone 8-15 (Marchand 4-7, Reed 2-3, Zuck 1-1, Montana 1-3, Wolbert 0-1). DCC 2-4 (McNally 2-3, Fitzpatrick 0-1).