DUBOIS CC 49, ELK CC 45

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March 6, 2010 - District 9 Class A Championship Game

By Chris Rossetti

CLARION – On an emotion-packed Saturday night at Clarion University’s Tippin Gym, DuBois Central Catholic captured its first District 9 boys’ basketball title in 34 years with a 49-45 win over defending champion Elk County Catholic in the Class A championship game.

The win happened less than 36 hours after DCC head coach Mike Nesbit found out his daughter, Lauren, had been critically hurt in a car accident in Butler County. As of Saturday night, Lauren was in a Pittsburgh hospital. Nesbit arrived at the game straight from the hospital.

“It was an emotional night,” Nesbit said. “I knew that it would mean more than anything for the kids and for the school to win the championships. We didn’t need to have it to validate our program, but it was emotional.

“Personally, I was probably more emotional prior to the game. When I got here, there were still some issues about (Lauren) that were unclear. There were a lot of people coming up to me from both DCC and ECC that I know and some that I don’t know offering their prayers. Then, just before the game, I get a little better news. But absolutely, when the buzzer went off it was a little emotional.

“I want to thank the school and the school community for all of its support. It has been great. My family and I want the school to know that it has been so good to us and that really means a lot.”

Chris Marshall was the hero for DCC (21-5) Saturday night scoring a game-high 21 points to go with a game-best 16 rebounds. He also had three steals and two blocks.

“Chris was Chris,” Nesbit said. “He was unbelievable. The second half of the year, he’s been a monster. But he’s a quite monster. He shows very little if any emotion. He just plays the same way every night. It is a great attribute to have, and he has it.”

Marshall made the game’s biggest play with 12 seconds left and DCC up two, 47-45.

ECC (23-5) had the ball following a steal by Ricky Pearsall and called time out with 36 seconds left. The Crusaders then looked for a shot, but as Kyle Detsch was dribbling off a screen, Marshall stepped in and stole the ball away. He was the fouled by Detsch and coolly sank both free throws to seal the victory.

“Detsch had been dribbling off my guys pick all game,” Marshall said. “I just decided to jump and it and got the ball. I was pretty nervous when I went to the line, but I had done the same thing against Keystone and had the same feeling and focus and put them in.”

DCC trailed 22-21 at halftime and then go down four, 25-21, following a Joe Jacob 3-pointer early in the second half. But the Cardinals closed the third quarter with a 9-2 run to take a 6-point, 35-29, lead into the final eight minutes.

Tony Chiodo quickly made sure the game would stay a game hitting a 3-pointer 19 seconds into the fourth for ECC, but DCC got the lead up to as many as seven, 39-32, with 5:40 left in the game.

The Crusaders, who had won five of the last six District 9 Class A titles going in to the game, got right back into the contest with a 6-0 run that was capped by a pair of Chiodo free throws with 4:54 to play. Chiodo was fouled after picking up a steal created by ECC’s pressure defense, the second straight two-point play set up by the Crusaders pressure.

DCC called a timeout, its second in less than 20 seconds, following Chiodo’s bucket and was able to break the Crusader pressure and get a gigantic layup from Marshall with 4:44 left that restored the lead to three.  

“We were running a four-across (inbounds play),” Nesbit said. “But we weren’t running it right. We needed to enter the ball and then make the pass. Once we realized that we did a better job of handling the pressure.”

Marshall’s layup started a 7-1 run for DCC that appeared to put the game away when it was capped by a Joe McNally 3-pointer with 3:29 left that made it Cardinals 46, Crusaders 39 with 3:29 left.

But Detsch answered right back with a three of his own 12 seconds later to make it 46-42.

After Seth Galluzzi hit one of two free throws with 3:11 to play to make it 47-42, a Pearsall layup followed by Robby Wortman free throw cut the lead to 47-45 with 1:47 left.

Brad Gallagher then missed a free throw for DCC before Darren Simons failed on a 3-pointer by ECC with 58 seconds to play.

Krause, though, had his pocked picked by Detsch with 36 seconds left giving the Crusaders their final shot.

McNally added 13 points for DCC, while Wortman led ECC with 13 points and six rebounds. Chiodo, who many thought won’t even play this season after injuring a leg in football season, added 12 points.

“Our seniors have really meant a lot to us,” Nesbit said.

NOTES – In a freaky twist of numbers, DCC’s title comes 34 years after its only other championship in 1976. On that team was a junior No. 34 Tim Fitzpatrick. On the 2010 championship team 34 years later is a junior No. 34 Dan Fitzpatrick, a starter and Tim’s son … This was the first time DCC and ECC have met in a District 9 title game … DCC had lost its two previous title games falling two years ago to Coudersport and in 2003 to Clarion. The Cardinals, though, did make it to the PIAA Class A title game in 2007 … ECC lost a Class A title game for the first time since 2002 when Keystone beat the Crusaders 76-67. Since then, ECC had gone 5-0 in Class A title games.

DUBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC 49, ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 45

Score by Quarters

DuBois Central Catholic.......    8   13   14   14  -   49

Elk County Catholic...........    8   14    7   16  -   45

DCC – 49

Chris Marshall 8-9 5-7 21; Joe McNally 5-8 0-0 13; Seth Galluzzi 1-2 3-4 5; Jake Krause 2-6 0-2 4; Brad Gallagher 1-5 0-1 2; Dan Fitzpatrick 0-2 2-4 2; Alex Welch 1-4 0-0 2; Taylor Pentz 0-2 0-0 0; Will Gangewere 0-1 0-0 0; David Gangewere 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-39 10-18 49.

ECC – 45

Robby Wortman 3-9 7-8 13; Tony Chiodo 4-11 2-2 12; Kyle Detsch 2-10 3-4 8; Joe Jacob 2-7 0-0 5; Ricky Pearsall 1-3 2-4 4; Tyler Healy 1-1 0-0 2; Darren Simons 0-7 0-0 0; Eric Wehler 0-3 0-0 0, Tyler Herzing 0-0 1-2 1; Luke Daghir 0-0 0-0 0; Michael Wachter 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-51 15-20 45.

3-point goals-DuBois Central Catholic 3-6 (Joe McNally 3-5; Dan Fitzpatrick 0-1), Elk County Catholic 4-17 (Tony Chiodo 2-4; Kyle Detsch 1-2; Joe Jacob 1-3; Darren Simons 0-3; Eric Wehler 0-2; Ricky Pearsall 0-1; Robby Wortman 0-2).