SEWICKLEY ACADEMY 41, ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 19

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March 16, 2010 - PIAA Class A Boys' Second Round

PIAA Playoff Home Page

By Chris Rossetti

CLARION – Elk County Catholic figured the only way it could beat Sewickley Academy was to slow the game down …… to a snail’s pace.

And the Crusaders did just that, but in the end, the Panthers’ Tyler Palmer was too much in the second half leading Sewickley Academy to a 41-19 win over ECC in the second round of the PIAA Class A playoffs Tuesday night at Clarion University’s Tippin Gym.

ECC (24-6), which held the ball for long stretches at a time, was tied with the WPIAL champion Panthers (24-2) at six at the end of the first quarter and trailed by just two, 8-6, with two minutes left in the first half. But Sewickley Academy ended the half with a minu-3-0 run that gave it an 11-6 halftime lead.

Then in the third quarter, Palmer exploded for four 3-pointers helping Sewickley Academy build a 23-12 lead at the end of the quarter.

Down by 11, ECC was forced to push the issue more in the fourth, and it became quickly apparent why the Crusaders had tried to slow the contest down with the Panthers going on a 12-2 run to start the quarter while building a 21-point, 35-14, lead.

ECC, which was held to its lowest point total in school history and the lowest output in a PIAA playoff game since 2004, didn’t help itself with terrible shooting. The Crusaders hit just 7 of 32 shots (21.9 percent) including 3 of 16 (18.8 percent) from 3-point range.

Sewickley Academy, meanwhile, kept its cool despite the slowdown and shot 45.2 percent (14 of 31) from the field including 9 of 18 in the second half. The Panthers were 5 of 9 from 3-point range with Palmer, who finished with a game-high 17 points, taking all nine.

ECC was able to neutralize Sewickley Academy star Tom Droney, who is headed to NCAA Division I Davidson, limiting the senior to just seven points. Droney did have a breakaway slam dunk in the fourth quarter that brought the sparse Sewickley Academy faithful to its feet.

The Panthers also held a huge advantage of the boards outrebounding ECC 31-15 including 11-5 on the offensive glass, although Sewickley Academy turned those offensive rebounds into just four points.

David Bonomo added eight points for Sewickley Academy while no ECC player had more than three points.

NOTES – ECC’s previous low output was 23 points in a 54-23 loss to Bradford in 1998 … ECC went 13:48 without scoring – from a Luke Daghir layup with 1:31 left in the first quarter until a Tyler Herzing 3-pointer with 3:43 left in the third quarter. The Crusaders also went 22:43 between made two points from Daghir’s layup to Kyle Detsch’s jumper with 2:48 left to play. They scored eight points during that span – two 3’s and two free throws.

SEWICKLEY ACADEMY 41, ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 19

Score by Quarters

Elk County Cath. 6 0 6 7 – 19

Sewickley Academy 6 5 12 18 – 41

ECC – 19

Tony Chiodo 1-5 0-0 2, Kyle Detsch 1-2 0-0 2, Joe Jacob 0-2 0-0 0, Tyler Healy 1-3 0-0 3, Robby Wortman 1-6 0-0 2, Ricky Pearsall 1-4 0-0 3, Tyler Herzing 1-4 0-0 3, Eric Wehler 0-0 0-0 0, Adam Buccheit 0-0 0-0 0, Darren Simmons 0-4 2-2 2, Luke Daghir 1-2 0-0 2, Michael Wachter 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 7-32 2-2 19.

Sewickley Academy – 41

Tyler Palmer 5-11 2-2 17, Carrington Motley 0-3 3-6 3, Tom Droney 3-7 1-2 7, Peter Schramm 2-2 0-0 4, David Bonomo 4-7 0-2 8, Billy McCormick 0-0 0-0 0, Joey Manzinger 0-0 0-0 0, Kenny Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, John O’Malley 0-0 2-2 2, Jerome Watts 0-1 0-0 0, Scott Bingman 0-0 0-0 0, JT Ahearn 0-0 0-0 0, Tom Poepping 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-31 8-14 41.

Three-pointers – ECC 3-16 (Healy 1-1, Herzing 1-2, Pearsall 1-4, Simmons 0-3, Wortman 0-3, Chiodo 0-2, Detsch 0-1.) Sewickley Academy 5-9 (Palmer 5-9).