ECC WAY TOO MUCH FOR HOMER-CENTER
March 5, 2004 - PIAA Class A Boys' First Round at Clarion University
BY RICH RHOADES

CLARION -- By the end of the first half, Elk County Catholic head coach Aaron Straub had used his entire roster. And it wasn't after the Crusaders built a 19-point lead. He used almost all of his players to get the lead.

The District 9 Class A champion Crusaders opened the state playoffs with a convincing 65-40 victory over District 6 runner-up Homer-Center Friday night at Tippin Gymnasium. The manner of how the Crusaders dismantled the Wildcats was impressive.

Elk County Catholic (26-2) shot 57 percent from the floor (27-for-47) and led the entire game after Homer-Center scored the initial basket of the game. The Crusaders led 35-16 by intermission and they wouldn't let the Wildcats get closer than 17 points the rest of the way. ECC nearly enacted the PIAA's Mercy Rule, leading by as many as 27 points in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Homer-Center (14-14) missed 19 of its first 21 shots from the floor and never had a chance. The Crusaders' pressure defense not only forced 18 Wildcats turnovers, it affected Homer-Center's halfcourt offense. Josiah Lenzi and Kurt Krejocic scored 14 and 11 points respectively, combining to shoot 10-of-17 from the floor, but the rest of the team shot a paltry 18 percent (5-of-28) from the field.

Everyone shot well for ECC as three players reached double figures in scoring. Steve Dellaquila scored 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting and Nick Bojalad came off the bench to score 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting to go along with his seven rebounds.

An example of the Crusaders' depth and ability to get key performance from several players points at Bojalad, who didn't accumlate a statistic other than a personal foul in last week's championship game against Johnsonburg. This time, he probably turned in the best performance among the 13 Crusaders who touched the court.

Freshman Jesse Bosnik, ECC's leading scorer who started rather than coming off the bench as he's done all year, scored 10 points. Doug Straub and Adam Simbeck each scored nine points. Simbeck scored all nine points in the first half, including his first three-pointer of the season to start the game's scoring for the Crusaders and give them the lead for good.

Next up for the Crusaders is WPIAL third seed St. Joseph's on Tuesday at a site and time to be announced. The teams share a common opponent. Both beat DuBois Central Catholic. St. Joseph's beat DCC in the Cardinals' tip-off tournament, 77-58. Elk County Catholic beat DCC twice by scores of 67-44 and 52-47.

ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 65, HOMER-CENTER 40

Score by Quarters

Homer-Center 6 10 12 12 – 40

Elk Co. Cath. 14 21 18 12 – 65

HOMER-CENTER 40

Tyler Clifford 3-8 0-0 6, Jonathan Buggey 0-6 0-0 0, Dave Maggio 0-1 0-0 0, Justin Shimko 0-1 0-0 0, Nick Jones 2-10 3-4 7, Jason Yarkowski 0-1 2-2 2, Ryan Buchner 0-1 0-0 0, Josiah Lenzi 6-9 2-5 14, Brian Rossi 0-1 0-0 0, Kurt Krejocic 4-8 3-6 11. Totals 15-45 10-17 40.

ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC – 65

Adam Krug 0-1 1-2 1, Nick Scutella 1-2 0-0 2, Doug Straub 2-4 5-5 9, Mike Aiello 0-2 0-0 0, Jesse Bosnik 4-9 1-3 10, Marcus Genevro 2-3 0-0 6, Brian Straub 0-0 0-1 0, Steve Thorwart 1-2 0-0 2, Mike Prechtl 0-0 0-0 0, Steve Dellaquila 6-7 0-0 12, Nick Bojalad 6-8 0-0 12, Adam Simbeck 4-8 0-0 9, Tony Lecker 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 27-47 7-12 65.

Three-pointers: Elk County Catholic 4-8 (Genevro 2-2, Bosnik 1-3, Simbeck 1-1, Aiello 0-2), Homer-Center 0-4 (Jones 0-1, Buggey 0-1, Buchner 0-1, Clifford 0-1). Rebounds: Elk County Catholic 26 (Bojalad 7), Homer-Center 23 (Lenzi 9). Team rebounds: Homer-Center 5, Elk County Catholic 1. Turnovers: Homer-Center 18, Elk County Catholic 12.