Tuesday December 12th, 2011
Elyria Catholic welcomed WSC foe Midview High School into the Coliseum on Tuesday for another boys basketball match-up. With Midview up over EC in the double digit numbers at one point, that somehow didn't stop the Panthers from switching gears, and issuing a comeback. EC came out cold in the first half, only scoring 26 points and with not much going on shooting wise. EC hit the free throw line once, and had seven turnovers in that half alone. The Panthers went into the locker room down by five to the Middies, 31-26.
The deficit was raised even higher for the Panthers as Midview scored six more points in the first two minutes of the second half. "We came out down eleven first two minutes of the second half, and the adversity hit us and we did what Coach (Kuchta) said in the locker room, we grew up." Was what Junior guard Tyler Riddell has to say about the big deficit. EC didn't panic, instead, the Panthers put the game into gear, and put the pedal to the metal and issued comeback mode. Senior Joe Dempsey gave the Panthers their first lead since the 2nd quarter going 2-2 from the three point line, also getting help from Jeremy Holley who was vicious on the boards. Vintage Tyler Riddell added a three pointer into the mix. "I give all the credit to my teammates." Tyler Riddell stated, "Jeremy (Holley) was having a tough night tonight, and Joe (Dempsey) who stepped off the bench and was helping me with the assists. It was just a great win for us tonight." Riddell also had two breakaways off Panther steals. "Cory (Strasko) and I do it all the time. Joe (Dempsey) gave me a nice little pass over (Midview guard) Patrick Linn and I just put it in for the bucket."
Coming into the 4th quarter, EC was up 41-39 over the Middies, and the Panthers buckled down on the defensive end. "It was really the spark on the defensive side of the ball that brought us back (into the game)." Joe Dempsey acknowledged. Dempsey also hit four clutch free throws in the fourth quarter. "I feel like I want to be on the line in those types of situations." Dempsey said, "I've been playing basketball for a long time." When asked about the crowd distractions, Dempsey stated, "It really doesn't get to me that much. I just focus on sinking the ball through the net." Junior Xavier Bennett also added 13 points to chip in to the 64-55 victory over Midview.
EC is now 4-1 on the season (2-0 in WSC) and heads out to Avon High School Friday for another WSC match starting at 7:30pm.
Stats:
Cory Strasko - 7 PTS
Jeremy Holley - 11 PTS
Xavier Bennett - 13 PTS
Andrew Konno - 3 PTS
Tyler Riddell - 15 PTS
Joe Dempsey - 14 PTS
John Stursa - 1 PTS
EC was 11-15 from the free throw line (73%)
EC's Boys JV lost a heartbreaker to Midview 50-47. Conner Riddell led the team in points with 18, followed by Ceevan Shelton with 8, Angelo Cruz with 7, and D.J. Graham with 5.
Official Elyria Catholic Sports Reporter
Jake Hromada '14
No comments:
Post a Comment