EC Leaps Back on to Victory Road, Beats North Ridgeville

February 3rd, 2012

Elyria Catholic took Tuesday off, and headed out to North Ridgeville for a WSC match-up against the Rangers on Friday. Elyria Catholic took an early lead and held onto it throughout the game, and at times almost lost it. Ridgeville tied the game here and there, but EC would succumb, and take the game and head right back on victory road.

The Panthers were on a roll in the beginning of the game, keeping North Ridgeville from scoring for just over four minutes into the game. North Ridgeville struggled to find the basket, while the Panthers struggled on the boards which would come back to haunt them. The Rangers found a spark come the second quarter, outscoring EC 13-11. The Panthers were playing a 2-3 zone, which North Ridgeville found loopholes in by moving the ball quickly, hitting their shots, and crashing the boards giving themselves multiple scoring opportunities. The Rangers did tie the ballgame at one point, but EC's Andrew Konno sunk a three pointer to keep EC on a good route. The Panthers went into the locker room on top 26-22 at halftime.

Elyria Catholic came out on an 8-3 run to start out the second half, and ended the third quarter up 10 points.
"We just kept trying to get the ball inside, and not give up some easy baskets on the other end." Coach Kuchta states, "I thought our kids did a great job of listening and doing what they had to do tonight." North Ridgeville went on a little comeback at the end of the 4th quarter, but could only cut the score to 41-44. That's the closest the Ranger would get, and Elyria Catholic would hold on to beat North Ridgeville 56-51.

"My guys worked hard, and we are just trying to build some depth on our team as the season winds down. We feel like we have a lot of depth on the team, and the more experience everyone gets, the better we will be." Coach Kuchta shares, "Our whole game is to play unselfish, and to not care who gets the credit. So I think you see that from our guys."

Elyria Catholic is now 8-9 (6-4 in WSC play) and will take a week off.
"It feels good right now to be 6-4 in the conference." Kuchta explains, "We want to win two more in the conference, and to be 8-4 and get ready for the tournament." The Panthers resume to action on February 14th at the Coliseum to take on the Clearview Clippers at 7:30.

Stats:
Jeremy Holley - 22 PTS, 9 RB, 2 BLKS
Daniel Whitacre - 7 PTS, 2 RB, 1 BLK
Andrew Konno - 11 PTS, 2 RB, 2 AST
Tyler Riddell - 7 PTS, 1 RB, 2 AST
Cory Strasko - 2 PTS, 1 AST
Joe Dempsey - 4 PTS, 2 RB, 3 AST
John Stursa - 3 PTS, 3 RB
Matt Morgan - 6 RB


EC's JV Company Wins Thriller Over North Ridgeville

JV Head Coach Corey Taylor finally changed his game plan from, "To put up points" to "Play hard defense". Very straight forward, and simple.

The JV Boys kept a good lead up until the third quarter. When the EC JV Panthers did not play vintage EC JV Boys defense. When the final seconds came, EC's JV Company pulled off a dramatic buzzer beater to defeat the the North Ridgeville JV Boys 48-46.

It was freshman Ceevan Shelton, who came to the rescue for the JV Boys. Suffering an ankle injury earlier in the game, Shelton sucked up the pain, and came up huge in the ending. It was all tied up 46-46, and a few seconds remaining. The ball was in the hands of D.J. Graham, who saw a wide open Ceevan Shelton under the basket for the easy buzzer beating lay-up.

EC's JV Company will resume action at the Coliseum on February 14th against Clearview High School at 6pm.

Elyria Catholic's Official Sports Reporter
Jake Hromada '14