Cochranton 66 Saegertown 59

Coach Greg Molnar's Saegertown Panthers went to battle tonight against Mel Dainty's Cochranton Cardinals. The Panthers however had to do battle without their tested floor General Jared Campbell due to injury. I always enjoy watching Jared play so I was somewhat disappointed but I still got to see a great game.

It became very evident early on that the Panthers would have trouble scoring inside while in their half court offense due to the shot blocking of Cochranton's 6' 7" Adam Roche. It is only a guess but I would say he had 7-10 blocks and a pile of boards. The first quarter was a back and forth game for awhile until Cochranton put together a 5 and 6 point run to put them up 16-8 at the end of one.

After the teams traded foul shots the Panthers went on the move with their fast-breaking transition game. Run, run, run and that is what Saegertown boys like to do and it is fun to watch. They outscored the Cardinals in the period 22-11 with Josh Ray scoring 11 of his game high 33 point. The halftime score was 30-27 Saegertown.

The Cardinals came out in the 3rd quarter with a hot shooting hand. It seemed like everything they put up was going in. Zac Culberston was fun to watch as he poured in 8 of their total of 22 points in the frame. He shot from 3 land and drove the lane several times with success. Saegertown could only muster 8 points to fall behind 38-49 at the end of three quarters.

The fourth quarter saw Josh Ray and Culbertson trading buckets back and forth with Saegertown trimming the lead to 57-61 with 57.7 seconds left in the game. From that point on Cochranton made their foul shots to hold off the Panthers for a 66-59 win.

BigSkinny Players of the Game: Zac Culbertson of Cochranton with 22 points and Josh Ray of Saegertown with 33 points.

Final thoughts: Saegertown's fast paced running game is fun to watch and when you play them you better be in shape because they just keep running kids off the bench at you. Cochranton on the other hand has some boys who can shoot the rock. The Culbertson kid will let it fly from anywhere and hits a good percentage of them. The Roche boy gives them an excellent inside presence especially on defense.

Hickory 48 Fairview 36

It was good to see coach Nies again and I was also happy to see Hickory since I never got the chance to see them last year. The game started out with very little scoring as guys on both teams seemed a bit tentative, perhaps first game nerves. Fairview put 8 on the board with four different players going in the scoring column. Nick Lackey hit the first of his two three's in this frame while Hickory's Jaymee Shephard had two buckets to make the score Fairview 8 and Hickory 6 after one.

To open up the second quarter Fairview built their lead to 11-6 on Nick Lackey's second long range three ball. The rest of this quarter was owned by Hickory as they went on a 17-0 run with Jordan Wilds scoring 10 of the 17 points. He got hot and hit two 2's and a pair of 3's. Fairview did muster one more bucket to close the half but Hickory turned a 5 point deficit into a 10 point halftime lead.

The third quarter saw Fairview get down by as much as 14 but they did crawl back in this game by the 1:30 to within 4 points with the score 25-29. That was as close as Fairview would get as Hickory went on to post a 48-36 win.

Fairview only had one player in double figures with John Zehe scoring 10. Brooks Linkoski was close behind with 9 and Lackey added 8. Hickory was led with an 18 point performance from their 6'5" senior Jordan Wilds, Jordan is my pick for BigSkinny Player of the Game. Junior Matt Durisko added 15 in the Honets victory.

I want to commend those running this Tournament for a job well done. The Avonia Tavern Chili was magnificent as was the special bread baked up by one of the player fathers. A+ to the Tourney, the chili, and the bread. I will be back for the Concession Stand, you can count on it!

General McLane 60 McDowell 57

If this was any indication of what this basketball season is going to be like, we better all strap in and hang on for a great ride! Two powerhouses from D10, AAAA McDowell and AAA General McLane, squared off in the opener at the Hamot Tip-Off Tournament hosted by the Fairview Tigers.

I was greeeted at the ticket booth by some very nice folks from the Fairview Athletic Boosters who promptly let me in free. Who says we are in a recession? It was very much appreciated and I might add that this is a very well run Tournament. My hat is off to those who make it possible and the long list of sponsors.

The first half ended 21-21 as each team played very hard nosed defense. McDowell was a bit intimidating to me because of their size but not to the scappy boys of McLane who even won the opening tip. Both of these teams are very well coached and it really shows on the defensive end of the floor. Bryan Baumgartner led the Lancers with 8 points in the half while Jason Keim led the Trojans with 10.

The first half was about defense and the second half was about who could get the hot hand first and there was no doubt who caught fire first. GM's Dom DiVito was it as he poured in 2's and 3's from all over. He had 8 points in both the third and fourth quarters building a Lancers lead to 11 at the 2:18 mark of the 4th quarter. Dom finshed as the games high scorer with 20 points.

At this point McDowell could have just conceded knowing they will get another shot at them in a few days but not these "never say die" Trojans. They started using their fouls and sending GM to the line where the Lancers where missing the front end of their One and one's. The tactic worked well enough to give the Trojan's the ball out of bounds with 4 seconds left on the clock with the score at 60-57. Jason Keim led McDowell with 18 points followed by Mychal Molnar with 10. A halfcourt + shot just fell short of the rim to secure the win for McLane and all their fans could be heard letting out a huge sigh of relief. Congrats to the Lancers who will face the Hickory team in the Championship round on Saturday evening.

Now to the really important stuff. My trip to the concession stand. I recieved a tip that the chili was excellent and imported from the Avonia Tavern. Taste testing being my specialty, off I went for chili. Well, the chili was superb and served with grated cheese and a piece of Bread that was simply heavenly. I was informed that the bread was baked by a father of a Fairview player.

A+ to the Chili and bread combo and I will be looking at the schedule to see when I can come back for this well run and friendly concession stand.

The BigSkinny Player of the Game goes to the smooth shooting guard of GM, Dom DiVito.

Fairview Tip-Off Tourney

I will be attending the Fairview Tip-Off Tourney on Friday.  I am anxious to see McDowell, General McLane, Hickory, and Fairview all in the same evening.  It will be a great early look at some of the D10 teams with playoff hopes.  Look for my report late Friday evening.