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Elkers win consolation game against St. Marys |
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Thursday, 31 December 2009 |
By Greg Reedy
Sports Editor
ST. MARYS - Ridgway won 54-41 in the boys' consolation game of the Elk County Holiday Tournament yesterday at St. Marys Area High School in the "Dutch Oven."
"I thought we played pretty well today," Ridgway coach Anthony Allegretto said. "We came out and Dom (Aiello) shot the ball really well in the first quarter, he made a couple threes. Jordan (Lundin) played really well and Eric (Matheson) handled the ball really well."
Ridgway (4-4) got off to a fast start and took a 9-1 lead in the first four minutes of the game. St. Marys was able to rally within four at the first quarter's end as the Dutch trailed 15-11.
St. Marys coach Mark Guido said the Dutch couldn't get it together for all 32 minutes.
"We just never got in sync at all tonight," Guido said. "I don't know if it was the time of day or what have you but we just didn't play well. We haven't put more than a couple quarters together in any game so far this year. It's something we're going to back in the gym and work on."
The Dutch got within one at 15-14 to start the second quarter. With Ridgway leading 17-15 with 6:18 left, the Elkers went on an 8-0 run to extend the lead to 10. During the run, Ben Jaques had five points in a row for the Elkers and finished with 14. Eric Matheson led Ridgway with 15.
"Ben gave some leadership, gave some big shots, good penetration, which we wanted him to do and now he's penetrating more," Allegretto said.
Allegretto said Jaques' confidence is growing as the season has progressed.
"He was a little tentative the first couple of games and we got him now taking it more to the hoop and shooting more foul shots," Allegretto said. "I think he's got a little more confidence in his shooting."
St. Marys' offense struggled in the third quarter and didn't score until under a minute left when the Dutch's Dylan Reigel nailed a 3-pointer.
"It was a competitive game but in the third quarter, we came out and I think the quarter was almost done when Dylan Reigel hit that 3-pointer," Guido said. "That was our first points of that quarter and that hurts, that hurts a lot."
Allegretto felt the Ridgway defense began to frustrate St. Marys in the second half.
"I think we had a point where we had them really frustrated," Allegretto said. "I think we were up 19. They were very frustrated and we had a chance to put them away. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, we missed six layups in a row. Some of them were contested but they were all 2-footers. A couple of them were uncontested plus we let them hang around and at one point they got it down to 11. Everything we did, we did it well, we didn't finish the plays which would have finished the game. We still played defense, we made the plays when it counted."
Ridgway led by double digits the rest of the way en route to the 13-point win.
"Everybody played really good defense," Allegretto said. "Aaron Sorge, we put him on the point guard, he was working him. The guys on the shooters, I think Eric was on (Greg) Simcheck. Ben was on (Justin) Quiggle most of the game. Quiggle's a heck of a ballplayer and Simcheck can shoot it. That team runs a lot of stuff for him, they're very well-coached. We were able to defend a lot of that stuff and use our quickness against them. We didn't get too outsized even though they had a couple big boys."
Ridgway hosts Port Allegany on Monday.
St. Marys 11 10 3 17 - 41
Ridgway 15 14 11 14 - 54
St. Marys - 41
Jimmy Werner 5 2-2 12, Jess Cogan 2 4-6 8, Greg Simchick 2 1-2 6, Dylan Reigel 2 0-0 5, Justin Quiggle 1 1-2 4, Ryan Mancuso 2 0-0 4, Bobby Vollmer 1 0-0 2, Totals 15 8-14 41.
Ridgway - 54
Eric Matheson 3 9-10 15, Ben Jaques 4 4-4 14, Jordan Lundin 2 7-9 11, Dom Aiello 2 4-4 10, Aaron Sorge 1 0-0 2, Lou Stilwell 1 0-0 2, Totals 13 24-27 54.
3-pointers: St. Marys 2 (Reigel 1, Simcheck 1), Ridgway 4 (Aiello 2, Jaques 2). |
