By Scott Shindledecker
CLARION, Pa. — The Elk County Catholic boys basketball teams’ unbeaten season came to an end Tuesday night as the Farrell Steelers beat the Crusaders, 61-38, in the second round of the PIAA Class A playoffs at Clarion University’s Tippin Gymnasium.
The Steelers, Class A state runners-up a year ago, jumped out to a 24-8 lead after one quarter.
A trio of three-pointers by Malik Miller in a span of 1:06 helped the Steelers go from a 7-1 lead to a 13-3 advantage.
Kyi Wright had back-to-back layups late in the first to make it 21-6, then after an ECC turnover, Jarod Messett’s three-pointer made it 24-6. Nate DaCanal answered with a basket inside to make it 24-8 after one and the Crusaders rallied in the second quarter, cutting the deficit to 10 points, 30-20, at halftime.
Gabe Kraus scored six of his 10 points in the second and DaCanal, who led ECC with 17 points, scored five points in the quarter.
But, the Steelers refocused in the third quarter and took the game over, outscoring the Crusaders 15-6 before ECC called timeout. But at that point, the Steelers lead was 19 points, 45-26.
Wright scored the first five points for Farrell in the third to make it 35-20 before Benji Hoffman’s layup. Then, right before a media timeout, Terrance Holloway was fouled shooting a three-point shot and hit all three from the stripe to make it 38-22 with 3:54 left. The lead grew to 19 points as Holloway scored two straight baskets to make it 45-26 with 1:23 left.
ECC head coach Aaron Straub called timeout, but there wasn’t much the Crusaders could do.
DaCanal did scored five of the final seven points of the third, but ECC’s deficit was still 17 points as Farrell took a 48-31 lead to the fourth and quickly made it a 22-point game in the first few minutes.
Miller hit a layup, then answered a DaCanal basket with a traditional three-point play to make it 53-33. Leon Lewis’ basket made it 55-33 with 6:14 to play.
Wright led the Steelers with 17 points while Miller had 15 and Holloway chipped in with nine.
Farrell improved to 21-6 and will play Sewickley Academy Friday in the state quarterfinals. Sewickley beat Homer Center, 48-38, Tuesday.
ECC got 17 from DaCanal, Kraus was next with 10 and Kyle Huff scored six points.
FARRELL 61, ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 38
Score by Quarters
ECC 8 12 11 7 – 38
Farrell 24 6 18 13 – 61
Elk County Catholic – 38
Benji Hoffman 1 0-1 2, Dan Stauffer 1 0-0 2, Gabe Kraus 3 2-2 10, Kyle Huff 2 2-5 6, Nate DaCanal 7 2-5 17, Brad Dippold 0 0-0 0, Jared Braun 0 0-0 0, Jack Wolfe 0 0–0 0, Joe Kucenski 0 1-2 1, Doug Schatz 0 0-0 0, Frank Singer 0 0-0 0, Bryce Gabler 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 7-15 38.
Farrell – 61
Manis Norman ,1 0-0 2 Terrence Holloway 3 3-3 9, Malik Miller 5 2-4 15, Leon Lewis 2 0-0 4, Kyi Wright 5 7-9 17, Deant’e Phillips 2 2-2 6, Jared Messett 2 0-0 6, Jacob Jackson 1 0-0 2, Marcus McCoy 0 0-2 0. Totals: 21 14-20 61.
Three-pointers: ECC 3 (Kraus 2, DaCanal); Farrell 5 (Miller 3, Messett 2).
