Gabe Kraus had 14 points for ECC Tuesday night. Photo by Paul Burdick.
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 53, BROOKVILLE 39
BROOKVILLE, Pa. – Elk County Catholic clinched at least a share of its fourth straight D9 League title with a 53-39 win at Brookville.
The win, the 33rd in a row in D9 League play for the Crusaders, again saw a balanced effort with Gabe Kraus scoring 14 points, Nate DaCanal 12, Kyle Huff nine and Brad Dippold eight.
ECC, which led 27-16 at halftime, is the first D9 League team to claim at least a share of four straight titles in the 21st century. Bradford was the last time to win four in a row winning five in a row from 1994-98.
Jimmy Moore led Brookville with 12 points with Kurt Schindler adding 11.
UNION 68, A-C VALLEY 35
RIMERSBURG, Pa. – Union claimed the KSAC South title with a 68-35 win over visiting A-C Valley.
The win improved the Golden Knights to 14-6 overall and 10-4 in the KSAC South. While Keystone is two games back of Union with two games to play, including a head-to-head matchup Friday night, the Panthers won’t win any of the tiebreakers against the Golden Knights if both teams would finish 10-6.
Helping Union take the crown, its first divisional title since 2012, were Lucas Bowser, Hank Murphy and Cole Morris, who all scored in double digits for the Golden Knights.
Morris recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists. Bowser added 19 points and and eight rebounds, while Murphy had 18 points and six steals.
Austin Heeter paced A-C Valley with 14 points with Kody Wolfe adding 10.
BROCKWAY 47, KANE 44, OVERTIME
BROCKWAY, Pa. – Corey Carr scored three points in overtime to keep Brockway’s playoff hopes alive with a 47-44 win over visiting Kane in AML play.
Carr finished with eight points, while Carter Adams led the Rovers with 14. Jarrett Esposito added 12. Ten of Esposito’s points came before halftime helping Brockway take a 27-16 lead at the break.
Kane, playing its second straight game without leading scorer Andrew Bucheit, who is out with an injury, stormed back in the second and cut the deficit to 36-30 at the end of the third quarter before outscoring the hosts 11-5 in the fourth quarter behind six points from Frank Truden to force overtime.
Truden finish with eight points, as did Andy Bundy for the Wolves. Davis Gardner led Kane with 13 points. Shane Rolick added seven.
CLARION-LIMESTONE 82, VENANGO CATHOLIC 49
STRATTANVILLE, Pa. – Dan Callen and Taylor Smith teamed up to score 48 points, as Clarion-Limestone ran right past Venango Catholic for an 82-49 win at C-L in KSAC North action.
Callen had a game-high 25 points to go with 13 rebounds, while Smith added 23 points. Noah Rankin chipped in 13 tallies, and freshman Ian Callen had 12 for the Lions, who have scored at least 70 points in 17 straight games and in 18 of their 19 contests this year. It was the eighth time C-L, which averages a District 9-leading 77.3 points per game, went over the 80-point mark.
Tim Wagner led Venango Catholic with 15 points. The Lions held District 9’s leading scorer, Brady Kingston, to 13 points, his lowest point total in 13 games. Kingston had scored at least 30 points in each of his previous three games.
The victory sealed the KSAC North title for C-L, which had already claimed a portion of the title last week.
CRANBERRY 69, FOREST AREA 44
TIONESTA, Pa. – Evan Lutz and Nick Varsek each scored 15 points, as Cranberry sewed up the top seed in the District 9 Class AA playoffs with a 69-44 win over Forest Area at West Forest in KSAC North play.
The Berries improved to 13-6 on the year. No other District 9 Class AA team can finish with fewer than 10 loses giving Cranberry the top spot come playoff time.
Austin Rex and Caleb McCandless each chipped in nine points for Cranberry.
Seth Berlin had a career-high 23 points to go with 17 rebounds and five steals for Forest Area. Nic Smail chipped in nine points.
RIDGWAY 38, JOHNSONBURG 23
JOHNSONBURG, Pa. – Jeremy and Andy Breier combined to score all but seven of Ridgway’s points, as the Elkers went on the road and beat rival Johnsonburg, 38-23, in non-conference action.
Jeremy Breier netted a game-high 17 points, while Andy added 14 tallies.
After trailing 13-12 at halftime, Ridgway outscored Johnsonburg 11-4 in the third quarter and 26-10 in the second half with Jeremy Breier scoring 13 of his points after the break.
Kevin Benson led Johnsonburg with 10 points.
CURWENSVILLE 39, SHEFFIELD 25
SHEFFIELD, Pa. – RJ Olson scored a game-high 12 points, as Curwensville picked up its first AML victory of the year with a 39-25 win at Sheffield.
Jake Terry added nine points and Quamone Newkirk and Avery Francisco each chipped in with eight for the Golden Tide, who won for the second straight night and for the third time in four games.
Logan Connolly, Ryan Lemay and Drew Higby each scored six points for Sheffield, who scored 14 of its 25 points in the third quarter.
BRADFORD 57, DUBOIS 34
BRADFORD, Pa. – Bradford continued its late season push winning for the third straight time and for the fourth time in five games with a 57-34 victory over visiting DuBois in D9 League action.
The Owls are now 8-4 after a 2-6 start to get to the .500 mark for the first time this year.
Deondre Terwilliger led Bradford with a game-high 16 points, while John Eakin added 15 points and five rebounds. Andy Pantuso had seven points, eight rebounds, eight assists and four steals for the Owls, who led 29-13 at halftime.
DuBois, playing without Zach Sloan, got 16 points from Dante Dawson and 10 from John Oberlin.
KEYSTONE 53, REDBANK VALLEY 43
NEW BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Austin Ion recorded a double-double to help Keystone reach the .500 mark for the first time this season with a 53-43 KSAC South road win at Redbank Valley.
Ion had 16 points and 10 rebounds to pace the Panthers, who outscored Redbank Valley 22-14 in the fourth quarter to break open a 2-point game, 31-29, after three.
Mason Rearick also scored 16 points for Keystone, while Corey Rapp had eight. Nate Wingard handed out four assists.
Sam Heeter led Redbank Valley with 16 points. Riley Campbell chipped in eight, and Dalton Dougherty had seven.
Keystone is now 10-10 overall after starting the year 5-8.
KARNS CITY 50, MONITEAU 37
KARNS CITY, Pa. – Karns City kept its playoff hopes alive with a 50-37 win over visiting Moniteau in KSAC South action.
Noah Pollock poured in 17 points to lead the Gremlins, while Jimmy Thompson had nine and Chandler Turner eight points and 14 rebounds. Reese Barger also grabbed eight boards for Karns City to go with four points.
JJ Waid had 13 points to lead Moniteau with Lake Pry adding 10.
Karns City, which needs to get to 11 wins by school policy to qualify for the postseason, is now 8-9 with four games left.
CLARION 66, NORTH CLARION 61
FRILLS CORNERS, Pa. – Despite a strong box-and-one defense played against him by North Clarion’s Keeven Weaver, Clarion’s Jonathan Smith scored 24 points to lead the Bobcats to a much-needed 66-61 win over the Wolve in KSAC North play.
The visiting Bobcats, who were without point guard Cam Craig for the second straight game, also got 11 points from Bo Miller, nine from Ceventh Lynch-Skunda, eight from Reed Anthony and seven from Ty Burford.
The game was tied at 25 at halftime before Clarion outscored the Wolves 21-15 in the third quarter. Smith then went 10 of 12 from the line in the fourth quarter – he was 12 of 15 for the game – to help seal the victory.
Nathan Banner led North Clarion with 18 points while hitting three 3-pointers. Zayn Hargenrader added 13 points and Weaver 10.
DUBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC 67, PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA 40
DUBOIS, Pa. – DuBois Central Catholic won for the eighth time in 11 games with a 67-40 win over visiting Philipsburg-Osceola in non-conference action.
Christian LaParne had 30 points, 10 rebounds, seven steals and four assists for the Cardinals, who also got 13 points and 13 rebounds from Joey Varischetti.
