It will be two old friends banging heads once again in the
District 9 Class A boys’ championship as Coudersport advanced with
a 57-48 semifinal win over Ridgway before a packed house at the
Pitt-Bradford Sport & Fitness Center on Wednesday.
The third-seeded Falcons (24-2) will travel to Clarion
University on Saturday (7 p.m.) to face the top-seeded Elk County
Catholic Crusaders (27-0), who are currently the No. 2 team in the
state. It will be a rematch of last year’s 71-46 victory by ECC in
the D-9 title game.
“We’re excited to get a chance to play them (Crusaders) again,”
said Chris Fink, Coudy head coach. “This is the best Elk County
team I’ve ever seen, including teams I’ve played against and
coached against. It will be a fun game because our idea is to go
down there and give it our best shot.”
Coudy was having fun for a while Wednesday night as the North
Tier League champs used nine points from Jake Acker and seven more
from Ryan Jones in exploding to a 16-6 lead with 1:02 left in the
first quarter.
“Jake (Acker) had a couple of early buckets and Ryan (Jones) has
been there all year scoring for us,” Fink stated. “They’ve been a
one-two punch for us all season and got us off to a good start
tonight.”
The seventh-seeded Elkers (18-9) then demonstrated they had a
dynamic senior duo of their own as Joe Brennen registered a pair of
traditional three-point plays and Steve James connected for three
buckets to give Ridgway a 21-20 advantage with 2:23 remaining in
the half.
“Brennen hurt us inside and we couldn’t keep him off the
boards,” Fink admitted. “And they (Elkers) did a fantastic job of
keeping us off the boards. We were one-and-done and settling for
some outside shots. We knew James and Brennen would get their
points.”
Brennen nailed a free throw and James added two more from the
charity stripe as Ridgway carried a 24-20 margin into the locker
room at the intermission.
“In the first quarter we had some trouble stopping them
(Falcons),” said Tony Allegretto, Ridgway head coach. “In the
second quarter we only allowed four points. If we would’ve played
that way in the first quarter, we would’ve had a nice lead at
halftime.”
Ridgway then opened an eight-point cushion when layups by James
and Kevin Close staked the Elkers to a 28-20 count just 24 seconds
into the third period.
After six points by Acker and two more from David Babcock cut
the Coudy deficit to 30-28, James converted a three-point play to
extend the Ridgway lead to 33-28 with 2:23 left in the third.
Layins by Acker and Sean Mickle altered the disparity to 33-32
after three, and then the Falcons vaulted in front 35-33 on a
trifecta from the left wing by Acker nine seconds into the fourth
stanza.
It was knotted at 37-all when Babcock drove the lane, banked
home the layup and then drilled the ensuing free throw for a 40-37
Coudy advantage with 5:51 showing.
“That (Babcock’s three-point play) really turned the momentum,”
Fink recalled. “He had the angle on the kid and finished
strong.”
The Falcons then owned a 45-39 margin on a deep three from
Acker, but the Elkers answered with five straight points to change
the difference to 45-44 at the 3:07 juncture.
It was 49-46 Coudy when a steal by Acker led to a Jones’ layup
with 1:09 left. Jones then made both ends of a one-and-one and John
Hau added another free throw to give the Falcons an insurmountable
54-46 bulge with 36 ticks on the clock.
“Everything went against us in the last four minutes,”
Allegretto lamented. “They (Falcons) had a lot of steals and
layups, and that takes your defense out of it. But Coudersport knew
they were in a game.”
Acker finished with 29 points and Jones had 11 points for Coudy.
James had 21 points on 9-for-9 from the foul line and Brennen
contributed 16 points for the Elkers, who will play A-C Valley
(21-6) in the consolation game in Clarion on Saturday (11 a.m.).
All four of the semifinalists will advance to the PIAA Class A
tournament.
