KANE — The Coudersport Falcons held off a Bishop Guilfoyle rally to claim a 64-57 victory on Friday in the first round of the PIAA Class A basketball playoffs and advance to the second round.

Coudersport had four players in double figures. Darren Keglovits scored 16 points, Owen Chambers 15, Jared Green 15 and David Rigas 10 and for the Marauders Josh Trybus scored a game-high 20 points and Mark Conrad 10 in a losing effort.

Bishop Guilfoyle opened the game with two quick baskets to jump to a 4-0 lead just a minute into the game. Darren Keglovits scored the Falcons first basket to cut the lead in half. Jared Green scored a layup and was fouled making the free throw to put Coudersport ahead 5-4 with 5:43 to play.

Both teams went through a dry spell with each team committing a series of turnovers until Green connected on a short jumper to put the Falcons up 7-4 at the halfway point of the quarter. Luke Frederick put the Marauders to within a point 7-6 with 3:47 left in the quarter. Green scored two baskets with a David Rigas three point shot sandwiched in between for a 12-6 lead with 3:08 to go. Darren Keglovits added another basket on a slicing drive before Guilfoyle’s Mark Conrad hit the back side of two free throws for a 14-7 with 1:10 on the clock. Trybus made one of two free throws for a 14-8 score with just :37 seconds to go. Keglovits hit a shot at the Buzzer to give the Falcons a 16-8 first quarter lead.

“We had a balanced first quarter offensively” stated Falcon Coach Brian Furman. “We were a little off on some of our defensive shifts and let them get some shots that thankfully they missed” added Furman.  

Coudersport opened the second quarter with a full-court press where Aaron Wolfinger and Keglovits both committed fouls. Derek Keglovits banged home a three-point basket to give the Falcons a 19-8 lead with 6:40 to go in the half.

Trybus hit a field goal and a three point basket to cut the lead to 19-13 with 5:53 to go. After a Falcon timeout Guilfoyle stole the ball and Evan Chadbourn’s layup cut the score to 19-15.

Darren Keglovits sliced the lane to put the Falcons back up 21-15. Both teams traded baskets until Green was fouled on a layup hitting the free throw to give the Falcons a 23-17 lead with 2:51 left in the half. Guilfoyle closed the gap to 26-22 behind a Trybus three-point bomb with 2:22 to go Again both teams traded basket before Rigas score a three point bomb to give the Falcons a 31-24 lead with :50 to go. Chambers finished the scoring with a field goal to give the Falcons a 33-24 lead at the half.

“We didn’t see the Rigas kid score much in the films we saw of them and give the kid credit he hit the shots we let him have” remarked Bishop Guilfoyle Coach Chris Drenning.

The second half was a tail of two quarters with the Falcons defense holding the Marauders to just 9 points while building a 51-33 lead. The Falcons forced seven turnovers mostly via the steal. Trybus connected on a deep three point basket to cut the lead to 33-27. Rigas hit a three pointer, Wolfinger a basket and Owen Chambers banged home two three’s to open a 44-27 lead with 4:19 left in the third quarter. Andrew Irwin ended the Marauders dry streak with a basket to make the score 44-29 with 3:18 remaining. Chambers added a field goal and Guilfoyle’s Chadbourn scored one for the Marauders for a 46-31 score with just 2:58 left. Green fired a three point basket with :56 seconds left to give the Falcons a 49-31 lead. Both teams traded baskets to give the Falcons a 51-33 lead with a quarter to go.

“We didn’t handle their press very well in the third quarter and we certainly didn’t protect the ball” stated Drenning.

In the fourth quarter Guilfoyle turned the tables on the Falcons Darren Keglovits put the Falcons ahead 53-33 when Chadbourn answered with a three point basket to cut the lead to 53-36. a Guilfoyle free throw cut the lead to 53-37. with 6:43 left in the game.

The game changed with the Falcons next possession as the Marauders put their full court trap defense in play. It resulted in a Irwin layup off of a steal for a 53-39 score. Darren Keglovits scored a basket to give the Falcons a 55-39 lead. Conrad connected on a three point bucket off of a steal and that was followed by a two point basket again off of a steal to cut the lead to 55-44 with 4:32 to go. After a Falcon timeout both teams traded steals before keglovits blocked a Marauder attempt with 3:17 remaining in the game. Chambers ended a two and a half scoring drought hitting both ends of a one and one. to give the falcons a 57-44 lead. Irwin added a field goal off of a steal and Nick Scaramozzino hit two field goals to cut the lead to 57-50 with 2:08 left in the quarter. Chambers hit the front half of a one and one to put the Falcons up 58-50.Guilfoyle cut the lead to 58-54 behind a three point basket with 1;12 on the clock. The Marauders were forced to foul and Keglovits hit four free throws with a Rigas free throw in between to put the Falcons up 63-54. Luke Ruggery finished Guilfoyle’s scoring with a three point basket and Wolfinger added a free throw to get the final of 64-54.

“We will take the win” a relieved Furman stated. “We didn’t handle the press very well and luckily we built a big enough lead to survive this one. Credit the kids for not panicking and hitting our free throws at the end. We played a balanced first half and hit our open Shoots. David Rigas stepped up tonight he hit big baskets when they left him open. Our defense came up big in the third quarter. Now we will wait and see who we play.”

“We didn’t execute our offense tonight and credit Coudersport for playing good defense. We didn’t have good shot selection tonight and they made their foul shots down the stretch. I feel bad for our seniors especially when some of them didn’t get a lot of playing time this season. They did what we saw on film and we didn’t and we didn’t do a good job of stopping Rigas left him open and he hit” lamented Drenning.

Bishop Guilfoyle closes out their season with a 16-10 record and was the District 6 three seed. The District 9 two-seeded Falcons are 23-3 on the season and will play Kennedy Catholic, who defeated Jeanette 75-42, at a time and site to be determined.             

BISHOP GUILFOYLE (57)

Josh Trybus 7-2-4-20, Irwin 3-0-1-6, Ruggery 1-1-2-4, Mark Conrad 4-1-2-10, Chadbourn 3-0-0-7, Scaramozzino 2-0-0-4, Frederick 3-0-0-6, Totals 25-4-9-57

COUDERSPORT (64)

Wolfinger 2-1-3-5, Owen Chamber 5-3-5-15, David Rigas 3-1-2-10, Whitman 1-0-0-3, Jared Green 6-2-2-15, Darren Keglovits 6-4-4-16. De. Keglovits 0-0-0-0, Totals 23-10-16-64

By Quarters:

Bishop Guilfoyle 8  16  9  24 — 57

Coudersport 16  17  18  13 — 64

Three-point FGs: BG-Trybus 4, Ruggery 1, Conrad 1, Chadbourn 1, Coudersport-Rigas 3, Chambers 2, Whitman 1, Green 1