EMPORIUM — In a game that at times resembled a 3-point contest, a few drives and free throws were key for Cameron County in finding win No. 11 on the season.
Now officially eligible for the District 9 Class A playoffs with its North Tier League victory over visiting Port Allegany, 66-60, the only question remains whether the Red Raiders coaching staff believes the team should enter the tournament.
At times during Monday’s game, the Red Raiders (11-7, 10-3 NTL) showed flashes of good, bad and ugly in a wayward fourth quarter. With four minutes left in the game, Cameron County led by 11, 55-44. But then Howie Stuckey, the freshman son of Port Allegany head coach Jeff Stuckey, went on a 5-0 run himself to bring the score to 62-55. Teammate David Talkington drained a trey to get within four, 62-58, before some late free throws let Cameron County escape on Senior Night.
“We’re reckless,” Red Raiders’ head coach Mark Guido said. “That’s what I told them in there. That’s got to be a reflection of me so I’ve got to fix something. What that means to me is when we’re reckless, we’re hurting ourselves. We’ve got to stop hurting ourselves.”
The almost disastrous ending preceded a third quarter that saw Cameron County break a 34-all halftime tie to go up by six when Howie Stuckey got called for a backcourt violation with four seconds left. The miscue was one of very few by the freshman — who scored a game-high 27 points on six 3s — but set up a last-shot attempt for Dino Brown, who drained the his only basket of the night at the buzzer for his team to take a 48-42 lead.
“That third quarter got us. I think we were down 12 and they’re not quitters,” Jeff Stuckey said about the resiliency of his team.
Only nine players dressed for the varsity game for the Gators.
“They’ll give you what they have.”
Despite the sizzling shooting performance by Howie Stuckey and having starters Brandon McCaslin (17) and David Talkington (10) in double figures, the Gators were done in by a lack of depth.
“I thought we got tired,” Jeff Stuckey said. “With our low numbers, we drop with experience pretty quick. With Senior Night and everything, I knew it would be another hard-fought battle on the road. They fought back.”
Aside from Howie Stuckey, Talkington and McCaslin, only forward Jordan Bell (6) scored for the Gators. Having a fifth or sixth player score a few baskets here and there could have made the difference in the game, the coach said.
“Once again, we had three kids in double figures. We’ve been pretty consistent with three, sometimes four kids in double figures so we’re real balanced scoring-wise.”
Both teams came out of the gate firing, with Stuckey and Talkington draining long shots for the Gators in the first quarter, while Shaffer connected on three of his own. The teams combined to make a staggering 17 3-pointers, with Port Allegany knocking down 11.
The Red Raiders, however, were able to utilize their size inside with Derek Rieder and Jake Walters to come up with buckets. Rieder finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Walters had 13 and eight. Adam Shaffer added 22 points.
“I thought Derek, especially early, played really well inside,” Guido said. “To be honest, the last time we played, that’s the only place we could get points was inside. Today, our outside game helped us a little bit. Adam (Shaffer) had a strong game.”
Now with four games remaining, Cameron County heads to Northern Potter on Wednesday. Port Allegany (11-10, 9-6 NTL), meanwhile, plays its regular season finale Monday against Smethport. The Gators
“Hopefully they’ll keep their heads up and hopefully win Monday night and sit and wait and see who we play for playoffs,” Jeff Stuckey said.
At CAMERON COUNTY
Port Allegany (60)
Brandon McCaslin 5 4-4 17, David Talkington 4 0-0 10, Howie Stuckey 9 3-3 27, Bell 3 0-0 6, Mackenzie Elliott 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 7-7 60.
Cameron County (66)
D. Brown 1 0-0 3, M. Brown 2 1-2 7, Adam Shaffer 7 5-7 22, Horning 1 0-0 2, Derek Rieder 9 1-3 19, Jake Walters 5 3-4 13. Totals: 25 10-16 66.
Port Allegany 15 34 42 60
Cameron County 17 34 48 66
Three-point goals: Port Allegany 11 (McCaslin 3, Talkington 2, Stuckey 6); Cameron County 6 (Shaffer 3, M. Brown 2, D. Brown)
Total fouls: Port Allegany 15, Cameron County 12. Fouled out: Bell (Port Allegany), Bauer (Cameron County)
JV: Cameron County 52-20
