PUNXSUTAWNEY — It’s not often that a team can overcome 25 turnovers in a regular season game. In the second round of the PIAA playoffs, with so much on the line, it’s pretty much impossible.
Bishop Carroll utilized a full-court press to perfection and defeated Elk County Catholic 57-47 on Tuesday night at Punxsutawney High School to advance to the PIAA Class A Quarterfinals.
The Crusaders, fresh off of a 66-40 win last round, began the game where they left off. The Crusaders controlled the pace in the first quarter and held their own against the Huskies. In the second quarter, the scoring opening up for both teams and at the end of 16 minutes, the score was nodded up at 22.
However, ECC’s 10 first-half turnovers and numerous unforced errors proved to really foreshadow how the second half would play out.
Whether the Crusaders’ final turnover tally was 25 or closer to 30, as ECC head coach Aaron Straub suggested, it wasn’t pretty. Bishop Carroll’s press forced the Crusaders to play frantic all night, leading to plenty of problems on both ends of the court.
“You can get away with turnovers if they don’t turn them into scores,” Straub said. “But where we threw them the ball, they were able to turn the turnovers into scores and that really hurt us.”
The turnovers also put the Crusaders in plenty of bad positions defensively, leading to a discrepancy in fouls as well. For the game, ECC committed 20 fouls and sent Bishop Carroll to the line 19 times. The Crusaders, meanwhile, had just seven free throw attempts.
“When you get sped up, and you play faster than you’re used to playing, sometimes bad things happen,” Straub said.
And while ECC was able to survive its mistakes in the first half, it caught up to them in the second.
The duo of Tristan McDannell and Carson Ertter combined for 28 of Carroll’s 57 points, but it was really McDannell who helped the Huskies ice the game away.
After Brady Schneider hit a free throw to give ECC a 38-36 lead with 6:30 left, McDannell took over. He hit a 3-pointer on the Huskies next possession, and then got a steal on the subsequent inbounds pass to lay in two more easy points. McDannell had 12 points in the fourth as part of a game-high 22 points for the Huskies.
In the span of those 15 seconds, the Crusaders went from being up two to down three. The momentum from that sequence shifted the game, and ECC was never able to recover.
“We weren’t very good tonight, and they were,” Straub said. “They were as quick as we knew they were and we just weren’t very good with the ball.
In a game that featured a slow pace and a 34-32 score after three quarters, it was clear that the winner was going to come from whichever team could start scoring in the final eight minutes. Aside from McDannell and Ertter, four other Huskies had points in the final frame, as part of a 23-point fourth quarter for Bishop Carroll.
Bishop Carroll had scored 86 points in their first round matchup, so Straub knew the offense was coming. However, aside from senior Ryan Newton, the Crusaders failed to match Bishop Carroll with scoring of their own down the stretch. ECC had 15 points in the fourth quarter, but when they needed a make from the perimeter, it just wouldn’t go down.
Bishop Carroll hit five 3-pointers in the game, while ECC had just a single make from beyond the arc.
To make matters worse, Newton fouled out with just over three minutes remaining. Newton finished with a team-high 17 points, and was the only Crusader in double-figures.
Tuesday’s game marked the fourth consecutive season the Crusaders made it to the second round of the PIAA playoffs. It’s another mark of excellence for Straub and the program, who have won at least one state playoff game in eight of the previous 14 years.
With the loss still fresh, Straub implored his players to remember the positives.
“I told them ‘Don’t let this game and this disappointment define your season,’ Straub said. “We accomplished a great deal. We weren’t physically at our best down the stretch and it showed.”
“The message was how proud of them that I am of the way they represented the school and the way they represented our program,” Straub added. “We have a mantra to leave the program in a better place than you found it. Our guys worked real hard at that.”
For Bishop Carroll, their season continues on Friday in the state quarterfinals against the winner of the Vincentian Academy/Shade game.
AT PUNXSUTAWNEY
Bishop Carroll (57)
Tristan McDannell 6 7-8 22 Carston Ertter 5 4-6 16, Burk 1 2-2 4, Eckenrode 2 0-2 5, Semelsberger 1 0-0 3, Rodkey 1 1-1 3, Karlheim 1 0-0 2, Ratchford 1 0-0 2. Totals: 18 14-19 57
Elk County Catholic (47)
Ryan Newton 7 2-2 17, Breindel 4 0-2 8, Gregory 4 0-0 8, Wortman 2 0-0 4, Klawuhn 2 0-0 4, Schneider 1 1-1 3, Weheler 1 0-0 2, Lindemuth 0 1-2 1. Totals: 21 4-7 47
Carroll 7 22 34 57
ECC 10 22 32 47
Three-point goals: Carroll 5 (McDannell 3, Ertter, Eckenrode, Semelsberger) ECC 1 (Newton); Total fouls: ECC 20, Carroll 13; fouled out: Newton (ECC)
