By GREG CLARK

Era Sports Writer

CLARION — The District 9 champs will move on and a perennial District 9 powerhouse will not as Ridgway routed Eisenhower 62-32 and Elk County Catholic lost to Homer Center 47-45 in the first round of the boys’ PIAA Class A playoffs at Clarion University on Friday.

It was no shock the heavily-favored Elkers (21-6) routed Ike (15-10), who was replacing a disqualified Kennedy Catholic as the third rep out of District 10. But the crowd in Waldo S. Tippin Gymnasium seemed stunned the Crusaders had shot 38 percent from the floor and just 37 percent from the free throw to make an early exit from postseason action.

“We self-inflicted and picked a bad night to have a bad night,” said Aaron Straub, ECC’s 32nd-year (711-224) head coach. “You don’t have to look any further than the free throws. We were 6-for-13 in the first half, 1-for-6 in the second half and missed four front ends of one-and-ones.”

The first game featuring 9-2 ECC (23-5) and the third seed out of District 6 Homer-Center (23-3) was tied three times until the Wildcats from Indiana County opened a 16-10 advantage at the 2:19 mark on 6-for-8 shooting from the field.

Mitchell Struble then sandwiched two buckets in the paint around his 3-pointer from the top of the key to send the Crusaders in front 17-16 with 54 seconds left in the first quarter.

Trailing 18-17 after one, ECC enjoyed a 24-20 lead with 5:30 remaining in the half on layups by Brandon Schlimm and Cory Huff, and a left-wing triple from Ian Herzing.

Still leading by four, Huff dominated a two-minute stretch when the 6-5 senior scored six points, registered a blocked shot and a steal, and also took a charge on the defensive end for a 30-22 margin.

ECC would then misfire on its next six free throw attempts and the Wildcats’ John Ireland drilled a trey to cut Homer’s deficit to 31-29 at the half.

The third period commenced with four lead changes and one tie before Joe Capitosti and Ireland registered consecutive layins to give the Wildcats a 40-35 lead after three.

With 5:08 remaining, Huff finally ended an 8:03 ECC drought with a free throw to pare the disparity to 40-36.

Schlimm then drove the lane for a layup to register the first Crusader basket in over nine minutes to inch closer at 40-38 with 4:05 left.

A Huff layup pulled his troops within one at 43-42 with 2:20 showing, but the Crusaders missed the front end of the bonus and then were errant on a pair of wide-open threes as Homer Center extended its lead to 47-42 with 12 ticks left.

Ian Herzing used the glass to bury a trifecta from the left side to make it 47-45 with five seconds remaining, and then after a pair of Wildcat misses from the charity stripe at the other end, Schlimm’s prayer was not answered as his 50-footer careened off the side of the backboard as the horn sounded.

“As bad as we played offensively and shot free throws, we still had a chance with under a minute to be successful,” Straub declared. “It’s certainly a tough way to end the season losing the last two games and I’m disappointed. I think we’re a lot better than we played.”

Huff had a monster outing with 18 points on 6-for-12 from the field and also hauled in 19 rebounds.

“We knew Cory (Huff) could be successful tonight,” Straub noted. “Cory played well.”

In the nightcap, Jeremy Breier was a thorn in the side of the Eisenhower Knights all night as the 6-4 sophomore was 12-for-15 from the floor for a game-high 29 points.

“That was our plan to go to him (Breier),” said Tony Allegretto, the Elkers’ 10th-year (150-107) head mentor. “We knew we had to get the ball to Jeremy and we had a little trouble in the first quarter, but once we figured it out, he was able to put it in the hole.”

It was obvious the Knights didn’t have the horses to stay with the Elkers, but they did just that until an 8-0 run staked Ridgway to a 16-8 lead with 7:31 left in the half.

It was 22-16 when Joe Horning, shifting over to the point to replace the injured Josh Roselli, converted a traditional 3-point play and then Breier assisted on a Ben MacDonald layup to give the Elkers a 27-16 cushion at the intermission.

“He (Roselli) hurt the same knee in practice on Monday,” Allegretto offered. “He was limping badly and couldn’t have played tonight.”

The lead widened to 39-23 with 2:01 left in the third stanza when Breier scored seven points and MacDonald added three more with an old-fashion 3-pointer. MacDonald would end the night with 15 points on a perfect 5-for-5 from the field.

“He (MacDonald) is looking to score more,” Allegretto said. “He’s a good rebounder, our best defender and the leader of the team.”

Leading 42-24 after three, Breier tallied the first five points of the final period and then with 3:37 remaining it was Breier 29-Ike 27 when he swished a triple from the right wing. He also had five assists in the contest.

“We were trying to get him (Breier) 30 and he wanted the assists,” Allegretto recalled. “He’s done a great job as a sophomore and it’s going to be fun watching him the next two years.”

Ridgway will advance to the second round versus 7-3 Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic (16-10) on Tuesday at a site and time to be announced.