EBENSBURG — It looks like the Elk County Catholic Crusaders have finally solved this overtime thing after ECC rallied from a 14-point deficit to post a 56-50 overtime win over Bishop Carroll in the first round of the PIAA Class A playoffs at Central Cambria High School on Friday.
After suffering a 37-33 defeat to Ridgway during the regular season and a 49-40 setback to Clarion-Limestone in the District 9 semifinals last week, the Crusaders pulled off an improbable comeback to stun the No. 1 seed out of District 6 in front of their own rabid crowd.
“This is our third overtime game of the year and both of our losses of this year were in overtime,” said Aaron Straub, ECC’s 33rd-year (735-226) head coach. “I think we learned a lot from those overtime losses and it helped us during this game. I thought our kids were comfortable despite playing just a mile from Bishop Carroll.”
The 9-3 representative jumped out to a 7-2 lead on a layup and a 3-pointer by Mitchell Struble with 3:03 left in the first quarter, but the Huskies (24-2) answered with a 10-0 run to lead 12-7 with 6:47 remaining in the half.
Buckets by Struble and Ryan Seelye helped them claw back to 12-11 before a 3-point play from David Swatsworth and a trifecta by Scott Lucas at the buzzer provided Carroll with a 20-14 margin at the intermission.
The Huskies emerged from the locker room in the third stanza with guns a blazing as treys by Raymond Watt, Nik Suckinos and Lucas increased the lead to 29-18 at the 5:38 juncture.
“They (Huskies) came out in the third quarter and they hit some 3’s and we went to the man,” Straub noted.
Bishop Carroll then relished its biggest lead of the night at 38-24 before Struble cut the count to 38-27 at the end of the third.
The Crusaders were still staring at a baker’s dozen in the fourth when triples by Struble and Jeff Wehler, and then layins from Struble pared the disparity to 47-41 midway through the fourth.
“You’re down 14 and you need to do something differently and we were fortunate to get some turnovers,” Straub stated.
Struble then drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key to slice the margin to 47-46 with 2:32 left. After the hosts held the ball from nearly 90 seconds but could only get one a slim point out of the ordeal, Wehler converted a driving layup in the lane to deadlock the contest with 16 seconds left.
The Huskies had one last gasp before the horn but ECC’s Mitchell Smith had a steal at the buzzer.
In the extra session a reverse layup by Seelye on a assist by Wehler, a free throw from Seelye and two more from the charity stripe by Nate DaCanal padded a 53-48 lead with 1:28 remaining.
The Huskies could muster just one shot from the field and that was an air ball with 1:15 left.
Finally Brandon Martinazzi connected at the 35-second mark, but Bishop Carroll misfired on its two tries and two free throws by DaCanal and one more from Smith ended the night at 56-50.
“We didn’t shoot our free throws late, but our kids were really gutsy and they hung in there for a team win”” Straub noted.
The Crusaders, who were paced by Struble with 21 points, will face 10-2 Farrell (21-4) in the second round on Tuesday.
ELK CATHOLIC (56)
Hoffman 1-0-2-2, Struble 8-1-2-21, Wehler 2-0-0-5, Smith 0-1-3-1, Singer 2-0-2-4, Seelye 5-1-2-11, DaCanal 2-8-9-12, Totals 20-11-20-56
BISHOP CARROLL (50)
Watt 3-0-0-7, Lucas 5-0-0-12, Suckinos 2-0-0-5, Martinazzi 8-0-3-17, Swatsworth 2-5-8-9, Totals 20-5-11-50
By Quarters
ECC 7 7 13 21 8 —56
BC 10 10 18 10 2 — 50
Three-point FGs: Elk Catholic (5) — Struble 4, Wehler; Bishop Carroll
(5) —Lucas 2, Watt, Martinazzi, Suckinos
