PORT ALLEGANY — Two of the most unlikely candidates may have produced the game of the night in District 9 on Friday.
Down 26 points at halftime, Port Allegany completed a furious rally with a buzzer-beater from Drake Amell as time expired in the fourth to stun Northern Potter 70-68.
The Gators held onto the ball for the final 25 seconds of the game before Drew Benson threw the ball into Amell who banked in the game-winning layup. The shot helped snap a six game losing skid for Port A (5-10, 3-8).
“We finally started to hit from three in the second half and we kept chipping away little by little,” Port Allegany assistant Kyle Babcock said. “We made our free throws down the stretch and came up with that shot.”
Both teams certainly had plenty of chances to capitalize at the free-throw line. The two squads combined for a whopping 56 fouls in just 32 minutes, with Northern Potter sinking nearly half (30-for-35) of its 68 points in the game at the charity stripe.
The Panthers’ Carter Anderson went 16-for-20 at the free-throw line as part of his game-high 34 points, while Howie Stuckey made nine free throws for Port.
The game couldn’t have started out much better for Northern Potter (2-14, 1-10), as they outscored Port Allegany 23-11 in the second quarter to take a seemingly insurmountable 42-26 halftime lead.
The loss sent the Panthers (2-14, 1-10) to their 10th straight defeat.
AT PORT ALLEGANY
Northern Potter (68)
Carter Anderson 8 16-20 34, Foster Kosa 2 3-4 8, Lehman 1 0-2 2, Slawson 3 5-8 12, W. Kosa 0 1-2 1, Cowburn 0 4-7 4, Byron 0 0-2 0, Sprow 3 1-4 7. Totals: 17 30-35 68.
NoPo 19 42 55 68
Port 15 26 47 70
Port Allegany (70)
Card 5 3-6 16, Howie Stuckey 7 9-10 28, McNeil 1 0-2 2, Smoker 0 2-2 2, Guererro 4 2-2 11, Moses 2 4-7 8, Edgell 0 0-0 0, Amell 1 1-2 3. Totals: 30 21-29 70.
Total fouls: NoPo 26 Port Allegany 30; fouled out: Cowburn (NoPo); Edgell, Guerrero (Port)
JV: Port A won
Elk Catholic 36, Johnsonburg 34
JOHNSONBURG — Another strong challenger, and another test passed for the undefeated Elk Catholic Crusaders.
ECC (17-0, 9-0) held off a late Johnsonburg rally to win its third game of the week and keep going on its march to 22-0.
“Tonight’s game would have been very easy to get away from us,” Elk CC head coach Aaron Straub said. “We lead most of the game until the last two minutes when Johnsonburg took a one point lead. We got a steal with about a minute to go and Regis Wortman converted a 3 point play to put us back up by one point. We got a couple of stops and Will Uberti went 4 for 4 down the stretch from the line in the last minute.”
Wortman’s clutch 3-pointer gave him 10 points in the game, as he and teammate Carter Lindemuth were the only Crusaders with double-digits in the low scoring affair.
Austin Green hit four 3-pointers and had 16 points to lead Johnsonburg (10-5, 4-2).
The Rams gave Elk Catholic a much stiffer test than their first meeting: a 68-42 Crusader victory.
“This was a good week for us with three very tough opponents,” Straub said. “Our kids did a very good job with adjusting as two of the three games were rescheduled to different nights. Give credit to Johnsonburg as they played a tough road game on Wednesday and had to bounce back tonight as well”.
AT JOHNSONBURG
Elk Catholic (36)
Carter Lindemuth 3 1-2 10, Wehler 1 0-0 3, Uberti 1 4-4 6, Klawuhn 1 0-0 2, Regis Wortman 4 1-2 10, Schneider 1 0-0 2, Briendel 1 0-0 3.Totals: 12 6-8 36
Johnsonburg (34)
Schloder 0 2-2 2, Garret Gregori 1 0-0 2, Gino Gregory 2 0-1 4, Austin Green 6 0-0 16, Watts 1 2-2 4, Bliss 2 2-2 6. Totals: 12 6-7 34
ECC 5 19 28 36
J-burg 7 13 27 34
Three-point goals: ECC 6 (Lindemuth 3, Wehler, Wortman, Breindel), Johnsonburg 4 (Green 4) ;total fouls: ECC 10, Johnsonburg 15. fouled out: none
JV: ECC won 32-23
Coudersport 74, Otto-Eldred 46
COUDERSPORT — Another 30-point performance from Owen Chambers and some stout first-half defense sent Coudersport to another dominant league win Friday.
Chambers hit seven 3-pointers to finish with a game-high 30 to help his Falcons (13-1, 11-0) to their seventh straight victory.
Chambers is now just 40 points shy of Coudersport’s all-time scoring record of 1,907 set by Brian Jones.
The senior has two chances to break the mark next week as Coudy hosts Johnsonburg Monday and then travels to Smethport Wednesday.
Chambers also got plenty of help from his teammates on Friday. Hayden Keck registered a double-double with 16 points and 11 assists while Daniel Frame notched 10 points.
Otto-Eldred, which lost to Coudy 70-49 in the season’s first meeting, fell behind 16-3 in the first quarter.
Jake Merry sank five 3-pointers to finish with a team-high 15 points for the Terrors (6-8, 4-7).
AT COUDERSPORT
Otto-Eldred (46)
Chase Sebastian 2 0-0 4, Connelly 1 1-2 3, Sheeler 2 1-2 5, VanScoter 0 1-2 1, Grigsby 1 0-0 2, Jimerson 1 0-0 2, Co. Sebastian 1 0-0 2, Braden Maholic 5 2-6 12, Jake Merry 5 0-0 15. Totals: 18 5-12 46.
O-E 3 18 29 46
Coudy 16 38 59 74
Coudersport (74)
Daniel Frame 4 0-0 10, Owen Chambers 8 7-8 30, Hayden Keck 7 0-0 16, VanWhy 1 0-0 2, Easton 1 0-0 3, Keglovits 3 0-0 6, Gleason 2 3-4 7.Totals: 26 10-12 74
Three-point goals: O-E 5 (Merry 5), Coudy 12 (Frame 2, Chambers 7, Keck 2, Easton 1) ;total fouls: O-E 15, Coudy 12; fouled out: none
JV: Coudy won
