Elk County Catholic’s Aaron Straub has won a lot games in his 37 years coaching the Crusaders.
But three undefeated regular seasons in four years? That had even the fourth-winningest coach in Pennsylvania basketball history taking a step back following Wednesday’s victory to let that accomplishment sink in.
Straub’s ECC boys rolled to a 76-53 victory over the Bradford Owls in a D9 League matchup, sending the Owls to their third straight loss, and propelling the Crusaders to their 22nd win and deeper into the State record books.
“We were at practice about four weeks ago and one of our guys looked up at the banners in the school gym and he said, ‘Coach, do you mean we’ve only had only four undefeated seasons in the school’s history?’ And I tried to explain to him what a tough assignment that is. That is really a tough thing to do,” Straub said.
Indeed, Wednesday’s win was Elk’s fifth undefeated season in school history, all of them coming since 2000.
Maybe most impressive about this year’s 22-game run was that Elk won six of its games by five points or fewer, including two of its last four wins in overtime.
“There’s a lot of things that have to happen for that to happen,” said Straub, who has over 830 career victories. “You have to stay healthy, you have to be fortunate, and we were really fortunate. We had four games this year where we were down in the last minute and we played games where teams have had shots to beat us in the last 10 seconds. And we won some overtime games too, so I am really proud of the guys.”
As for Wednesday’s contest, the Crusaders flexed their muscles early and often on both sides of the ball. Before most Bradford fans had even settled into their seats after Senior Night festivities, Elk jumped out to a 16-4 lead and forced Bradford head coach Brian Hobbs to burn an early timeout.
But regardless of what press-break formation or defensive strategy the Owls tried to use, there was no stopping Elk in the first half. The Crusaders shot over 65 percent in the opening 16 minutes and roared to a 44-18 lead.
“They are a good team, they are as fast and they execute as well as any Elk team that I’ve seen in awhile. They don’t have the star, but they play well together,” Hobbs said. “To beat a team like that you need to play hard and you need to execute and then that’s when the baskets make the difference. Tonight, our execution didn’t come through and that was the difference in the game.”
Bradford’s 53 points were actually its highest point total in five games, but most of the Owls’ offensive output came in the second half when they outscored Elk CC 35-30 with the game mostly out of reach.
“The second half tonight we sort of got a little off the track,” Straub said. “Bradford played a real good second half; they played real hard. These are the kinds of games that will really help us as we keep going.”
Alex Breindel (23 points), Alec Wehler (20) and Regis Wortman (20) led the Crusaders’ high-powered offense. Wortman played an incredible first half, sinking seven field goals to finish with 19 points at the intermission.
“Regis makes us good,” Straub said. “For all the things that he does that people see, he probably does twice as many things that when you’re watching you don’t see that help make us good. He’s worked extremely hard at his game and he certainly played well tonight.”
The Crusaders shot 57 percent from the field in the game, including a 9-for-20 effort from the 3-point line. Breindel downed six of those 3’s, including three in the second quarter. Bradford shot 48 percent but were also outrebounded 26-18 and had 17 turnovers.
The Owls (9-12) have now lost three straight with still two regular season contests remaining to try and get some momentum going heading into the D-9 playoffs.
“Heading into the postseason, the guys have to get excited about where we could be and where we could end up. Hopefully that’s enough fuel to kind of turn things around,” Hobbs said.
“There are a lot of little things and some details that we have to fix and we will be OK. But it’s the guys deciding that they are going to fix those little things or pay attention in practice and in film and we are going to fix those little things that translate out onto the court.”
Hobbs also highlighted the performances of his four seniors — Gavin Babcock, Donny Pattison, Blake Bryant and Anthony Bruno — who combined to score 17 points in their penultimate home game following a proper pregame send-off.
Bruno received a roar from the crowd when he sank his first career bucket — a 3-pointer — with less than a minute remaining.
Elk Catholic, meanwhile, receives no rest after its impressive victory over Bradford, as the Crusaders will host DuBois Catholic in the first round of the AML playoffs tonight.
Straub thinks that the short turnaround will help his guys refocus on what should be a long postseason run.
“I talked to the guys and told them that it was a 22-game journey that ended tonight and now it’s hopefully a two-game journey in the AML, three games in Districts and then if we are fortunate enough to get on to the state tournament,” he said. “We won’t have any time to think about.”
“They are going to come in and play hard so we will certainly have to keep our focus.
When we are focused and try to do the things that we worked hard on this year, we are a very competitive team.”
AT BRADFORD
Elk CC (76)
Regis Wortman 7 6-8 20, Alex Breindel 8 1-1 23, Brady Schneider 3 1-2 10, Alec Wehler 5 4-4 20, Lindemuth 2 1-2 5, Klawuhn 1 0-0 2, Gregory 1 0-0 2. Totals: 27 13-19 76
Bradford (53)
Steve Knowlton 5 0-0 13, Tyler Gigliotti 5 0-0 11, Babcock 3 1-1 7, Pattison 1 0-1 2, Nuzzo 1 1-2 3, Bryant 2 1-1 5, Kane 0 2-2 2, Schmidt 1 2-2 4, Bruno 1 0-0 3, Wesmiller 0 3-4 3. Totals: 19 10-13 53
Elk Catholic 21 44 56 76
Bradford 7 18 33 53
Three-point goals: ECC 9 (Breindel 6, Schneider 3), Bradford 5 (Knowlton 3, Gigliotti, Bruno); total fouls: Bradford 12, ECC 14; fouled out: none
JV: Bradford won 57-43 (Dixon 17)
