ST. MARYS, Pa. – Isaiah Jackson scored eight of his game-high 22 points in a decisive 12-3 third-quarter run for Johnsonburg in a 48-37 win at St. Marys in the AML semifinals.
Boys KSAC Semifinals • Boys/Girls Recaps
The teams were tied at 22 at halftime after Jackson scored eight second-quarter points to help the Rams (17-6) erase a 10-7 deficit after eight minutes.
Jackson then took over in the third quarter to help Johnsonburg build a 34-25 lead heading into the final eight minutes.
Five different Rams then scored in the fourth quarter to help maintain the lead.
In all, eight different Johnsonburg players scored with Luke Zimmerman adding six points in the victory.
Quin Gavazzi led St. Marys (10-13) with 13 points with Matt Davis, Anthony Nedzinski, and Dan Schutz each adding six tallies.
Johnsonburg will face Elk County Catholic in the title game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17, at at St. Marys High School.
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 51, RIDGWAY 39
ST. MARYS, Pa. – Elk County Catholic built a double-digit lead early in the second quarter and maintained it for the rest of the game in a 51-39 AML semifinal win over Ridgway.
The Crusaders (22-1) went up 20-10 on a Colby Nussbaum bucket at the 5:18 mark of the second quarter and maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the game.
“I think we played pretty well,” Nussbaum said. “We matched their energy for sure. We got beat up on the defensive rebounds, though. They got a lot of rebounds.”
See Nussbaum’s full interview:
The Crusaders maintained that 10-point lead into halftime, 35-25, and put the game away in the third quarter with a 12-4 run that extended the lead to 37-19, capped by a 3-pointer from Jordan Wasko.
Wasko had five points during the run, while Nussbaum, Timmy Brannock and Lance O’Neil all had buckets during the surge.
Ridgway (13-10) got as close as 11, 41-30 on a Jackson Kilpeck bucket with 4:01 to play, but ECC responded with two buckets from O’Neil and another from Nussbaum.
“I was really happy with the way we played with two exceptions,” said Elk County Catholic coach Aaron Straub. “Number one we had four straight turnovers in the fourth quarter when we stopped looking at the basket. The second thing I was disappointed with is they did a number on us on the offensive boards. Other than those two things, I thought we made a lot of big strides.”
Wasko led ECC with 15 points, while O’Neil and Nussbaum had 10 each.
Alex Merritt led Ridgway with 21 points, 10 of which came in the fourth quarter.
