ST. MARYS, Pa. – Eric Gustafson’s layup with seven seconds left gave defending champion and fourth-seeded Ridgway a 35-33 come-from-behind win over fifth-seeded Redbank Valley in the District 9 Class 2A boys quarterfinals at St. Marys High School.
Gustafson found a hole in the back of the Redbank Valley zone and received a pass from Aaron Sorg for the go-ahead layup.
With a timeout left, Bulldog assistant head coach Jake Dougherty, coaching in place of head coach Emmanuel Marshall who was injured in a car accident a couple of weeks ago, decided to let the game play out, and Owen Clouse’s shot from the volleyball attack line was just a bit strong. Clouse let go of the shot with between one and two seconds left on the clock and a Ridgway defender closing in on him.
Watch the full final game sequence courtesy of Ridgway head coach Eric Herzing.
Ridgway (17-7), playing at St. Marys instead of on its home court because of water damage suffered a few weeks ago at the Elkers gym, trailed 30-25 late in the third quarter and 32-28 56 seconds into the fourth quarter.
But the Elkers didn’t allow Redbank Valley (11-12) to make a field goal in the final eight minutes – the Bulldogs were 0-for-6 – and outscored the Bulldogs 7-3 in the quarter.
Alex Merritt tied the game at 33 with a basket with 2:36 to play, and Redbank Valley held the ball until just over a half minute was left when it turned it over with 34.6 seconds to play.
Out of a timeout, Ridgway, which lost on a last-second shot in the same gym to Elk County Catholic in overtime in the AML Title Game Saturday, held the ball until Sorg found the open Gustafson for the go-ahead layup.
Merritt had a strong game for Ridgway with a game-high 16 points to go with nine rebounds. Sorg added nine points.
Breckin Minich, Braylon Wagner, and Mason Clouse each scored seven points for Redbank Valley.
Ridgway held the Bulldogs’ leading scorer, Owen Clouse, to three points on a first-quarter 3-pointer.
Ridgway will play the winner of the 8/1 game between Curwensville at Otto-Eldred in the semifinals March 1 at a time and location to be determined. The Curwensville/Otto-Eldred game was originally set for Wednesday but was postponed until 6 p.m. Thursday because of weather-related issues.
KARNS CITY 46, PORT ALLEGANY 36
KARNS CITY, Pa. – Using a 20-3 run out of halftime that included a 13-0 start third-seeded Karns City beat sixth-seeded Port Allegany, 46-36, in the District 9 Class 2A quarterfinals at Karns City
The Gremlins (21-4) led 19-14 at halftime but outscored Port Allegany 14-3 in the third quarter led by eight points from Hobie Bartoe
Building the lead to 39-17 early in the fourth quarter, the Gremlins watched Port Allegany try to rally behind the hot shooting of Drew Evens who nailed four of Port Allegany’s five fourth-quarter 3-pointers.
Taite Beighley led Karns City with 18 points, five assists, four steals, and two rebounds with Bartoe adding 13 points, five assists, and three rebounds, and Micah Rupp contributing six points, eight rebounds, and four steals.
Evens had a game-high 20 points for Port Allegany (13-8) while adding five rebounds, three steals, and two blocked shots.
Jarrod Funk chipped in six points for the Gators while Noah Archer had five points and five assists and Blaine Moses six rebounds.
Karns City will take on second-seeded Clarion-Limestone, a 61-37 winner over Kane, in the semifinals March 1 at a time and place to be announced. It will be the fourth meeting between the Gremlins and Lions who split the regular-season meetings before C-L won the KSAC Title Game Saturday.
CLARION-LIMESTONE 61, KANE 37
STRATTANVILLE, Pa. – Second-seeded Clarion-Limestone started on a 12-0 run and never looked back on its way to a 61-37 win over visiting Kane, the seventh seed, in the District 9 Class 2A quarterfinals.
The Lions (23-2) didn’t allow Kane (10-13) a basket until midway through the first quarter and led 22-5 at the end of eight minutes and 43-14 at halftime.
Six different C-L players scored in the opening quarter led by seven points from Riley Klingensmith. Klingensmith then added six more points in the second quarter with Alex Painter chipping in five.
The Lions came away with 15 steals in the game led by six from Jase Ferguson, who made his return to the lineup after missing the last six games with an elbow injury. Jordan Hesdon chipped in with four steals.
The scary thing for the rest of D9 is C-L played far from a perfect game missing numerous easy layups (the Lions shot 30.4% – 25-82) – while going 6 of 15 from the free-throw line and not scoring in the fourth quarter, which was dominated by a running Mercy Rule clock.
Klingensmith led the Lions with 15 points while adding six rebounds and talked about the victory on the Janney Montgomery Scott in Clarion QR Coach’s Chalkboard Show after the game.
Painter added 11 points for C-L with Jack Callen chipping in eight tallies and seven rebounds. Ty Rankin had a team-best eight boards
Showing very little rust, Ferguson played the majority of the game and added five rebounds and four points to his six steals.
Ricky Zampogna had a game-high 16 points for Kane with Dane Anderson adding seven and Scott Szymanski six.
WATCH THE JANNEY MONTGOMERY SCOTT IN CLARION QR COACH’S CHALKBOARD POSTGAME SHOW
Chris Rossetti, Andy Close, and Jess Quinn of the YDL Sports Network broke down the games on the Janney Montgomery Scott in Clarion QR Coach’s Chalkboard Postgame Show.
The show can be rewatched here
