Connect with us

Basketball

Top Four Seeds Advance to District 9 Class 1A Boys’ Semifinals

Mason McAllister had a career-high 24 points in ECC's win Wednesday. Photo by Andy Close
            

The District 9 Class 1A boys’ semifinals are set with the top four seeds all holding chalk Wednesday night thanks to wins by top-seeded Elk County Catholic, second-seeded Cameron County, third-seeded Johnsonburg, and fourth-seeded Clarion.

                  

2021 Basketball Playoff coverage on D9and10Sports.com is provided in part by Olewine Financial Group, Fran Morelli Sales & Service, Morelli’s Family Restaurant, Computer Support, Allegheny Grille of Foxburg, Oil Country Crates, Simpson Excavating (814-379-3346, Mike’s Bilo Foods Reynoldsville, BGM Custom Wear by Brookville Glove, and Laurel Eye Clinic

ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 61, OTTO-ELDRED 48

ST. MARYS, Pa. – The top-seeded Crusaders got a career-high 24 points from Mason McAllister on their way to a 61-48 win over eighth-seeded and visiting Otto-Eldred.

McAllister was one of three ECC players to reach double digits with Charlie Breindel adding 12 points and Mark Kraus 10.

                                      

Otto-Eldred put four players in double digits with Jake Merry and Cole Sebastian each scoring 12 points, Gavin Jimerson adding 11, and Austin Cousins 10.

ECC started fast and led 19-8 at the end of the first quarter thanks to seven points from McAllister. The Crusader lead grew to 14, 35-21, by halftime with Kraus scoring six second-quarter tallies.

ECC will host fourth-seeded Clarion at 7 p.m. Friday in the semifinals.

CAMERON COUNTY 53, DUBOIS CENTRAL CATHOLIC 41

EMPORIUM, Pa. – Outscoring visiting seventh-seeded DuBois Central Catholic by 10 points in the middle two quarters, second-seeded Cameron County advanced to the semifinals with a 53-41 victory.

                          

The game was tied at six after eight minutes before the Red Raiders used three 3-pointers – one each from Dylan Guisto, Caden Beldin, and Hayden Brown – to open up a 22-16 halftime lead.

Camdyn Allison then caught fire in the third quarter scoring 10 of Cameron County’s 12 points while hitting a pair of 3-pointers to help the Red Raiders lead grow to 10, 34-24, going to the fourth quarter.

Beldin led Cameron County with 16 points with Allison adding a career-best 12 tallies and Brown 10 points.

Alec Srock paced DCC with 15 points with Jalen Kosko adding eight.

Cameron County will host third-seeded Johnsonburg in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday.

A-C Valley, Brockway, Brookville, Clarion, Clarion-Limestone, DuBois, DCC, Keystone, North Clarion, Redbank Valley, and Union recaps are powered by Computer Support in Clarion.

JOHNSONBURG 41, UNION 31

JOHNSONBURG, Pa. – Cam Stelene and Gabe Watts combined to score 12 fourth-quarter points to help third-seeded Johnsonburg fend off an upset bid from sixth-seeded Union, 41-31.

The Rams trailed 26-25 going to the fourth quarter but got six points apiece from Stelene and Watts to outscore the Golden Knights 16-5 in the quarter.

That completed a strong second half for Johnsonburg, which was held to 11 first-half points and trailed 15-11 at the break.

                                   

But Eric Christoff and Ethan Wells each hit third-quarter 3-pointers, and Christoff scored seven points in the quarter to help close the gap to a single point.

Watts and Stelene each scored 12 points to lead the Rams with Christoff adding nine.

Caden Rainey paced Union with 11 points with Karter Vogel adding 10.

Johnsonburg will travel to second-seeded Cameron County for a 7 p.m. semifinal game Friday.

A-C Valley, Brockway, Brookville, Clarion, Clarion-Limestone, DuBois, DCC, Keystone, North Clarion, Redbank Valley, and Union recaps are powered by Computer Support in Clarion.

CLARION 78, A-C VALLEY 58

CLARION, Pa. – Trailing by six points after the first quarter, fourth-seeded Clarion exploded for 33 second-quarter points and never looked back on its way to a 78-58 win over visiting and fifth-seeded A-C Valley.

A-C Valley led 20-14 at the end of the first quarter thanks to eight points from Levi Orton, who scored a game-high 32 points.

But Clarion got eight points apiece from Beau Verdill and Hunter Craddock, seven from Chrisitan Simko, and six, on a pair of 3-pointers, from Ethan Burford in the second quarter to take a 47-34 halftime lead.

Verdill, who had a team-best 27 points to go with 11 rebounds and five assists, continued to pour in the points in the third quarter adding eight more to help Clarion keep A-C Valley at length getting the advance to as many as 20 in the quarter.

The Falcons didn’t go away, though, and ended up outscoring the Bobcats, 19-16, in the third quarter to get back within 10, 63-53, going to the fourth quarter with Orton scoring nine more third-quarter points.

But the hole was too deep and the energy expanded too much, as Clarion outscored A-C Valley 15-5 in the fourth quarter to put the game on ice.

Craddock contributed 19 points and seven rebounds to the victory with Cal German scoring 13 points to go with seven assists, Simko adding 12 points, eight steals, and four assists, and Burford chipping in seven points and six assists.

Tanner Merwin added 11 tallies for A-C Valley.

Orton’s 32 points gave him 525 points on the season in 19 games, an average of 27.6 points per game. He ended his career with 1,703 career points. He is just the 20th player in District 9 history to score 1,700 career points.

                                  

Clarion will travel to top-seeded ECC for a 7 p.m. semifinal game Friday.

A-C Valley, Brockway, Brookville, Clarion, Clarion-Limestone, DuBois, DCC, Keystone, North Clarion, Redbank Valley, and Union recaps are powered by Computer Support in Clarion.

                       

More in Basketball