A hot start wasn't enough to overcome a cold finish for the Sheffield Wolverines in their battle with Cameron County during a heated championship contest of the Sheffield Sports Boosters Holiday Tournament Friday at Sheffield Area High School.
The Wolverines roared out to a 13-5 lead after the opening quarter, but were limited to just 22 points the rest of the way during a 40-35 loss to the Red Raiders.
"Every kid on that court poured their heart into this game," said Sheffield coach Todd Fitch. "Of course you never like to lose, but I can be proud of an effort like the one we gave tonight."
Article Photos
Times Observer photo by Allen Seybert
Title fight
Sheffield’s Tyler Fitzgerald, foreground, and teammate Brandon Kipp, back, battle with a pair of Cameron County defenders for a loose ball during the second quarter of the championship game of the Sheffield Sports Boosters Holiday Tournament Friday at Sheffield Area High School. The Red Raiders won the game, 40-35.
Sheffield looked well on its way to its second straight tournament title by jumping out to an eight-point lead after the first quarter. Shequan Wright helped ignite the Wolverines early, scoring six points in the opening eight minutes.
The Red Raiders began to chip away at Sheffield's lead in the second quarter, closing to within a single point, 16-15, at halftime. The Wolverines were limited to just a single field goal and three points during the second stanza.
Cameron County took its first lead of the contest in the opening moments of the third period and held a 21-18 lead with 3:30 left on the clock. With Sheffield buckled down in a zone, the Red Raiders decided to simply stand frozen with the ball inches across halfcourt, in an effort to lure Sheffield out of its zone defense.
After 90 seconds of no on-court action, the home crowd began growing restless and the intensity of the game quickly perked up. With just under two minutes left in the third, Sheffield's Brendan Winslow and Dylan McNeal charged the Cameron County ball handler, knocking the ball loose and igniting a scrum for the loose ball.
The scrum quickly turned physical and the referees needed nearly five minutes to sort through the ensuing technical fouls and restore order.
Despite the crowd's disapproval, Fitch said the "stall ball" tactics by Cameron County actually benefited the Wolverines.
"That helped us actually," said Fitch. "It got the crowd into the game and allowed us to stay close at a time when they were gaining some momentum."
Soon after play resumed, Sheffield's Dylan Reynolds sent the home crowd into a frenzy, canning a three-pointer and tying the score at 21-21 through three quarters.
The first five minutes of the fourth quarter belonged to Cameron County and the Wolverines looked to be running out of gas, falling behind 32-24. Before the lead could be pushed to double figures, Sheffield made a charge.
Winslow converted a three-point play and Wright's put-back with 2:30 left got Sheffield within three at 32-29. With just over two minutes remaining, McNeal hit a pair of free throws and Cameron County's lead was just a single point.
Foul trouble would catch up with Sheffield in the final four minutes of the game as starters Tyler Fitzgerald, Wright and McNeal all fouled out of the game. With the Wolverines forced to use role players, the Red Raiders were able to take advantage and close the game on an 8-4 run to hold on for the five-point win.
Nate Sestina and Tyler Wigfield did most of the damage for Cameron County, scoring 21 and 14 points respectively. The Wolverines were led by the 10 points of Wright with Winslow adding eight and McNeal and Reynolds five points each.
Wright, McNeal and Winslow were named to the all-tournament team for Sheffield as was Youngsville's Broc Horn. Horn was also the tournament's three-point shooting champion.
Sheffield (4-4) will try to get back on the winning track Wednesday when it hosts West Forest.
CAMERON COUNTY (40): Wigfield 5 3-7 14, Sestina 6 8-10 21, Guisto 1 0-0 2, Markum 1 0-3 2, Sephalski 0 1-4 1, Totals: 13 12-24 40
SHEFFIELD (35): Dylan Reynolds 2 0-0 5, Brendan Winslow 3 2-4 8, Shequan Wright 5 0-2 10, Dylan McNeal 1 2-2 5, Brandon Kipp 1 0-0 3, Chris Pedersen 0 0-0 0, Tyler Fitzgerald 0 0-0 0, Adam Higby 2 0-0 4, Totals: 14 4-8 35
Cameron County 5 10 6 19 - 40
Sheffield 13 3 5 14 - 35
3-pointers: C- Wigfield, Sestina; S- Reynolds, McNeal, Kipp
---
Sheffield Tournament
Consolation Game
Kane 76, Youngsville 46
Youngsville's bid for a third-place finish in the Sheffield Christmas Tournament fell short Friday night, as the Eagles dropped a 76-46 decision to Kane in the consolation round.
Broc Horn led the Eagles for the second night in a row with 20 points, although that mark was topped by Kane's Jeffrey Kocjancic, who poured in a game-high 25 for the Wolves.
"Confidence and shooting is killing us right now," said Youngsville coach Keith Martin. "We're getting good shots, we're just missing too many. I do think we did a great job rebounding tonight."
The Eagles drop to 1-7 with the loss, and will look to bounce back January 3rd when they travel to Tidioute Charter for a non-region game against the Bulldogs.
Despite the 0-2 weekend, Youngsville didn't go home completely empty-handed. Horn was crowned the tournament's 3-point champion after tying Sheffield's Adam Higby with 13 in the finals, and putting up 18 in the tie-breaking round to secure the win.
KANE (76): Je. Kocjancic 10 2-4 25, Pierson 7 2-3 18, Rolick 3 3-7 9, Cleer 7 0-2 16, Stefani 1 3-5 5, Park 0 1-4 1, Ja. Kocjancic 1 0-0 2, Totals 29 11-25 76.
YOUNGSVILLE (46): Broc Horn 9 1-4 20, A.J. Gustafson 1 0-0 3, Coll Dininny 3 3-6 9, James Frazier 0 0-1 0, Dan McLaughlin 1 0-2 2, Thomas Chapman 3 0-1 6, Jacob Linkerhof 0 0-0 0, Trevor Flinn 1 0-0 3, Joey Chuzie 1 0-0 3, Logan Morrison 0 0-0 0, Brendan Lake 0 0-0 0, Ben Frederick 0 0-0 0, Totals 19 4-14 46.
Kane 21 15 23 17 - 76
Youngsville 9 15 6 16 - 46
3-pointers: K - Je. Kocjancic 3, Pierson 2, Cleer 2; Y - Horn, Gustafson, Flinn, Chuzie.
---
At St. Bonaventure
Warren 53, Bradford 33
OLEAN, N.Y. - Warren bounced back from a one-point loss on Thursday to beat Bradford, 53-33, in Friday afternoon's consolation game of the IAABO Tournament at St. Bonaventure University.
"I thought we played a much better game," said Warren coach Jeff Berdine, whose Dragons are 5-1 with the Region 7 schedule beginning Friday with a home game against Harbor Creek.
Up 13-10 after one quarter, the Dragons "needed to try something different to gain momentum," said Berdine, so they switched to a trap defense they've been working on quite a bit in practice.
"Basically, we were able to get a lot of buckets in transition," he said.
Warren outscored Bradford, 31-10, over the second and third quarters.
Sophomore Jacoby Passmore led Warren with 13 points and added five rebounds. Mark Davis had six points, 10 rebounds and five blocks, Matt Sandberg added six assists and five rebounds, Austin Jerman five rebounds, and Jack Daley four assists.
BRADFORD (33): M. Wilbur 2 2-4 7, Yurkewicz 2 1-2 5, Riley 1 0-0 2, Zembardi 1 4-7 6, Drehmer 1 0-0 3, McCannon 1 0-2 2, Wilbur 2 4-5 8. Totals 10 11-19 33.
WARREN (53): Grayson Foley 1 0-0 2, Austin Jerman 2 1-2 5, Phil Hachula 0 1-2 1, Mark Davis 1 4-6 6, Ryan Gustafson 0 0-0 0, Matt Sandberg 4 1-2 9, Collin Fantaskey 2 3-4 7, Johnny White 0 0-0 0, Tanner Stanz 1 2-2 4, Andrew Hammersley 1 2-2 4, Jacoby Passmore 6 1-2 13, Jack Daley 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 15-22 53.
Bradford 10 3 7 13 - 33
Warren 13 19 12 9 - 53
3-pointers: B-M. Wilburm Drehmer; W-None.
---
Corry Tournament
Corry 49, Eisenhower 40
CORRY - Eisenhower lost its sixth straight game and was bounced to the consolation game of the Corry Tournament after a 49-40 loss to host Corry on Friday at Corry Area High School.
An 11-3 Corry second quarter kept the lead near double-digits the rest of the night, despite Colin Shine's 18 points and Aaron Lundmark's 16 for Ike, which plays South Side (Pittsburgh) at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Shine and Lundmark combined to go 15-of 17 from the free throw line.
EISENHOWER (40): Aaron Lundmark 3 9-10 16, Jarrett Johnson 1 0-2 2, Colin Shine 5 6-7 18, Nate O'Brien 1 0-0 2, Alex Johnson 0 0-2 0, Ryan Williams 1 0-0 2, Carter Farrell 0 0-0 0, Chris Sanders 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 15-19 40.
CORRY (49): Dennis 1 1-2 3, Eck 1 0-0 2, Schrecengost 2 1-2 7, Haenel 1 0-0 2, Mullin 0 2-2 2, Sheets 5 0-0 11, Volvz 3 0-0 6, Wood 1 0-0 2, Combs 2 1-2 5, Shopene 0 0-2 0, Sabat 2 0-0 4, Sutton 1 2-3 5. Totals 18 7-13 49.
Eisenhower 9 3 8 20 - 40
Corry 11 11 8 19 - 49
3-pointers: E-Lundmark, Shine 2; C-Schrecengost 2, Sheets, Sutton.
Junior varsity game
EISENHOWER (26): Casey Vincent 3 0-0 7, Jarrett Johnson 1 0-0 2, Carter Farrell 2 2-4 6, Allan Jackson 0 0-0 0, Grant Venman 0 0-0 0, Alex Johnson 4 2-3 11. Totals 12 3- 26.
CORRY (31): Dennis 1 0-0 2, Eck 4 1-2 11, Mulkin 4 0-0 8, Wheley 1 0-0 2, Shopene 1 1-1 3, Sutton 1 2-2 5. Totals 12 4 31.
Eisenhower 6 5 11 4 - 26
Corry 8 3 8 12 - 31
3-pointers: E- Vincent, A. Johnson; C-Eck 2, Sutton.