×

Mikins leads DCC past Youngsville

DUBOIS, Pa. – Going in to Saturday’s contest at DuBois Central Catholic, Youngsville coach Jesse DeLoof knew his team would have to be sharp from start to finish to come away with a win.

His concerns came to fruition as the Cardinals jumped out to a 9-0 lead to start and rolled to a 66-45 victory over the Eagles.

“We started off slow,” DeLoof said. “We need to start playing for 32 minutes.”

DCC’s (3-3) Justin Miknis was certainly ready to play from the get-go as the senior exploded for 13 first-quarter points on his way to a game-high 29.

“We identified him as the guy we needed to stop and didn’t execute the gameplan,” DeLoof said. “He’s a great athlete and he had a field day. We tried different defenses and they all had the same result.”

Meanwhile, the Cardinals outscored the Eagles (2-4) 21-9 in the frame and Youngsville just couldn’t make up the difference, despite a high-tempo pace to the game.

“I told the guys with the way the game was being played, down 12 was like being down six in a ‘normal’ game,” DeLoof said. “We had opportunities to go on runs, but we couldn’t stop (Miknis).”

Miknis added eight more in the second quarter and DCC lead 36-19 at the half.

Youngsville outscored DCC in the third quarter, 13-11, but the Cardinals didn’t allow the Eagles to carry that into the fourth and pulled away for the win.

“It really came down to us not being ready to play at the start,” DeLoof said. “Aside for a minute or two here and there, we were with them. We had some turnovers against their pressure to start, they got out to a lead and then it was us trying to battle back the rest of the time.”

Gage Hendrickson led the Eagles with 12 points and Joe Mack added 11 in the loss.

Coming off the heels of a solid defensive performance Thursday against Cambridge Springs, the Eagles were unable to carry it over to the long road trip Saturday.

“We need to be able to take away the other team’s best player or top two,” DeLoof said. “We need to get better at that.

“We knew it was going to be a long bus ride down there,” he continued. “We need to be ready to play in road games. And this, with Christmas break, games like this are who wants to work for 32 minutes and get a win, and who’s ready to go to break.”

The Eagles are in the midst of a 4-game losing streak after winning the Forest Tip-off Tournament to start the season, but DeLoof is still optimistic about where his team can go from here.

“We’ve gone through a guantlet since the tipoff tournament,” he said. “We’ve played two of the best teams in our region and a very good Oil City team. I’m not hitting the panic button.”

Youngsville travels across Route 6 to take part in the Sheffield Holiday Tournament Thursday and Friday. The Eagles open the tournament Thursday with a game against Maplewood at 6 p.m.

“We need to stay the course, have a good practice Wednesday and be ready to play a good, scrappy, big Maplewood team,” DeLoof said.

– – –

Youngsville (45)

Hendrickson 5-2-2-12, Mack 4-3-3-11, Olewine 4-1-2-9, Mercado 3-1-1-7, Peterson 2-0-0-4, Kesterholt 1-0-0-2, Sober 0-0-1-0, Dell 0-0-0-0, Team 19-7-8-45

DuBois CC (66)

Miknis 9-8-10-29, Solnosky 3-2-3-9, Downer 2-2-2-6, Walker 2-0-0-6, Kurtz 2-1-2-5, Schoeneman 1-0-0-3, Meholick 1-0-0-2, Peck 1-0-0-2, Felix 1-0-0-2, Foster 0-2-2-2, Prosper 0-0-0-0, Starr 0-0-0-0, Vandervent 0-0-0-0, Armanini, Team 22-15-19-66

By quarters

Youngsville 9 10 13 13 – 45

DuBois CC 21 15 11 19 – 66

3-point FGs: Youngsville-None. DuBois CC (7)-Miknis 3, Walker 2, Schoeneman, Solnosky

– – –

CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS 57, TIDIOUTE 41

Cambridge Springs doubled its 13-point halftime lead over Tidioute in the third quarter and rolled to a 57-41 win over the host Bulldogs Saturday.

Tidioute was cold from the floor from the start.

“We just didn’t shoot well all night,” TCCS coach Terry Cotterman said. “We did make some threes, but it was just one of those nights where it wasn’t very consistent.”

Cotterman said TCCS wasn’t strong on the boards, which hurt them early, but the primary problem was the cold shooting.

“It wasn’t one of our stronger rebounding nights and it really hurt us in the first half,” he said. “But even in the first quarter, we had the looks and it was just one of those nights where nothing was falling until the fourth quarter. Then we finally started hitting.”

Lance Welker and Jake Ferris each had 15 points to lead the Blue Devils (5-1).

Patrick Shields led the Bulldogs (4-2) with a double-double, 10 points and 10 rebounds. Ryan Williams had 12 points and Jared Veasey 10 in the loss.

Tidioute gets some time to rest and make improvements over the break. The Bulldogs are off until a Jan. 4 road trip to Venango Catholic.

– – –

Cambridge Springs (57)

Ferris 7-0-15, Welker 6-2-15, Taylor 1-4-6, Andres 2-1-7, Leandro 4-0-8, Team 18-7-57

TCCS (41)

Shields 3-1-10, Veasey 4-2-10, Williams 4-0-12, DeLoe 2-0-4, Sabella 2-0-5, Team

By quarters

Cambridge Springs 16 15 20 6 – 57

TCCS 10 8 7 15 -41

3-point FGs: CS-Ferris, Welker, Andrews 2. TCCS-Sheilds 3, Williams 4, Sabella 1

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today