Trailing by one at halftime, the Eagles took control in the third quarter and held off the Wolves in the final moments for a 48-45 win, their fourth straight.

“We’re finding ways to win and getting stops when we need to,” said coach Jesse DeLoof. “We’re taking care of the ball down the stretch and we don’t have as long of droughts offensively.”

Joe Mack had a 3-point play to start the third that gave the Eagles the lead, but it was the play of Ethan Kesterholt offensively that really sparked Youngsville (7-3).

The junior guard scored all 10 of his points in the second half, including a stretch of eight straight late in the third and early in the fourth that gave YHS a 38-33 lead.

Youngsville junior Austin Peterson drives while being defended by Kane’s Matt DeLuca during their Sheffield Sports Boosters tournament championsp game on Saturday. The Eagles held off the Wolves for a 48-45 victory.

“Very smart player,” DeLoof said. “Knows how to play. He’s another coach out there. He picked his spots and was aggressive when he saw opportunities. His basketball IQ is extremely high. Those were high IQ buckets that he got.”

The Eagles got out to an early 15-10 lead after an Austin Peterson 3, but Kane star Chad Greville got hot in the second.

The senior 1,000-point scored 11 of his game-high 23 points in the second quarter. After starting the game 1-of-6 from the floor, he made four consecutive shots to help the Wolves (4-4) take the lead.

That being said, Youngsville was able to force him into tough shots, especially late in the game.

“I thought what he got he earned,” DeLoof said. “I said it when he was missing shots early, he will not continue to miss shots. He made some contested 3s.

“The biggest thing for us is we gave them too many second chances. But that’s correctable.”

A Brady Olewine layup gave the Eagles an 8-point lead in the fourth quarter, but Kane cut it to four on a Caleb Holt putback with 35 seconds left.

The combination of Gage Hendrickson and Peterson were able to close the game out from the free throw line. That included a sequence where Hendrickson made a pair with 1:09 on the clock, only to have it be determined that it was Peterson that should have been on the line.

“We did miss too many free throws, and that will come back and bite if we don’t fix it, but again, it’s correctable,” DeLoof said.

It wasn’t Hendrickson’s best game offensively (12 points), but the senior standout and tournament MVP is so much more than a scorer for the Eagles, as his coach was quick to point out.

“Gage is another one of those guys that always makes the right play,” DeLoof said. “I don’t think people understand how much he does for us. We don’t ask him to just go shoot. He’s not just a scorer. He’s a great rebounder, he does so much.”

Timber Bower also had a solid game for Youngsville with nine points.

At 7-3, the Eagles will now have some time to recharge before they play Tidioute on Friday, followed by the grind of Region 3 play.

“We’re 7-3 and we’re happy with that and I like the way we’re playing,” DeLoof said. “If we were 7-3 and weren’t playing well defensively and weren’t’ playing the right way offensively, I’d have an issue with that. But I like where we’re at, especially defensively, and I think we’ll continue to get better there.

“We’ll have four days off. Other than that, it’s grinding to the end of the season and see where that takes us. We’ll take it one game at a time.”

– – –

YOUNGSVILLE (48)

Hendrickson 3-5-7-12, Bower 4-0-1-9, Mack 2-1-4-5, Olewine 3-1-1-7, Kesterholt 3-4-7-10, Peterson 2-0-1-5, Procter 0-0-0-0, Dell 0-0-0-0, Totals 17-11-21-48

KANE (45)

C. Greville 9-1-2-23, Whiteman 4-0-0-9, Holt 1-0-2-2, Zuzek 1-2-6-4, Smith 2-0-0-4, DeLuca 1-0-0-3, Jekielek 0-0-0-0, J. Greville 0-0-0-0, Totals 18-3-11-45

By Quarters

Youngsville 8 14 14 12 – 48

Kane 7 16 8 14 – 45

Three-point FGs: Youngsville (3) – Hendrickson, Bower, Peterson; Kane (6) – C. Greville 4, Whiteman, DeLuca

– – –

SME

THPORT 49, SHEFFIELD 40

Leading 31-29 early in the fourth quarter, Smethport went on an 11-0 run after Tyler Hepinger exited the game for Sheffield and were able to hold off the Wolverines, 49-40 in the consolation game.

Walker Kyler hit a 3 to cut the lead to six, but the Hubbers were able to close it out.

Connor Alfieri played a pivotal role in the win for Smethport (3-4), scoring nine of his 10 points in the fourth quarter.

Hepinger scored 11 points before exiting, but he should be good to for Sheffield’s next game.

Tony Richards also had a strong game for the Wolverines with 10 points.

– – –

SMETHPORT (49)

Shall 1-3-5-5, Lent 5-2-4-12, Alfieri 4-1-2-10, Helsely 4-2-2-10, Burdick 1-0-0-2, Wilbur 4-0-0-8, Howes 1-0-0-2, Totals 20-8-13-49

SHEFFIELD (40)

Kyler 2-0-2-5, Richards 4-0-0-10, L. McNeal 3-0-0-6, M. McNeal 1-2-2-4, Hepinger 2-6-6-11, Benjamin 0-0-0-0, Johnson 2-0-0-4, Copley 0-0-0-0, Albaugh 0-0-0-0, Maclush 0-0-0-0, Totals 14-8-10-40

By Quarters

Smethport 13 5 13 16 – 49

Sheffield 11 6 10 13 – 40

Three-point FGs: Smethport (1) – Alfieri; Sheffield (4) – Richards 2, Kyler, Hepinger

– – –

CORRY 77, EISENHOWER 30

CORRY, Pa. – Logan Joncas scored 21 points and Reagan James 15 to lead a talented Corry squad to a 77-30 win in the opening round of their Holiday Tournament over the Eisenhower Knights on Saturday.

Corry (5-2) which owns wins impressive wins over General McLane and Meadville already this season, raced out to a 43-20 halftime lead.

Drew Williams had a strong game for Eisenhower (1-4) with a team-high 10 points, while Luke Smelko and Jared Martone added six each.

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