Local Sports

Sheffield kicks off Holiday Tourney with win over rival Youngsville 58-31

SHEFFIELD -- The Wolverines kicked off their annual Sheffield Sports Boosters Holiday Tournament with a huge win, knocking off cross-county rival Youngsville 58-31 on Wednesday.

"I keep saying it over and over again, these kids play hard basketball," said Sheffield head coach Jordan Copley after the Wolverines ran away with the game in the fourth quarter. "When we need it down the stretch like that, they can do that. It's just a matter of executing down the stretch as well."

Leihden Wotorson put up the Wolverines' first points of the night well into the first quarter followed by Colby Barr dropping in a bucket off an Allen Eaton steal, and Wotorson again on a fast break to give the Wolverines a 6-2 lead with just over three minutes to go. Wotorson, Barr and Dylan Hardwick would all go one of two from the free throw line during a 9-0 run in the final 90 seconds of the first to take a 15-4 lead into the second.

The pace of the game slowed down in the second period for Sheffield, only outscoring the Eagles 8-7. Then, despite trying to speed things up, the Wolverines were outscored 13-11 in the third, but costly turnovers and lack of rebounding prevented Youngsville from making up for the early deficit as the Eagles headed into the final quarter down 34-24.

"We tried to speed up the game obviously in the second half," said Copley. "Third quarter, got off to a slow start doing so, but in the fourth quarter that's when it kind of clicked and they started getting down court and getting finishes."

Wotorson dropped 7 points to start the final period, which resulted in a Youngsville timeout. Following the stoppage, Hardwick added another two to put the Wolverines up 43-24. Sheffield outscored the Eagles 24-7 in the final quarter.

"We need Leihden for four quarters," said Copley. "Leihden needs to shoot like that in the second and third, not just the first and fourth. He's a great basketball player. We had a personal conversation coming out into the fourth quarter. I told him what my expectations were, and he did just what he needed to do."

Wotorson finished with 12 points in the fourth, and team-leading 21 overall, as well as seven of the Wolverines 18 steals. Hardwick followed with 11 points, while Barr had 10 rebounds and 9 points. Sheffield totaled 23 rebounds.

"Colby plays the game with pure hustle," said Barr. "He was all over the boards. He was all over the floor. He was on the floor a couple of times tonight working for things. He does a great job at finding the basketball."

Carson Chase led the Eagles with 11 points. Nathan Lucks scored 6 of his 8 as part of Youngsville's strong third quarter.

"We didn't take care of the basketball tonight," said Youngsville head coach Lonny Moore. "We probably had 40 unforced turnovers tonight and that was the difference in the game."

The Eagles will go on to play Smethport today at 5:30 p.m. Smethport fell to Kane 61-29 in the first game of the night. Sheffield will take on the Wolves at 7:30 p.m. for the tournament championship.

"We got to have a better effort and it starts with taking care of the basketball," said Moore of the Eagles upcoming matchup with the Hubbers. "If you take care of the basketball, we can play with anyone. When you have that many unforced turnovers, you're just digging a hole too big to climb out of."