Tornado
building momentum
Shooting heats up late in besting Burrell,
70-66, for 4th straight win
By Derek Pyda
Eagle Staff Writer
But it found itself in the middle of one
Wednesday night at Burrell.
The Golden Tornado trailed almost the entire
game before catching fire in the fourth quarter. Relentless defense and outside
shooting ignited a comeback in a 70-66 boys basketball
victory over the Bucs.
“We switched to more of a zone trap,” said
The Bucs (4-7) had committed just six
turnovers in the first half, but gave the ball up 15 times in the second half
and the Tornado took advantage.
“
“Nobody shot well in the first half,” said
Clement, “but shooting comes and goes and 3-pointers got us over the top. Joel,
Luke Michalek and Kelley Kuharic all hit big ones in the fourth quarter. Luke
(14 points) is only a sophomore and he had an unbelievable game. He brought the
energy we were looking for.”
After taking the lead,
“Our defensive intensity picked up,” said Joel
Stutz. “We were able to turn it into easy points.”
“It was our game to win,” said Bennis, “but we
started playing not to lose. When we’re getting double-teamed, somebody’s got
to be open, but we were too cautious.”
Burrell opened the game with a 23-13 edge in
the first quarter, which featured Max Garda, Nick Kotecki and Devon Resnick all
hitting a 3-pointer.
Burrell’s Brendan Lettrich scored 13 of his
game-high 19 points in the first half, after which the Bucs led 36-26.
“You get down and you can take one of two
avenues,” said Clement. “You can stay down and start worrying about Friday
(Central Catholic) or you can pick yourself up off the mat like we did.
“I believe winning like we did tonight is
better than if we would have won by 20 because we had to fight. We know that’s
what we need to do on Friday. It shows the character of these guys. They keep
growing day by day.”
Wednesday’s game was the fourth straight
non-section tilt for
“This win was big because it gives us momentum
going back into the section,” said Joel Stutz, who led
Connor Ollio added 14 points for
Kaden Rock 2 0-0 6, Luke Michalek 4 4-5 14,
Kelley Kuharic 3 0-0 8, Jace Stutz 0 2-2 2, Jason Gray 1 0-0 2, Tyler Frederick
0 6-10 6, Connor Ollio 4 6-8 14, Joel Stutz 6 2-4 18, Jefferson Ford 0 0-0 0,
Damien Pickett 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 20-29 70.
BURRELL 66
Max Garda 4 4-4 15, Cody Legters 4 3-4 13,
Brendan Lettrich 8 2-2 19, Nick Kotecki 2 0-0 5, Lucas Cable 2 1-2 5,
Burrell23 13 12 18 — 66
3-point goals: