By Ted Waddell
JEFFERSONVILLE — December 8, 2000 – The Seventh Annual J-Y Tip-Off Classic Tuesday evening marked the season opener for both the Sullivan West/Jeffersonville-Youngsville Trojans and the visiting Roscoe Blue Devils.
At the the final buzzer of opening round contest, the Trojans advanced to the championship round by defeating the Blue Devils, 67-48.
On Thursday, the lads from Sullivan West/J-Y (1-0) will take to the floor against the Narrowsburg Indians, who defeated the Chapel Field Lions in the classic’s other first round game.
Roscoe (0-1) will play Chapel Field (0-2) in the consolation game.
In the opening frame, the Trojans outscored the Blue Devils 18-7. In the second period it was a dead heat at 16-16. Sullivan West/J-Y took a 34-23 lead into the locker room at the half. The Trojans outgunned the opposition 22-10 in the third frame, but after Sullivan West/J-Y gave the bench some court time in the fourth period, Roscoe outscored the Trojans 15-11.
In the closing minutes of the game, Sullivan West/J-Y’s hard charging Gregg Semenetz earned a precautionary trip to hospital after he crashed onto the floor in a hotly contested battle for the ball under the glass.
“I thought Jeff looked very good tonight,” said Roscoe’s veteran boys’ varsity basketball helmsman Fred Ahart. “They hit a good percentage of their shots and were able to defend us well.”
Ahart is one of those coaches who doesn’t make a habit of singling out players, as he believes games are won or lost as a team.
In reviewing the game against the Trojans, though, he made an exception. “I thought Brian Bury had an outstanding game,” said Ahart.
Bury was the game’s leading scorer with 21 points. In addition, he was credited with 10 rebounds.
According to Ahart, the Blue Devils had a lot of turnovers and gave up too many easy baskets.
“We’ve got to get better bodies on defense,” he said. “As a team, we showed signs that we will develop into a good team this year. I’m confident about the season.”
Trojans’ Coach Rick Ellison said his team right now is “the walking wounded”, as a couple of players are sidelined with injuiries and in the game against Roscoe, a couple more got banged up.
“We had some young kids up from jayvee that played prominent roles in tonight’s game – Kevin Erlwein, Justin Pinkel and Matt Parks,” he said. “For their first varsity game, they came out and did some nice things.”
Asked what he thinks about the 2000-2001 hoops season, Ellison replied, “It’s early and we’re playing in a new division this year, but we’re excited about what we have. I know our division is very tough, but I think we’ll be competitive. It should be interesting.”
Double-digit scorers for Sullivan West/J-Y included Matt Parks and Mike Ahnstrom. Parks netted 18 points, while Ahnstrom tallied 11 points.
At the free throw line, Sullivan West/J-Y was four for seven (57 percent) and Roscoe made two of three (67 percent).