By Rob Potter
ELDRED — December 19, 2000 – The Eldred Yellow Jackets grabbed both an early lead and momentum in their non-league game versus Livingston Manor Friday night.
And Eldred (2–1) never really lost either in the course of the game, defeating visiting Manor (1–4), 56-39. The Yellow Jackets outscored the Wildcats 14-2 in the first quarter and never looked back.
Manor’s slow start was compounded by the loss of coach Chris Hubert just over five minutes into the game. Hubert was complaining aloud about non-calls for what he thought were rules violations — such as three seconds in the lane — and possible fouls not being whistled against Eldred when he was told by the referees to let it go. When he didn’t, he was hit with a technical foul.
Hubert, however, still wanted to argue his case and was teed up again seconds later by the officials. As per the rules, that second technical led to Hubert’s automatic ejection from the game.
“Coach is frustrated because we have had some injuries in previous games due to physical play,” said Manor assistant coach Rich Robinson, who took over the head coaching duties after Hubert went to the locker room. “He’s frustrated because the calls in those games seemed a bit one-sided. We had two players who were thrown to the floor.”
Following Hubert’s exit from the court, Eldred’s Joe Scully made three of four free throws to give the Yellow Jackets a 10-2 lead with 2:33 left in the opening stanza.
Although their offense improved as the game wore on and the Wildcats even outscored the Yellow Jackets 15-11 in the third period, they could not cut the Eldred lead to single digits. The Yellow Jackets gained 10 points at the free throw line, shooting 15 of 27 foul shots successfully compared to Manor’s five-for-seven shooting at the stripe.
“That eight-point run Eldred had in the first quarter was key,” Robinson said. “If they hadn’t scored those early points, it might have been closer.”
Robinson added that seniors Ryan Carlson, who scored 18 points, and Scott Denman, who netted 11, both “played hard tonight.”
Eldred coach Charlie Donnelly thought his team “played well in spurts.”
“We really had difficulty maintaining turnover-free play,” he said. “Sometimes we had things clicking offensively and other times we were totally missing. We have to get a better handle on when to push (the offense) and when to stay under control.”
Donnelly praised his team’s rebounding on the night and the play of Scully, who finished with a game-high 26 points.
“He’s pretty tough on the inside,” Donnelly said of Scully. “And he shot the ball pretty well tonight.”
Ryan Jasper added 11 points for Eldred, which had eight of its 11 players score at least one point in the contest.
As if the evening wasn’t bad enough for the Wildcats, forward John Schleiermacher suffered a nasty cut on his forehead in the last two minutes of the game. Schleiermacher apparently was struck inadvertently by a teammate’s hand or elbow in the course of play.