By Ted Waddell
ELDRED —february 25, 2003– The Eldred Yellowjackets (1-18 overall, 0-9 OCIAA Division V) tried hard, but they just couldn’t seem to put it all together in last Thursday night’s 66-47 divisional loss to the visiting Roscoe Blue Devils.
Roscoe (7-12 overall, 3-6 OCIAA Division V) jumped out to a 10-point lead in the first period, 14-4. But in the second quarter, Eldred outscored the Blue Devils, 16-14.
The Blue Devils, who maintained a 28-20 lead at halftime, outpaced Eldred by 21-16 and 17-8 margins, respectively, in the third and fourth quarters as they cruised to the victory.
Roscoe had three players reach double figures. Dan Park scored a game-high 19 points, Tim Haas netted 18 points and Brian Ballard added 11.
Jim Nieke led the Yellowjackets with 15 points.
Stats from the free throw line: Roscoe was 8-of-12 (67%), Eldred was 5-of-16 (31%).
“We should have been able to compete a little better,” said Eldred Coach Bill Gunther.
As a coach who believes in making lemonade out of lemons, Gunther said, “We had a chance to go ahead, but it didn’t happen . . . we missed shots, they made shots.
“We tried, but we’re struggling this year,” he added. “We’re hanging in there, and we’re going to finish our season out strong.”
Normally, veteran Roscoe Coach Fred Ahart is a man of few words. He is usually succinct and to the point with his postgame comments.
Thursday’s postgame chat was no exception as he credited the players who came off the bench with “doing an outstanding job.” Those players included Justin Bowers, Rob Eggleton, Rob Evans, Greg Feeney and Brendon Hendrickson.
“They made a big difference,” Ahart said of his reserves. “I thought we played well defensively in the second half. We got our running game going and were able to control the boards.”