By Ted Waddell
ELDRED — December 14, 2004 – On Friday night, the Eldred Yellowjackets buzzed past the visiting Chapel Field Lions, 59-48, in what was the first Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division VI game of the 2004-2005 hoops season for each team.
In the first period, the Yellowjackets outscored the Lions 20-12, and followed up their advantage in the second frame by taking a eight-point lead (29-21) into halftime.
In the third period, however, Chapel Field created quite a stir in the partisan homecourt bleachers. The Lions clawed their way back, outscoring the Yellowjackets by a 12-3 margin in the stanza to take a 33-32 advantage into the final quarter of play.
But the Yellowjackets buzzed back on track in the final frame to outscore Chapel Field 27-15 on the way to victory.
Eldred improved its record to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in OCIAA competition.
The leading scorers for the Yellowjackets were Patrick Kean, who netted 21 points, and Nick Klufas, who recorded 16.
For Chapel Field, Daryl Gros finished the game with 21 points and Andrew Lopez added 10.
Eldred went 9-for-15 (60 percent) at the free-throw line. Chapel Field was 5-for-9 (56 percent) at the line.
“We still make messy mistakes, but I think we’re coming together and improving every game,” Eldred Coach Doug Reiser said.
“We were down by one in the third period, but we fought back and earned a victory,” he added.