By Rob Potter
March 18, 2005 – Editor’s Note: Today we begin our look back at the 2004-2005 scholastic basketball season and how the local boys’ and girls’ teams performed. Please see more season wrap-up stories in future issues of the Democrat.
ROSCOE

Overall Record: 5-15

Division Record: 2-8 OCIAA Division VI

Top Players: The Blue Devils’ leading scorer this past season was junior guard Dan DeVantier. He averaged 17.1 points per game.
Junior forward Troy Kirchner netted 11.5 points a game and senior guard Dusty Sullivan averaged 9.4 points per contest.
Sullivan was the team’s best free throw shooter, making 69 percent of his foul shots. DeVantier shot 66 percent at the free-throw line and scored a team-best 115 points at the line.
Kirchner was the team’s top shooter in terms of field goal percentage. He connected on 42 percent of two- and three-point shots that he attempted this season.
DeVantier was the team leader in rebounds (196) and steals (52). He finished second among the Blue Devils in assists, dishing out 78 on the year.
Kirchner was second on the team in rebounds (186) and steals (30) and third in assists (46).
Sophomore center Justin Klinger pulled down 123 rebounds this season, which was the third most on the team.

Season Highlight: “It would have to be the exciting game we had here against Hancock,” Coach Fred Ahart said. “We ended up winning in double overtime.”
The Blue Devils prevailed by a final score of 65-55 against their Section IV foe in the January 31 game that was played in the Roscoe Central School gymnasium. After the first four-minute overtime period, the score was tied at 52-52. But Roscoe outscored the Wildcats by a 13-3 margin in the second overtime to record a 10-point victory.
“It was a well-played game by both teams,” Ahart said. “There was a large crowd in the gym and it was a very exciting atmosphere.”

Season Lowlight: “I really wouldn’t say that ‘lowlight’ is the right word, but we had several games where we got behind and couldn’t come back to win.”
“We had several games of that nature, ” he added. “We had some opportunities, but couldn’t take advantage of them.”
For example, the veteran coach noted that in a home game versus Chapel Field, the Blue Devils fell behind by 20 points. Roscoe narrowed that deficit to just four points entering the fourth quarter, but could not maintain its comeback.
In a contest against The Family School, the Blue Devils closed to within single digits after being down by 21 points. And in a game versus Tri-Valley, Roscoe was down by a single point at halftime but ended up losing the game by eight points.
“As I said earlier, they weren’t really lowlights,” Ahart explained. “We had some positives in making comebacks in those games.”

Other: “I was very pleased with the effort of our players this season,” Ahart commented. “We had a young team and the players really gained a good deal of experience this year. Hopefully, they can use that experience next season.”
In addition to the aforementioned players, Cody DeRosia, Justin Haas, James Madera, Kristopher Mershon and Justin Murphy were also members of the 2004-2005 Blue Devils’ squad.
“I congratulate Dusty [Sullivan] and Kris [Mershon] on having fine careers,” Ahart said.
Sullivan is a senior scheduled to graduate in June, while Mershon is a junior who has used up his athletic eligibility.

SULLIVAN WEST

Overall Record: 17-5

Division Record: 5-1 OCIAA Division IV (The Bulldogs finished the regular season tied with John S. Burke Catholic School for the division lead. Each team defeated the other once and won the rest of its Division IV contests to finish with a 5-1 record. However, SW lost 42-39 to the Eagles in a division title playoff game on February 18 at Sullivan County Community College.)

Top Players: Senior guard Sean Kelly was the Bulldogs’ top scorer this season. He averaged 15.8 points per game.
Senior guard Joe Meyer was the team’s second leading scorer, netting an average of 12.1 points each contest.
The squad’s third leading scorer was sophomore center Derek Hahn. He recorded 8.7 points per game.
Senior forward Sean Semenetz led the Bulldogs in rebounds (8.7 per game) and assists (3.2 per game).

Season Highlight: “Getting back to the sectional final,” said Coach Rick Ellison, referring to the fact that the Bulldogs advanced to the Section IX Class B championship game for the second consecutive season. “That was a goal we had since the beginning of this season. Of course, another goal was to win that game, but that didn’t work out for us.
“Another highlight for us was compiling a 5-2 record versus Class A schools,” Ellison added. “Some of the Class A teams we beat were Monticello, Goshen and Saugerties.”

Season Lowlight: “Losing to Burke in the sectional final,” Ellison said. “Burke is a very good team, but we had our chances [to win.]”
Ellison noted that falling to Burke in the Division IV playoff game was also a tough loss for the Bulldogs.
“We only lost to two teams all season,” he said. “We lost to Burke three times and Cornwall twice.”

Other: “We had a very exciting season,” Ellison commented. “We played one of our toughest schedules yet.”
Most importantly, he noted, the SW team roster was filled with great kids.
“This was a really good group of kids,” Ellison said. “They all worked very hard this season. They gave it their all in practice and in games. They were just a great group of kids and it was a pleasure to coach them.”
A total of seven Bulldogs will graduate in June. They are: Kelly, Meyer, John Nober, Justin Polizzi, Semenetz, Andre Trujillo and Joe Winski.