By Rob Potter
ELDRED — February 24, 2006 – The Fallsburg Comets used a 22-9 scoring run in the third quarter Tuesday night to record a 69-56 victory over the host Eldred Yellowjackets in a non-league game.
Fallsburg finished its 2005-2006 season with a 4-15 record, while Eldred ended the season at 5-13.
Eldred rallied in the second quarter to narrow the Comets’ eight-point lead down just three points (32-29) at halftime.
But Fallsburg outscored the Yellowjackets 11-5 in the first four and a half minutes of the third period to take a 43-34 advantage.
The Comets’ lead grew to 13 points (51-38) when senior forward David Anthony stole the ball near halfcourt and sprinted downcourt and dunked the ball with just 30 seconds remaining in the quarter.
Twenty-seven seconds later, Fallsburg’s Victor Leventritt made a 3-point shot to give his team a 54-38 advantage entering the final eight minutes of play.
Anthony, who made a pair of 3-pointers, finished the night with a game-high 27 points, while Chris Gates and Adam Gold each scored 13 points for the Comets.
Harris Seletsky netted seven points and Danny Friedman added six points for Fallsburg.
“It was good to end the season on a positive note,” Fallsburg Coach Paul Marsden said. “We played as a team for all 32 minutes tonight.
“Harris Seletsky had his best game of the season tonight,” Marsden added.
The veteran coach praised all of the Comets’ seniors – Anthony, Danny Friedman, Leventritt, Gates, Gold, Jon Nardi and Seletsky – for all of their hard work and dedication this year and in past seasons.
“Eldred played a good game,” Marsden said. “They closed our leads a couple of times.”
Sophomore guard John Scully paced the Yellowjackets’ offense by scoring 19 points. Six of his points were the result of a pair of successful shots from beyond the 3-point arc.
Tyler King netted 11 points for Eldred and teammates Mike Prunka and Chris Leader added seven and six points, respectively.
Eldred Coach Joe O’Connor said that the key to the game was that the Comets “played some great defense in the second half.
“You just have to give Fallsburg credit for its outstanding job on defense,” he said.
Like Marsden, O’Connor will miss the contributions of seven seniors next season. Those seven Yellowjackets are: George Fountain, Patrick Kean, King, Nick Klufas, Prunka, Jake Smith and Tony Van Zanten.
But O’Connor said that sophomores Leader, Scully, Kojo Williams and Robert Moriggia – who played on the Eldred junior varsity team this season – should be “a great core of players” for the Yellowjackets’ 2006-2007 varsity basketball team.