By Rob Potter
ROSCOE — February 16, 2007 — As is usually the case when Route 17 rivals Livingston Manor and Roscoe meet on the basketball court, Monday night’s contest was a close, competitive affair.
But a scoring run in the fourth quarter allowed Roscoe to record a 58-44 victory in the Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division VI game.
At the end of the third quarter, the Blue Devils held a 42-37 lead.
Roscoe (4-14, 1-8 Division VI) then took control of the contest with a 12-5 scoring run in the first five minutes of the fourth period. Jayson Harris began the run by swishing a 3-point shot just eight seconds into the stanza.
Manor (6-10, 3-3 Division VI) closed the gap to 47-44 when Mike Hendrickson made a pair of free throws with 4:14 remaining.
But the Blue Devils quickly extended their lead. A minute after Hendrickson’s foul shots, Roscoe’s Cody DeRosia made a pair of shots from the free-throw line. DeRosia then swished a 3-pointer 30 seconds later to give Roscoe a 52-44 advantage.
Nineteen seconds later, Joe Ladenhauf pushed the Blue Devils’ lead to double digits at 54-44.
The shot prompted Manor Coach Charlie Hicks to call a timeout to try to slow down Roscoe’s momentum.
But nearly a minute after the timeout, Ladenhauf hit another shot from beyond the 19-foot, 9-inch line.
Harris scored the final point of the night with a free throw with 1:02 left.
After a 27-27 tie at halftime, Manor pulled ahead early in the third period. Just over a minute into the stanza, James Baker knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Wildcats a 32-29 lead. When Roscoe closed to within a point, Manor’s Justin Mendez scored inside the lane to give his team a 34-31 advantage.
But with 5:15 displayed on the scoreboard clock, Ladenhauf nailed a 3-pointer to knot the score. Forty-five seconds later, DeRosia scored to give the Blue Devils a 36-34 lead.
From that point on, Roscoe never trailed.
Leading the Blue Devils to victory was Harris, who made four 3-point shots and recorded a double-double by scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. He also dished out six assists on the evening.
DeRosia registered 14 points and Ladenhauf had 13 points.
Justin Haas and Pat Mershon each added six points for Roscoe.
Baker, who made a pair of 3-pointers in the contest, led Manor with 17 points.
Shane Lewis and Claude Davis netted eight points apiece for the Wildcats.
“They were the better team on both ends of the court,” Manor Coach Charlie Hicks said of the Blue Devils. “They totally outplayed us tonight.”
Hicks noted that he tried several defensive sets in an attempt to slow down the Roscoe offense.
“We started out in a man-to-man defense, then went to a 2-3 zone and finally to a 3-2 [zone],” he said. “But they were still getting looks at the basket and making shots.”
Roscoe Coach Fred Ahart was happy to get the win against Manor, which he called “a fine basketball team.”
“I’m pleased with the fact that we played hard,” he said. “We have had a couple of games lately where we took the lead in the second half, but couldn’t finish it off. We were able to keep it going tonight.”
Ahart noted that DeRosia’s 3-pointer which gave the Blue Devils an eight-point lead with just under three minutes remaining was one of the keys to the win.
“We also generated a lot of offense from our defense tonight,” Ahart said.