By Rob Potter
ELDRED — February 27, 2007 — The Roscoe and Eldred boys’ basketball teams wrapped up their respective 2006-2007 regular seasons on Friday night by meeting in an Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division VI game at Eldred Central School.
The first quarter featured four lead changes and two ties.
But in the first two minutes of the second period, Roscoe (5-14, 2-8 Division VI) grabbed a 14-10 lead. Eldred made a spirited comeback in the remaining moments of the frame, cutting the Blue Devils’ advantage to a single point (22-21) at halftime.
However, Roscoe outscored the Yellowjackets 17-6 in the third quarter to take a 39-27 lead into the fourth period.
The Blue Devils held their advantage in the final stanza to register a 50-40 victory.
Leading Roscoe to the win was junior guard Jayson Harris, who scored a game-high 21 points. Six of his points came from a pair of 3-point shots.
Justin Haas netted eight points for the Blue Devils, while Cody DeRosia and Joe Ladenhauf each added seven points.
Jason Jennings paced Eldred (4-16, 2-8 Division VI) with 12 points.
John Scully added 11 points for the Yellowjackets and Dan Driscoll and Chris Leader recorded five points apiece.
Roscoe made the most of its trips to the foul line, hitting 14-of-18 (78 percent). Conversely, Eldred was just 5-of-11 (45 percent) at the free-throw line.
“First of all, you have to give credit to Eldred, they played hard the entire game,” Roscoe Coach Fred Ahart said. “[Eldred Coach] Charlie Donnelly has done a great job with his team this year. That team was in every game they played this season and that’s a credit to Charlie and his players.”
Ahart noted that the key to the game was “the way we played defense in the third quarter.”
The veteran coach also praised the five seniors who played their last game in a Blue Devils’ uniform – Walter Bury, Alex Feeney, Haas, Justin Klinger and Pat Mershon.
“I just want to thank them for having great careers,” Ahart said.
Like Ahart, Donnelly felt the third period was integral to the contest’s outcome.
“In the third quarter, Jayson Harris kind of took over for them,” Donnelly said. “He hit a couple of big shots. We got the lead down to six or seven points a couple of times, but couldn’t get any closer.”
Donnelly, who returned this season after a five-year hiatus from coaching, praised Ahart and the Blue Devils.
“Fred Ahart is such an outstanding coach,” Donnelly commented. “He always has his team well-prepared. We have been coaching against each other for about 28 to 30 years now and the games are always close. Fred always has his kids working hard and hustling the whole game.”
The contest marked the final scholastic hoops game for Eldred seniors Driscoll and John Genninger.
“Those two guys are great players who showed a lot of leadership for our team this season,” Donnelly said.