By Ted Waddell
ELDRED — February 29, 2008 — Talk about a reversal of fortune.
Despite a rather inauspicious 0-5 start to this hoops season, the Eldred Yellowjackets rebounded to finish the regular season with an 8-9 record and qualified for the Section IX Class D basketball tournament.
On Monday night, fourth-seeded Eldred defeated the visiting Roscoe Blue Devils, 72-48, in a Class D quarterfinal game.
Eldred took a 21-12 lead over fifth-seeded Roscoe after the first quarter and held a 34-25 advantage at halftime.
The Yellowjackets outscored the Blue Devils 19-13 in the third period and 19-10 in the fourth.
The top scorers for Eldred were Bobby Moriggia, Bryan Henry, Chris Leader and Mike Walton.
Moriggia led the Yellowjackets with 17 points, including a trio of 3-point shots, Henry had 12 points and Leader and Walton netted 10 points apiece.
For Roscoe, Cody DeRosia had 20 points and Jayson Harris added 17 points.
Stats from the free-throw line: Eldred was 18-of-39 (46 percent), while Roscoe was 10-of-19 (53 percent).
“Congratulations to Eldred, they played very well tonight,” Roscoe Coach Fred Ahart said. “Congratulations to Eldred and Coach [Charlie] Donnelly as they advance in the tournament.”
Donnelly said that after the slow start this season, “we needed to get our house in order, get on the same page.
“Since the second week of January, we’ve been playing very well together,” he added. “They try to pick each other up, and they’ve made the commitment to play better man-to-man defense.”
Note: Eldred’s season ended on Wednesday night when the team was defeated by No. 1 seed John A. Coleman Catholic, 58-41, in a Class D semifinal game.