By Rob Potter
LIVINGSTON MANOR — January 14, 2011 — A quick start was very helpful for the Livingston Manor Wildcats on Tuesday night.
Manor jumped out to a 21-6 lead in the first quarter of its Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division VI basketball game against the visiting Roscoe Blue Devils.
The Wildcats steadily extended their advantage during the next three quarters to earn a 61-35 victory.
Junior forward Kenny Fisk paced the Manor offense in the first period. He scored 11 points in those eight minutes, including his team’s first basket and last basket.
Fisk netted the opening basket of the game just five seconds after the tip-off. Late in the first quarter, he grabbed the rebound from a teammate’s miss and put up a 6-foot jump shot that fell through the net with one second on the clock.
Roscoe (2-8, 0-3 Div. IV) outscored the Wildcats 11 to 9 in the second period. But Manor (5-2, 2-1 Div. IV) still held a double-digit halftime lead at 30-17.
In the third quarter, the Wildcats picked up where they had left off in the first half. Senior guard Lee Sharshakuv swished a 3-point shot with 7:13 to go in the quarter.
About a minute later, Manor’s Mike Mills made three free throws after being fouled while attempting a 3-point shot. On the Wildcats’ next possession, Sharshakuv scored inside the lane to give them a 21-point lead at 40-19 with 5:43 remaining in the period.
Manor closed out the quarter with a 12-5 scoring run to take a 52-24 advantage into the final eight minutes of play.
Fisk and senior forward Brandon Smith led Manor to victory. Fisk scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Smith recorded a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds.
Mills and Sharshakuv finished the evening with 10 points and seven points, respectively, for the Wildcats.
“I am happy with the win, but I am not happy with the way we played,” Manor Coach Charlie Hicks said. “We had some chinks in the armor tonight. We need to fix that before the season gets down to the final games.
“There were four or five times on offense when we got rebounds and had two or three shots and couldn’t put the ball in the basket,” he added. “Things like that will cost you in close games.”
Hicks was quick to praise the Blue Devils for their effort.
“They played well,” he said. “At no time did they quit and that’s a credit to [Coach] Fred [Ahart] and his players.”
Senior guard Adam Hendrix scored a team-high 16 points for Roscoe.
Brad Dreher and Jesse Huggins added 10 points and seven points, respectively, for the Blue Devils.
“Livingston Manor has a fine team,” Roscoe Coach Fred Ahart said. “They do a lot of things very well. They have balance and depth, they are well-coached and they play very good defense. Their press caused trouble for us, especially in the first quarter.”
Ahart also lauded his team for its effort.
“I am very proud of our players,” he said. “We only had six guys tonight, but they played as hard as they could right up until the final minute of the game.”