Story by Jon Dinan
January 4 — The Roscoe boys’ basketball team triumphed in Friday's semi-final round of Downsville's annual Christmas-week tournament defeating Downsville 62-42. But they will have to wait until January 19 to play Margaretville in the championship game as winter storms played havoc on the tournament’s schedule.
In the game against Downsville (1-6), Roscoe’s Rob Taurino led all scorers that were complimented nicely by his nine assists.
Taurino, Section IX’s leading scorer, got off to a rocky start, and it appeared that the Eagles defense was getting to him early. He missed on his first two shot attempts, got whistled for traveling, and picked up an early charging foul.
He would eventually settle in however, and after knocking in three of his first four points from behind the free-throw line, Taurino began scoring at will. He kept defenders on their heels throughout the game with impeccable dribbling and consistently left them guessing whether or not he was going to drive, dish, or bury another one of his patented pull-up jumpers.
Most of Taurino’s assists went to power forward Brad Dreher who put up 18 points and pulled down a game-high 18 rebounds to finish with a double-double. Dreher was brutish in the paint, dominating the boards with physical assertiveness. His toughness afforded him three traditional three-point play opportunities, two of which he converted.
“I was just concentrating on boxing out and getting the ball to Rob so he could shoot,” said Dreher.
At the end of the first quarter, Dreher had a nice shot of his own when he banked in an eight-foot buzzer beater to give Roscoe an early 10-point cushion at 14-4.
Roscoe would not look back, eventually doubling that lead and bringing home the 20-point victory.
Although it wasn’t Taurino’s best shooting night, other players like shooting guard Mark Rosario, who finished with 13, were there to pick up the slack.
“If I’m not shooting well I like to give the ball to Mark who is like our back-up point guard. He’ll pick us up and carry us when I’m not able to,” said Taurino.
“This was a very important game for us because of the balance we were able to achieve,” added Roscoe head coach Fred Ahart. “We had three players in double figures and played well as a team. Taurino’s nine assists, Dreher’s 18 rebounds, and Rosario’s 13 points were the numbers that stood out for me.”
Roscoe (3-3) will travel to Livingston Manor to face the Wildcats in their next match-up on January 8 at 6:30 p.m.