Dec 9, 2017 6 min read

CANONSBURG – One night after shooting lights out in the opener of the Canon-McMillan Tip-Off Tournament, the Latrobe Wildcats found the sledding much tougher against Canon-McMillan’s quick and aggressive defense.

After scorching the nets Friday, Latrobe struggled to get a basket for two-plus quarters.

They found their footing in the third, but by then Canon-McMillan had established themselves and earned a hard-fought 67-56 win Saturday in the tourney championship.

Latrobe defeated Trinity the night before in an 80-77 track meet while the Big Macs handled Altoona to reach the title game.

Elliot Waller and Ethan Beachy paced a balanced scoring attack with 16 points each. Andrew Engel and Kenyon Lewis chipped in with 13 and 10 points, respectively.

“That’s who we are,” Big Macs coach Rick Bell said. “No one cares who scores the most. We get it done collectively.”

Reed Fenton and Bryce Butler each scored 19, but no one else on the Wildcats dented double figures.

Bell said he emphasized that his squad commit to defense and limit open looks and run extended sets when in possession of the ball.

“We wanted to play defense as hard as we could for 20 seconds because we felt they would get impatient and take a bad shot,” Bell said. “On offense, we wanted to move the ball for 20 seconds at least and get a good open look.”

The Wildcats were without two starters this weekend as Marcus Dudzenski is nursing an injury. Jason Armstrong, a Division I football recruit, was on a weekend recruiting visit to Virginia Military Institute.

Latrobe coach Brad Wetzel noted that Dudzenski should be back within a week.

Wetzel added he did not believe that Latrobe had the requisite energy to overcome a fired up Big Macs squad on its home floor.

“To beat a team like that, we have to bring a lot of intensity to the table, we did not do that tonight,” Wetzel said. “To beat the teams in our section, we’ll have to play at a higher level than that.”

Canon-McMillan played with the lead all night. Engel’s deep three ball from the corner gave the Big Macs a 38-23 bulge at the 2:30 mark of the third. But two Fenton three-pointers drew the Wildcats to within 40-29 a mere 45 seconds after Engel’s dagger.

Just when it appeared the Wildcats would make a run to get back in the game, a Waller layup and beautiful assist to Beachy for another point blank shot increased the Big Macs advantage to 44-29 at the end of the third.

But the Wildcats would not go away quietly, Both Fenton and Butler worked hard to drag Latrobe to within range midway through the fourth as they combined for nine points over a two minute span to bring the Wildcats within 11 at 54-43.

Two Butler baskets made the score even closer as he brought the Wildcats to 56-47 with 2:18 remaining.

Latrobe pressed full court in an effort to turn the Big Macs over, but Canon-McMillan successfully navigated the press and held off the Wildcats the rest of the way.

Lewis, Jason Fowlkes and Beachy made 10 of 14 free throws over the final two minutes to seal the deal for the Big Macs.

“If we had shot our foul shots at a better clip earlier, we are looking at a wider margin in the first half,” Bell said. “We did make them when it counted.”

Canon-McMillan held the Wildcats to three of 26 from the field in the first half as the Big Macs took a 24-16 lead into the locker room. Fenton was held to 0 of 6 shooting from the field. He did finish the half a perfect four for four from the foul line in the opening half.

Waller paced the Big Macs with eight first half points. His work in the zone defense was key in holding the Wildcats in check.

Jason Fowlkes sat much of the first half after picking up two early fouls in the opening frame.

The Big Mac’s match-up zone made an impression early and gave the normally hot shooting Wildcats fits in the first quarter as they held Latrobe to one of 14 from the field. Engel’s two three pointers helped fuel the Big Macs to a 15-5 lead at the end of the first.

Trinity 60, Altoona 42: Trinity used a mix of full-court man-to-man and zone-press defenses to throttle Altoona 60-42 in the consolation game.

One night after joining the exclusive 1,000 career points in basketball and 4,000 rushing yards in football, Joey Koroly led all scorers with 19 points. Dylan Kern and Jeff Ecker contributed 10 points each.

“I think our energy starting off tonight was awesome,” Hillers coach Tim Tessmer said. “We had a bit of a dip in the second quarter but rebounded nicely in the second half.”

Nate Cherry and Jayvion Queen each tallied 11 points for Altoona.

Trinity entered the fourth with a 47-33 lead thanks to Koroly’s 10 points.

The Hillers came out strong in the early stages of the third quarter and put some distance between themselves and Altoona. Trinity opened the second half on a 11-3 run to increase their lead to 13 midway through the period.

A Connor Zerbee corner jumper paired with a Queen layup and foul shot sliced the Hiller lead to eight, but a Koroly three from the wing made it 42-31, halting the Lions momentum late in the third,

Using changing defenses and a significant height advantage, Trinity was able to build a 28-23 lead at the half, even though the first half was lowlighted by numerous turnovers and missed shots by both teams.

Trinity was paced by Koroly’s nine first half points.

Altoona trailed 26-15 late in the second quarter, but an 8-0 run spurred by a Cherry three cut the Hillers lead to 26-23. But a Koroly lay up before the buzzer extended the Trinity advantage to five at the end of the first half.

“A team like that, we want to speed up,” Tessmer said in reference to the young Altoona squad. “I think as the game went on, we were able to do that and rebound very well with our height inside.”