Kennedy Christian's Justin Green puts an inside move on a falling Jason Rado of Homer Center. Golden Eagles' Lamar Jefferson moves in behind to position for a rebound.
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OATIS IGNITES EAGLES ROUT OF WILDCATS * * *
Green strong inside; Kennedy eyes a rematch
By Ed Farrell Herald Sports Writer
BUTLER _ On the eve of his club's PIAA Class A second-round meeting with Homer Center, Kennedy Christian High boys' basketball coach Joe Votino expressed concern.
``Carlos is sick,'' Votino, with furrowed brow, said softly.
Slightly more than 24 hours later, however, a beaming Votino probably playfully was hoping
whatever malady that had befallen Oatis was contagious. Actually, Oatis' performance was somewhat infectious, as he keyed Kennedy's 64-31 rout of Homer Center Tuesday night at Butler High School.
By virtue of the victory, Kennedy will meet Saegertown _ a 70-55 victor over Geibel on Tuesday night _ on Friday night at a site and time to be announced.
``We responded,'' Votino acknowledged, ``I had an interesting halftime talk and we responded. It was directed toward the little guy,'' he said with a chuckle, ``cause the little guy can play. He was phenomenal against Clairton and, was he phenomenal in the second half?
``He hasto do that every night, and he's capable of it,'' Votino continued in reference to his 5-foot-7 junior point guard. ``Sometimes, he such a nice, impassive kid, he doesn't realize how good he is. He's very good, when he wants to be!'' Votino, a little guy who was anything but impassive during his playing days, and remains so today as the Golden Eagles' taskmaster.
On the surface, Oatis' line _ 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting, with a couple rebounds and assists factored in _ was not overly impressive. But it was how the diminutive dynamo ignited his tentative teammates that made a huge impression.
Following an 8-turnover, 8-of-21-shooting second stanza, Kennedy stumbled its way to a 19-12 halftime lead, made possible in part by Homer Center's own 8 turnovers and 4-for-15 shooting.
However the Golden Eagles tallied the first five points of the third period, including back-to-back buckets by Lamar Jefferson and Justin Green which directly resulted from Homer Center miscues. Jefferson's score came via a pass from Oatis, while Green converted his own steal into a 24-12 Kennedy margin at the 6:25 mark.
The Wildcats received a brief respite on a Mike Apjok score, trimming their deficit to 10, but Kennedy embarked on a 14-0 spree during the next 2:02, highlighted by six consecutive Oatis points and 10 of 12 at one juncture. During the outburst he twice picked the pockets of Homer Center ballhandler and converted the steals into scores.
By the close of the quarter, the Oatis-led Eagles, augmented by 3-for-3 perfomances by both Damon Clayton and Green, had amassed an insurmountable 46-21 margin.
That stood in stark contrast to the contest's outset, when Homer Center burst to a 7-0 lead in the game's opening three minutes.
``A little tentative at the start _ that's playoff pressure. Plus, we got in some foul trouble, (and) that's playoff pressure,'' Votino asserted. ``Things get a little tense when you've got (Erik) Hemsing and Clayton on the bench with two fouls.
``But I can't say enough, it was a total team effort. We picked it up in the second half. Lamar and Carlos were demons on defense, (and) I've never seen Justin Green play so hard. If we can get that (7-for-7 marksmanship, 15 points, 7 rebounds) out of Justin Green, I'll tell you what, we're gonna be pretty dang good.
``And what I'm impressed about is that we played some `man' (defense). We really haven't been gettin' after it, `man,' like I want to, and tonight we did that. Now I don't know why, but I thought our man-for-man pressure and our defense was excellent (resulting in 23 Homer Center turnovers and 10-for-36 shooting).''
Votino, victory in hand, allowed his mind to wander:
``Probably Saegertown ... probably at Edinboro ... a rematch ... looking forward to it. But they're very good; got a lot of respect for 'em, a lot of respect.''
Two weeks ago in the District 10 semifinals, the Golden Eagles allowed an 8-point lead with 61/2 minutes remaining dissipate into a 56-53 setback to Saegertown, which eventually captured the D-10 crown. By way of learning from the disappointing experience, Votino said, ``We've handled the end-of-the-game situation better, and that comes with experience. The more you're in that situation, the better you get at it, and we did not handle the last four minutes when we were up eight against Saegertown. But we did against Clairton.
``We've matured, we've grown up. Tonight, we really grew up. We grew up the other night, but we really grew up tonight.''
Notes:The Golden Eagles (21-8) connected on 26 of 48 (54.2 percent) floor shots and 11 of 21 freebies, committed 17 turnovers and, led by Green and Hemsing, each of whom garnered seven caroms, outrebounded Homer Center, 28-24.
... the Wildcats (21-7) connected on only 6 of 21 second-half floor shots.
... from a 7-0 lead with 4:55 left in the first frame on a Nick Arone bucket, Homer Center did not score again until 4:18 remained in the half on an Arone free throw _ a drought of 8:37 _ by which time it trailed 17-9. The 'Cats did not score in the fourth frame until 3:01 had lapsed, by which time Kennedy led, 53-23.
... of Oatis, Votino gushed, ``Both the little Oatises (including sophomore Marcus), as far as the type of kids they are, how they handle themselves in school, they have great parents.''
PIAA Class A Second Round
HOMER CENTER _
N. Crozier 2-4-5-9; Arone 1-2-4-4; Fabin 0-0-0-0; D.Yanoschick 1-0-0-3; Budner 0-0-0-0; Apjok 3-1-3-7; Rado 0-0-2-0; J. Crozier 2-1-2-5; Sacco 0-1-2-1; Ross 1-0-1-2; M. Yanoschick 0-0-0-0; Bradley 0-0-0-0; Hilliard 0-0-2-0; Radakovich 0-0-0-0. 3-pt.goals: D. Yanoschick 1, N. Crozier 1.
Totals: 10-9-21-31.
KENNEDY CHRISTIAN _
C. Oatis 4-2-4-10; Jefferson 3-2-4-8; Clayton 6-0-0-12; Hemsing 3-1-2-8; Green 7-1-3-15; McElhinny 0-1-2-1; Reimold 0-0-0-0; Render 1-0-0-2; Monsman 0-0-0-0; M. Oatis 0-0-0-0; Lucas 0-4-4-4; Lauffer 0-0-0-0; Hurl 1-0-2-2; Vujevic 1-0-0-2; Scullin 0-0-0-0. 3-pt. goals: Hemsing 1;
Published Wednesday, March 12, 1997
