The Herald, Sharon, Pa: Winter sports '97-'98

Published Sunday, March 8, 1998

PIAA PLAYOFFS
Crushers 63, Mustangs 55

Mustangs lose in overtime

By Ed Farrell
Herald Sports Writer

Bishop McCort's aptly-monikered Crimson Crushers left more than a few broken hearts behind in Mercer Saturday afternoon after they journeyed back to Johnstown.

Overcoming first-quarter and halftime deficits, the Crushers eventually knotted the game in the last three seconds of regulation, then parlayed Josh McIntosh's 8 overtime points for a 63-55 PIAA Class AA opening-round playoff win at Sharon High School.

``We watched the movie Hoosiers on the way over and, I'll tell you what, they're an overachieving group that works together and have a good work-ethic,'' 20th-year Bishop McCort mentor Tim Koshute said.

Ironically, that's exactly how veteran Mercer mentor Dave Cook characterized his club.

``It's never easy to say goodbye to kids that you've had close contact with for a number of years. I told the kids I thought they had to be proud of their efforts; there's nothing to be embarrassed about. There's a lot of teams that weren't playing today,'' Cook summarized.

The Mustangs exhibited remarkable resiliency after a 30-28 margin at intermission dissipated into a 42-36 deficit with 2:48 remaining in the third quarter, resulting from the last of Matt Statler's 10 points.

A Ben Burk runner and Mitch Berndt's follow-up of his own miss drew Mercer within 42-40 at the third-quarter turn. Then Burk's reverse in the first minute of the fourth frame enabled the Mustangs to draw even at 42, one of a half-dozen second-half stalemates.

Mercer assumed the first of its pair of fourth-quarter leads, 45-43 with 5:03 remaining, on an Art Amos bucket courtesy of a Joe Ziccardi pass. Then after McCort surged ahead, Berndt's short jumper from the wing knotted the count at 47 with 2:47 left.

With 25.4 ticks left, Berndt, after taking a pass from Jon Veschio, tallied for a 49-47 Mercer margin, before Koshute called a timeout.

After taking the inbounds pass, Bishop McCort's Phil Pantano almost dribbled the ball off his leg out of bounds, but possession was retained by the Crushers with 7.4 seconds remaining, resulting in another timeout.

``I thought down the stretch in the fourth quarter we played well enough to have won,'' Cook said. ``Matter of fact, I'm not so sure that kick wasn't our's out of bounds, I wasn't over there. But that would've been a big call if it would've gone our way.''

But Seth Berkebile inbounded to McIntosh, who drove to his right toward the lane, then dished to a wide-open Pantano, who finished the play with 3 seconds left, forcing OT.

``We had it designed up for (McIntosh) to come off a double-screen, and the screener then just posts up,'' Koshute explained afterward. ``But two guys went with him (McIntosh), and (Pantano) was wide open. We drew that one up in the huddle,'' Koshute said with a sheepish laugh.

McIntosh-led McCort never trailed in the extra 4-minute session, as the 6-foot-3 senior took the game by the throat from the outset of overtime. He drained a trey 28 seconds into the fifth frame _ McCort's only OT field-goal attempt _ and eventually scored eight of his game-high 21 points. A Berndt put-back 16 seconds later drew Mercer within 52-51, but that was as close as the Mustangs would come.

In OT, Bishop McCort turned in 11-for-12 marksmanship from the free-throw line, while Mercer made only 2 of 7.

The Mustangs' vaunted perimeter game resulted in a 16-12 first-quarter lead as Michael Dudek, Ziccardi and Burk accounted for a trio of treys, and Jason Eshbaugh added a traditional 3-point play with 7.9 seconds remaining in the opening period.

In the second stanza, Berndt's half-dozen points enabled Mercer to maintain a 30-28 halftime edge.

But in the third quarter Statler _ scoreless to that point having missed his only pair of shots _ went off. With Mercer leading 36-34 on a Dudek trifecta at the 4:05 juncture, Statler proceeded to score six straight points for a 40-36 McCort margin. Then following a Mercer timeout, Statler's pair of free throws afforded the Crushers their largest lead of regulation, 42-36.

``Bishop McCort's a good ballclub,'' Cook praised. ``You don't win 20 games and not be a good ballclub. You see their name in the playoffs quite often. We knew going in it would be a tough ballgame. They hit some shots early that I didn't know if they should go or not, and we didn't shoot extremely well.

``We lost our composure there, end of the third quarter, got down six, but I thought the kids did a nice job and we got back in there, got over the hump when we wanted to, just ... '' Cook continued, before his voice trailed off.

``I know I'm proud of the kids. I don't think they've ever failed not to try what we've asked them to do. They've always played hard, been aggressive,'' Cook said, adding in regard to his seven seniors, ``They're all great kids. Right now they're not fun shoes to be in, but I'm proud of all these guys. They've worked very hard and they've reaped some pretty nice dividends for their efforts.''

Notes: Mercer (17-11) ended 20 of 50 from the floor and 10 of 22 from the line, compared with McCort's totals of 21 of 47 (44.7 percent) and 17 of 20 (85 percent). ... Berndt's game-high 13 caroms led Mercer to a 32-31 margin on the boards. ... Mercer was guilty of 11 miscues, while Bishop McCort (21-8) committed 13.

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Updated March 9, 1998
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