Last stop: Yough鈥檚 season comes to close with 40-37 consolation loss to Ellwood City
HERMINIE 鈥� Yough鈥檚 Terek Crosby and Ellwood City鈥檚 Joe Roth both stepped up in the fourth quarter for their respective boys basketball teams Wednesday night.
You would expect that from a pair of players who鈥檝e combined to score over 4,000 points.
Both seniors scored 21 points on this night but it was Roth鈥檚 Wolverines who came out on top, 40-37, in the WPIAL Class AAA Seventh-Place Consolation game to advance to the PIAA tournament.
The Cougars (19-7) saw their season come to a close on their home court.
鈥淭hey knew (what was at stake),鈥� Yough coach Jim Nesser said. 鈥淭hey all did the best they could. It just wasn鈥檛 good enough tonight.鈥�
Roth, who upped his career points total to 2,049, scored 10 of his team鈥檚 12 points in the fourth quarter while Crosby, who ended his career with 2,036 points, accounted for 12 of the Cougars鈥� 14 points during the final eight minutes.
Ellwood City (17-9) held a 28-23 lead after three quarters and bumped the margin up to eight on Aaron Lake鈥檚 basket early in the fourth.
Crosby answered with three consecutive driving baskets to slice the gap to one point, 30-29, with 6:15 remaining.
The Cougars failed to convert on their next two possessions and Roth responded with back-to-back buckets to increase the lead to 36-29 with just under four minutes left.
Yough fought back with five straight points on a Crosby 3-pointer and a basket by Zander Aird on a pass from Austin Matthews to make it 36-34 with just under three minutes remaining.
The Wolverines worked the ball around each possession from then on, forcing the Cougars to foul with Roth making one of two free throws with 2:06 left and again with 22 seconds left to up the lead to four.
Crosby drained a 3-pointer with seven seconds left to again get his team within one point and Roth was fouled with 2.5 seconds remaining. He hit both free throws to put the margin at three.
Crosby had one last chance to tie it but his halfcourt shot was off the mark.
鈥淚 was just praying and hoping it would go in, but it didn鈥檛,鈥� Crosby said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how it goes.鈥�
Nesser agonized over several empty possessions his team had after his team got within a point, and gave credit to Roth.
鈥淲e had chances to make plays. We didn鈥檛 make them,鈥� Nesser said. 鈥淎nd he did.
鈥淲e鈥檙e down by one, we have the ball three times. We just didn鈥檛 get it done.鈥�
Crosby battled foul trouble most of the night and struggled offensively in the first half and well into the third quarter before finally catching fire. He had five points before hitting a short jump shot with 3:26 left in the third and wound up scoring 16 points over the final quarter and a half.
鈥淚t happens. Everybody has off days,鈥� Crosby said. 鈥淚t took a while but I finally got going.鈥�
With Crosby struggling to hit shots, Matthews kept the Cougars in the game by scoring their first 10 points, including all six in a first quarter that ended with the Wolverines holding a 12-6 lead.
Crosby banked in a 3-pointer for his first points of the night midway through the second quarter but picked up his third foul shortly afterwards although he remained in the game.
The Cougars trailed 17-13 before a driving bank shot by Crosby and a basket by Aird knotted the score at 17-17 at halftime.
The Wolverines took control by scoring the first seven points of the second half and led by five heading into the fourth after two free throws with six seconds left by Lake, who had nine points.
Matthews, a senior, finished with 12 points, leaving him just eight points shy of 1,000 for his career, at 992. Aird, also a senior, had Yough鈥檚 other four points.
鈥淚t was a fun ride with all my brothers,鈥� Crosby said in reflecting on his career. 鈥淟ast time in there with them, it was emotional. I gave a bunch of hugs.鈥�
鈥淚t was tough,鈥� Nesser said of the gloomy postgame locker room before commending Crosby, Matthews and Aird after their final game. 鈥淭hey always gave us everything they鈥檝e got. Four years here, my three seniors. It鈥檚 unfortunate, but all three of them are going to have really good futures.鈥�