Deadly drought
PLUM BORO — Freeport's first basket took all of four seconds.
The second one, however, took much longer, and that delay hurt the Yellowjackets in their WPIAL Class AA game Friday against Farrell.
After the Yellowjackets' Nate Kotecki took the tip-off for the score, the Steelers scored 19 of the next 21 points en route to a 56-47 victory at Plum High School.
"Early on, we got a lot of shots inside the paint and rebounding early, but we missed several putbacks," said Freeport coach Mike Beale. "That could have changed the complexion of the game.
"It took a quarter and a half to get going. I was proud of the way we came back, to cut it to seven and nine," Beale added.
"Our performance was based on confidence," said Farrell coach Roland Shannonhouse. "Physically, we can match up with anyone, but confidence-wise, that (start) was unbelievable for us.
"It put us in a frame of mind not to be desperate," he added.
Seven points by Donald Jackson helped the Steelers (18-7) race out to a 23-6 lead with 5:14 left before halftime.
Freeport started to come alive at that point, using a 3-pointer and another basket by Kotecki to help the Yellowjackets score 11 of the next 16 points to make it 28-17 at the break.
Jackson opened the second half with a score, but consecutive baskets by Brian Zimmerman and Kotecki trimmed the deficit to nine, 30-21.
The Steelers, though, scored the next nine points — five by Torlando Hopson and four by Marsell Holden — to take what appeared to be a commanding 39-21 lead.
Kotecki answered with back-to-back treys to trim the deficit to 12, but the Steelers countered with the next five points.
With Farrell up 46-29 with 7:08 remaining, Kotecki and A.J. Vidra hit 3-pointers to make it an 11-point game. But, again, the Steelers had baskets by Josh DeCarmen and Bobby Wright, to bump the lead back up.
The Yellowjackets (11-11) made one more run, this time scoring the next eight points on a three-point play by Kotecki, a trey by Brady Sherrieb and a basket by Zimmerman to make it a 50-43 game with 3:29 remaining."We explained to the kids that these teams are here for a reason," said Shannonhouse. "They will not roll over. You have to keep playing hard."Farrell, however, received a three-point play by Jackson 18 seconds later to ice the game."Every time we made a run, they seemed to counter," Beale noted.The loss offset the sterling performance of Kotecki, who led all scorers with 23 points, including 16 in the second half."Nate Kotecki had an outstanding game," said Beale. "He had a nice offensive performance, and Brian Zimmerman (11 points) played nice inside."Farrell received 12 points apiece from Wright and Jackson, and 10 from Hopson, nine from Holden and eight from DeCarmen."Our guys are on the upswing," said Shannonhouse. "We're improving. We have five, six guys who are contributing."Beale is hoping this year's team and playoff appearance will help continue to boost the program"We'll miss Nick Rutkoski and A.J. Vidra. They're good seniors and solid leaders. We have a good blend of juniors with Brady Sherrieb, Nate Kotecki, Chris Tagmyer. Chris has grown so much."We moved up five freshmen to get a taste of this. It's the first time this group of seniors and juniors made it to the playoffs. It's an accomplishment, but hopefully, this is a learning experience."FREEPORT 47Nate Kotecki 9 1-1 23, A.J. Vidra 2 0-0 5, Brian Zimmerman 5 1-3 11, Nick Rutkoski 0 0-0 0, Brady Sherrieb 2 1-2 6, Cory Massart 0 0-0 0, Chris Tagmyer 1 0-0 2, Ryan Vantine 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 3-6 47.FARRELL 56Marsell Holden 4 0-0 9, Torlando Hopson 3 3-6 10, Bobby Wright 3 6-6 12, Donald Jackson 5 2-2 12, Josh DeCarmen 3 2-3 8, Chris Schuster 0 0-0 0, Josh Williams 2 1-1 5. Totals: 20 14-18 56.3-point goals:Kotecki 4, Vidra, Sherrieb; Holden, Hopson
