Eagles fly past Slippery Rock for 46-36 victory over rivals
GROVE CITY — For winless Slippery Rock, the game was there for the taking.
Then Grove City took it away.
The Eagles outscored the Rockets 22-7 in the fourth quarter Saturday night at the Eagle's Nest, turning a five-point deficit into a critical 46-36 boys basketball victory. Both teams entered the game winless in region play.
“This was definitely a must win for us and we knew it wouldn't come easily,” Grove City coach Don Fee said. “This is a tremendous rivalry. Both teams played hard.”
Slippery Rock (0-9) never led in the first half, but trailed only 22-21 at halftime. The Rockets limited Grove City to two points in the third quarter in taking the lead, but scored only eight points themselves.
“We got the ball inside, but missed some bunnies in there,” Slippery Rock coach Phil Bushre said. “We had our opportunities. It would have been nice to go into that fourth quarter with a 10-point lead instead of just five.”
That five-point lead was quickly wiped out.
Foster Reznor canned a layup, Derek Turner hit a jumper and Reznor converted a steal into a layup to give the Eagles (3-7) a 30-29 edge. Bobby Paczkowski gave the Rockets their last lead at 31-30 when he sank a layup with 4:57 to play.
Grove City ended the game with a 16-5 run. Three consecutive layups — the last a three-point play by Turner with 2:44 to go — fueled the final surge.
“We were able to get some turnovers off our press and that gave us some momentum,” Fee said. “Too often tonight, we didn't run our motion offense.
“Kids can get caught up in the excitement of an atmosphere like this. We got away from what we wanted to do offensively and they shut us down for a while.”
Grove City managed only 10 points in the middle two quarters. The game was played before close to a full house.
“Unless you've played in it, people don't realize what this rivalry is,” Bushre said. “Our kids wanted this one really, really bad.
“We've played well in spurts this year. Tonight's game is probably the most consistent one we've played.”
Turner paced Grove City with 14 points and three steals. Reznor added nine points and five rebounds.Jake Whitmer led the Rockets with eight points. Dustin Mellott contributed seven points and six rebounds.The Eagles sank all six of their treys in the first half. Grove City committed 13 of its 16 turnovers in the middle quarters after not turning the ball over at all in the first period.“We came out in a zone and they shot over us,” Bushre said. “Once we got aggressive on defense, we gave them problems.”“We lost focus and they were tenacious on defense,” Fee admitted. “But we played a great fourth quarter when we needed it.”Bushre remains confident his team can turn it around.“Even when they made their run on us late, our kids never quit working,” he said. “We're getting closer. We still gave time to reverse this. Nobody's giving up.”SLIPPERY ROCK 36Kyle Bell 2-5 0-0 4, Ryan Currie 2-9 1-2 5, Bobby Paczkowski 3-7 0-0 6, Jake Whitmer 2-6 4-5 8, Ryan Northcott 2-4 0-0 4, Brady Kadlubek 0-2 0-0 0, Dustin Mellot 3-7 1-3 7, Shane Karl 0-1 0-0 0, Reed Elder 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 15-42 6-10 36.GROVE CITY 46Derek Turner 5-9 3-3 14, Danny Torok 3-6 0-0 8, Matt Thrasher 2-5 0-0 5, Foster Reznor 3-7 3-5 9, Jordan Dolan 0-1 0-0 0, Mac Young 1-4 2-6 4, Jared Graham 2-4 0-0 6, Colby Polkabla 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 16-37 8-14 46.Slippery Rock 9 12 8 7—36Grove City14 8 2 22—463-point goals: Turner, Torok 2, Thrasher, Graham 2JV: Grove City, 52-37 (SR: Matt Badger 15, Brady Kadlubek 14; GC: Jake Cline 12, Colby Polkabla 10)Tuesday: Oil City at Slippery Rock, Grove City at George Junior Republic
