Boys Basketball: Smith And Craig Lead The Way As Bobcats Open Season With Win Over Venango Catholic (12/10/15)

(By Coach Jess Quinn)

The Clarion Area Boys Basketball team opened their season with a 65-45 win over the Venango Catholic Vikings (on Tuesday, December 8th, at VC).

Jon Smith and Cameron Craig each had a game high 20 points in the contest. Ty Burford added 9 and Reed Anthony and Bo Miller each pitched in with 5.
It was a slow start defensively for the Bobcats. VC won the first quarter, outscoring Clarion 17-16 in the frame. Clarion still couldn’t find a handle on defense in the second quarter, but were able to take a 29-27 lead into the half.

The second half was a tale of two teams. Clarion made some adjustments at halftime and were poised to take control of the game. The third quarter defined who the Bobcats are this year as they erupted for 21 points using a pressure defense and held the Vikings to only 9, taking a 50-36 lead into the final quarter.

The pace slowed for the Cats as they wanted to take the air out of the ball. Again, Clarion held VC to single digits, only allowing 9. The cats closed out the game scoring 15 fourth quarter points.

There are many guys who need to be mentioned in the win. First Jonathan Smith and Cameron Craig who took over with a dominating inside-outside game. Jonathan threw down two huge dunks bringing his teammates and the fans to their feet. Cam consistently distributed the ball on offense and hit some key three pointers in the third quarter. Brendan Miller was a workhorse for us! He did everything a senior ball player should do. He was great on the boards and his defense was outstanding.

Ty Burford also was key to what the Cats wanted to do on defense. He had several steals and 9 points on offense, which included a nice 3 point shot after Clarion had held the ball for more than 30 seconds. Other boys that were key in the win were the Anthony boys! Reed stepped up when he was called upon and played as well as he could when he was in. Ryan did the same. Ryan came in and controlled the ball for the team on offense. Both boys are going to be called upon in every single game to contribute.

Luke Nellis did a fine job when he was asked to step on the floor. Luke is a fine defender and cleans up on the boards for the Cats. Spencer Miller is another young man who stepped up big for the Cats. He was called upon to defend a very good basketball player in Brady Kingston. Brady scored 11 of the 17 points in the first quarter for the Vikings. Spencer was not in. When Spence was tagged with the job of defending Kingston, he did a very nice job indeed! Brady Kingston scored only 3 second half points, all coming from the free throw line.

We have a lot of work to do to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves. These boys left several points on the floor in missed shots and missed opportunities. We had boys open to score and just didn’t find them when we needed to. This is not an observation as the coach. This has come from the boys on the floor, knowing we need to improve. Too many times a man was left open and scored. That hurt particularly early in the game. Our defense is key to our success this season. We need to start off with a very tight “D” and do our best to limit our opponents in each and every quarter.

The Bobcats will next be in action on Friday, December 11th when they host the Cranberry Berries. It will be the first home game of the season. The boys hope to see everyone there!

(Thanks to Coach Quinn for this article. Great way to start the season, Cats!!!!)