Eagles' defense grounds Rockets in 57-46 win
SLIPPERY ROCK — Members of the Grove City boys basketball team walked off the court Friday night, pleased that they had opened the District 10, Region 5-AAA slate with a victory.
The fact that it came on backyard rival Slippery Rock's home floor was icing on the cake.
The Eagles limited the Rockets to 28.5 percent (12-of-42) from the field and forced 17 turnovers over the final three periods in a 57-46 triumph.
Friday's game was Grove City's first since it opened the season with a pair of losses at the Kittanning Tournament last weekend.
“We were 0-2 and there was a little bit of doubt there,” said veteran Eagles' coach Don Fee. “Slippery Rock is a senior-laden crew. It's always big when you can get a region win on the road.”
Fee lauded his team's defense, which pressed the Rockets for much of the game.
“I think our pressure was the difference,” he said. “It came through for us tonight and Kaiden (Young) spearheaded it.”
Young, a junior guard, also added 14 points to the win.
“I don't think we felt any pressure entering this game,” said Young, “but we knew that a win could jump-start us. It feels good that it came against a rival.”
The Eagles (1-2, 1-0) led 22-21 at halftime before outscoring the Rockets 17-10 in the third quarter and held an 8-point lead as the fourth quarter began.
“Basketball is a game of runs and they (Eagles) made one in the third quarter,” said Rockets' coach Phil Bushre.
Slippery Rock senior guard Brady Kadlubek drained a 3-pointer at the beginning of the fourth period, but Grove City then embarked on an 11-2 run and held a 50-36 edge with 2:20 to play.
Camren Neal's 2-pointer cut the Eagles' lead to 52-46 with 47 seconds left, but the Rockets would score no more.For the game, Slippery Rock (1-3, 0-1) made just seven of their 26 two-point field goal attempts.“I give a little bit of credit to Grove City for going with the pressure,” said Bushre, “but we just didn't handle the ball well.“The shots we got were good shots, we just didn't get enough of them to fall. That just comes down to more time in the gym. Of our 19 players, 12 play football,” Bushre said in regards to the Rockets' season on the gridiron, which lasted 12 games and ended less than a month ago.Grove City's Kameron Patterson led all scorers with 19 points, including 16 in the second half.Slippery Rock had a trio of players reach double figures — Jake Whitmer (17), Kadlubek (14) and Ryan Dutton (10).GROVE CITY 57Jamie Hall 1 0-0 2, Kaiden Young 6 1-6 14, Kameron Patterson 6 6-8 19, Spencer Marnich 1 2-8 4, Brendan Record 1 7-8 9, Jared Graham 0 2-3 2, Danny Torok 2 3-5 7, Martin Beatty 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 21-38 57.SLIPPERY ROCK 46Jake Whitmer 5 6-7 17, Brady Kadlubek 4 2-2 14, Mark Cessar 0 1-2 1, Camren Neal 1 0-0 2, Ryan Dutton 2 6-6 10, Nate Popejoy 0 1-3 1, Blake Heller 0 1-4 1, Zac McCue 0 0-0 0, John Marks 0 0-0 0, Josh Bowser 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12 17-24 46.Grove City 8 14 17 18 — 57Slippery Rock12 9 10 15 — 463-point goals: Grove City 2 (Young, Patterson); Slippery Rock 5 (Kadlubek 4, Whitmer).Tuesday: North East at Grove City; Slippery Rock at Meadville
