Knights breeze past Burrell in nonsection matchup
JEFFERSON TWP — Knoch coach Ron McNabb described coaching the game as “very hard.”
Then again, his basketball team is very thorough.
The Knights' Scott Fraser drained a trey seconds into the game, Knoch scored 25 points in the first quarter and easily ran away from Burrell, 69-32, during a nonsection game Saturday afternoon in the Knights' gym.
The Bucs (1-13) trailed 46-14 at halftime and 63-16 early in the fourth quarter before putting together some offense against the end of Knoch's bench.
First-year Burrell coach Mike Fantuzzo was an assistant under McNabb at Knoch for the past six years. He played for McNabb when the latter coached at Burrell.
“We won a section title his senior year,” McNabb recalled. “Mike and I go back 20 years. We're good friends. .-It was very difficult to coach this game. This wasn't fun for me.”
Fantuzzo had four sophomores in his starting lineup. Nine of his 13 players are sophomores. He doesn't have a junior-varsity team and Saturday marked Burrell's 10th straight loss.
Burrell tied for its section title only two years ago before falling to 5-14 last season.
“Players didn't come back to the team this year. We have no varsity experience at all,” Fantuzzo said. “That's OK, though. I'll work with the players who want to be here.
“I figured this would be a rough one for us. I know Knoch's players and what they do as well as anybody. They get it and go, all five starters can handle the ball and shoot from outside. They are a handful.”Knoch (13-1) won its 13th successive game. Frazer scored 18 points, all in the first half. Jared Schrecengost scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds.Jake Scheidt had 10 points and five assists. Brady McKee and Ryan Lang had five rebounds and four assists each.Nine players scored for the Knights, who played their junior varsity unit for the final quarter and a half.“I loved the energy we played with today,” McNabb said. “This is just a close-knit group of guys who enjoy playing basketball together. My style of ball is usually playing for a 48-44 score and being happy with that. But seeing the talent and athleticism in this group of players, I'd be crazy to keep them under wraps. We had to take the reins off and let them go.”Knoch entered the game averaging 74 points per contest and scored 61 in the first three quarters, sinking 26 of 42 shots from the field. Burrell was limited to one field goal in the middle two quarters.“It was a hard decision for Mike to leave because he knew what we had coming back this year,” McNabb said. “But he will do fine at Burrell. He'll put it together.”None of the Bucs scored in double figures Saturday. Brandon Coure led the team with nine.“I wish Knoch well,” Fantuzzo said. “They have a great team that could go a long way.”McNabb agreed.“We have a team that is capable of doing something special this year,” he said. “The kids know that and they're playing like it.”
BURRELL 32Luke Fisher 0-1 0-2 0, Caden DiCaprio 1-4 0-2 3, Donavan Callihan 1-7 2-2 4, Brandon Coure 4-10 0-0 9, Braden Callihan 2-7 2-2 6, Carson Ley 1-3 0-0 3, Travis Bitar 0-4 2-2 2, Alerx Kotecki 0-1 0-2 0, Gavynn Thompson 1-1 3-4 5. Totals: 10-38 9-16 32.KNOCH 69Scott Fraser 7-9 3-3 18, Jared Schrecengost 7-13 2-2 18, Ryan Lang 2-5 1-2 5, Brady McKee 3-3 0-0 6, Jake Scheidt 5-8 0-0 10, Adam Bajuszik 2-3 0-0 4, Zach McMillen 2-4 0-0 4, Keegan Fraser 1-4 0-0 2, Tyler Buterbaugh 0-1 0-0 0, Blaze Voltz 0-1 2-2 2, J.J. Szebalskie 0-1 0-0 0, Joey Morrow 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 29-63 8-10 69.Burrell 9 5 2 16 — 32Knoch25 21 15 8 — 693-point goals: DiCaprio, Coure, Ley; Fraser, Schrecengost 2Tuesday: Knoch at Mount Pleasant
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