After five games this year, Tyrone sat at 1-4 and had a chance to redeem themselves in the Roundball Classic against Erie McDowell, Sunday afternoon.
With Byron Kost leading the way in the two games played this weekend, Tyrone looked to at least finish seventh out of the eight tournament teams. Kost had recorded 26 points and nailed eight treys in the two tournament games against Kiski and Bishop McDevitt. Teams have been looking him up and down during their breaks in between game times to see what they were up against. With the outside shots resting on Kost’s shoulder’s, McDowell made sure he would get a run for his money.
Kost started the scoring for Tyrone with a short baseline jumper over Zack Spronatti. This would be the only field goal Kost would make in the entire game as Spronatti took pride in his defense and shut down the dangerous shooter.
After five Spronatti points, the score was tied up at five apiece. A couple of missed shots traded by both teams sent the Trojans back to the offensive as Anthony Donofrio swept passed two Tyrone defenders on the back door lay-up, making it 7-5 with just under 3:30 to go in the first quarter.
On the ensuing possession, Leonard Wilson took the ball hard to the rack where he was fouled hard to the floor. He hit one of two free throws that cut the lead to just one point with 3:01 to go in the quarter. It looked as though the game was going to go back and forth until the Trojans jumped out to a 10-6 lead with 1:32 to go in the quarter.
The momentum started to shift directions, more in favor for the Trojans until a questioned foul by the assistant coach went a little too far as he received two technical fouls and ejection from the game. This gave the Eagles an opportunity to tie the game with 1:19 left in the first quarter.
Kost took the four free-throw attempts and cherished every shot as Tyrone tied it up at 10 points and had the ball back. It was a controversy that actually helped out Tyrone this time and they looked to take advantage of it early.
After a bad pass, Spronatti took the ball coast to coast where he would drop in a lay-up over Wilson with :26 seconds left in the quarter.
This was the start of the Spronatti route against Tyrone as he lit up Tyrone for two treys in the second quarter. This was just six of his 15 points in the first half as Tyrone looked for help everywhere against Spronatti and Donofrio. These two combined for 17 of the 24 first half points and 34 of their 59 points during the game. They were two forces Tyrone couldn’t contain and they led the Trojans the entire way.
“We couldn’t get any outside shooting today,” Tyrone coach Mike Harris said. “They were all over Byron Kost. He couldn’t get a shot of because they were up in his face all game long. We just needed that little spark out there. We had it, we played hard all weekend, but we have to find that little push that will get us over the edge.”
Tyrone continued to have trouble on offense in the second half as well, scoring just nine points in the third quarter to McDowell’s 14 and could not overcome the Trojan pressure against their offense. The intensity on defense increased for McDowell as they turned on the jets in the fourth quarter.
Wilson and Catich were the only Tyrone scorers in the fourth quarter as they split 15 points between themselves. Catich scored all 10 of his points in the fourth, as Wilson scored five of his game high 14 points as well. It was a hard-nosed effort, but Tyrone just couldn’t pull out the victory as they were outscored in each quarter and trailed the entire game.
They couldn’t make that turn to get back in the game as McDowell took control of Tyrone’s mistakes on offense and kept their offense rolling between the 34 points of Spronatti and Donofrio.
Tyrone has dropped five straight games and fall to 1-5, finishing last in the Roundball Classic over the weekend. Kost and Wilson led Tyrone in scoring with 40 and 37 for the tournament, despite losing their three games.
“We’ll be okay,” Harris stated. “We played some very tough teams and really played well in this tournament. We didn’t get in foul trouble, we played aggressive, and we were right in every single ball game this weekend. This week we have two very tough games ahead of us and we need to turn it all around this week.”
Erie McDowell 59 Tyrone 42
Tyrone – Wilson 3 8-12 14, Catich 5 0-0 10, Kost 1 4-4 6, Clark 2 0-0 5, Barr 1 0-0 3, Hoover 1 0-0 2, Morrow 1 0-1 2. Totals 14 12-17 42
McDowell – Spronatti 7 4-5 21, Donofrio 5 2-2 13, Bukowski 2 4-4 9, Kimball 2 3-5 8, Keim 1 4-6 6, Connor 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 17-22 59
Score by Quarters
Tyrone 10 9 8 15 – 42
McDowell 14 10 14 21 -59
Three-point goals Tyrone-2 (Barr, Clark)
McDowell-6 (Spronatti-3, Donofrio, Bukowski, Kimball).
Tyrone “Blanked” in third period by Bishop McDevitt
With a string of three losses in a row, Tyrone needed a win to snatch a shot at the fourth place game Sunday night and snap their three game skid against Bishop McDevitt. It was a win-win situation if they took out the Crusaders Saturday morning.
Tyrone finally started out on top as they took an early 17-16 lead, led by Steve Catich as he rolled six points on the electronic scoreboard. They had trailed 14-7 with 2:52 to go in the first quarter and took the next eight points to take a 15-14 lead with just under 1:20 left in the quarter. They were looking great on offense, converting crisp, safe passes through the lane and stayed wide on the transition. Most of Tyrone’s shots came off of splitting the lane and dishing it off. This was really effective on McDevitt’s defense.
The second was also an all-Tyrone performance as Byron Kost netted the first two shots from beyond the arc, exploding a seven-point lead a minute into the second quarter as they went on top 23-16. It was his third three of the game and Tyrone’s Shane Barr knocked in a trey of his own after a Tristan Rosada peeper to make it 26-18.
Tyrone wasn’t finished there as Doug Morrow jumped into the action as he hit a smooth 15 footer from the baseline to make it 28-20 with 6:06 to go in the first half. It was a route in which no one thought McDevitt was going to overcome as Kost poured on five more points including another trey to put Tyrone up 37-29 at the end of the first half. Tyrone outscored the Crusaders, 20-12 in the second quarter alone, leaving the second half up to the defense to stay on top.
Behind the offensive strike of Kost and Catich, Tyrone should have had no problems in the second half, but that was about to change. As the second half got underway, McDevitt scored the first seven points to cut the lead to just one with 3:54 left as Tyrone could not get any effort on offense to score. It was frustrating to watch, and I’m sure it was frustrating for the players as well.
It was a route by McDevitt that ensured victory all over it. The Crusaders busted off a 24-0 run, continuing from the first half in as they shut Tyrone out in the third quarter. Nick Barbera and John Corrigan led the Crusaders run combining for 13 of the 24 points that put McDevitt well on top, 48-37 with 6:32 left in the game.
Stunned and confused, Tyrone could not believe they put up an “egg” for the third period of play. McDevitt was in the driver seat the rest of the game.
Leonard Wilson broke the 24-0 run as he sent in the next five points for Tyrone as they pulled within six points. It wasn’t over just yet, but with the turnovers and forced shots, Tyrone just couldn’t make that run to overcome the huge deficit they suffered in the third.
“They picked up their defensive intensity in the second half,” Tyrone coach Mike Harris said. “The competition gets better when you come here and guys are a little quicker than what teams we’re used to playing against. The shot that you think is going to be there isn’t. We just didn’t get that third quarter in to complete our four quarter basketball we all know we can play. It was only a three-quarter effort and it showed tonight.”
Leonard Wilson and Byron Kost led Tyrone in scoring with 15 and 14 as they were the only Eagles in double-figures for the night. Kost netted all 14 points in the first half, 12 of which were by triples as he lit up the McDevitt defense in the first half. It was the second half where Wilson took control as he scored 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter alone.
Bishop McDevitt 61 Tyrone 53
Tyrone – Wilson 6 3-5 15, Kost 4 2-2 14, Catich 2 4-4 8, Morrow 3 1-2 7, Corle 1 1-3 4, Barr 1 0-0 3, Clark 1 0-0 2, Hoover 0 0-2 0. Totals 18 11-18 53.
Bishop McDevitt – Barbera 4 3-4 15, Smith 4 2-2 11, Corrigan 4 1-2 11, Rosada 3 3-4 9, Benton 1 3-5 5, Henderson 0 3-4 3, Strawbridge 1 1-1 3, Henry 1 0-0 2, Harvison 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 16-22 61.
Score by Quarter
Tyrone 17 20 0 16 – 53
Bishop McDevitt 16 13 17 15 – 61
Three-point goals: Tyrone-6 (Kost-4, Corle, Barr)
Bishop McDevitt-7 (Barbera-4, Corrigan-2, Smith)
