Main menu:

Site search

Categories

January 2012
S M T W T F S
« Dec    
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  

Archive

Cats Roll Past Mustangs

by The Daily Item

Mifflinburg 60, Midd-West 37

MIDDLEBURG — The Wildcats outscored the Mustangs 36-12 through the second and third quarters to open up the game and take the HAC-I victory.

John K-Courtney paced Mifflinburg (6-8, 5-3 HAC-I) with 12 points.

Shane Connahan had 10 points for Midd-West (0-12, 0-8).

Posted: January 27th, 2012 under JV-Varsity.
Comments: none

Wildcats defeat Bulldogs

by The Daily Item

Mifflinburg 56,

Jersey Shore 48

JERSEY SHORE — The Wildcats held off a late charge by the Bulldogs to take the HAC-I win.

Connor Pierce scored 21 points and posted a 9-of-10 efffort from the foul line to help Mifflinburg (5-8, 4-3 HAC-I) fend off Jersey Shore at the end.

Pierce added five steals and four assists for the Wildcats, while Dustin Botts chipped in 13 points.

Caleb Barnhart led Jersey Shore with 13 points.

Posted: January 21st, 2012 under JV-Varsity.
Comments: none

Mifflinburg rallies to beat Shamokin with final shot

by Josh Funk
Wednesday, January 18
COAL TOWNSHIP — If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
That number of tries is pretty limited when there’s only 16 ticks on the clock while trailing by one — away from the friendly confines of home, to boot.
But on the third try, Mifflinburg sophomore Jeremy Uscowskas found nothing but net.
Uscowskas’ third and fourth points of the ball game, scored with a half of a second left on the clock, completed a furious Mifflinburg (4-8 overall, 3-2 HAC-I) comeback, 48-47, against Shamokin (7-7, 2-4) Tuesday night at the Purple Palace.
The ending, and ensuing Wildcat celebration, was reminiscent of that of something seen in March. Not that the Wildcats won’t take a shot of momentum square in the arm in mid-January, though.
“Yesterday (during practice), I stopped it and got up on my soapbox a bit,” said Mifflinburg head coach Andre Roupp,” and I said, ‘If you seniors want to win any more games this year, you need Uscowskas to step up.’”Uscowskas heard Roupp’s message loud and clear.
After Alex Vidunas tipped Shamokin’s inbounds pass with 27 seconds left to Connor Pierce, Mifflinburg was in business. Pierce moved the ball down into the low post to Uscowskas, who put up a shot, but misfired. Uscowskas grabbed the offensive board — his fourth of the game, and fired up a putback. To no avail.
“I wasn’t feeling anything good after those two misses,” Uscowskas admitted. “But it was a good feeling that I got another chance.”
No. 30 got that chance thanks to Pierce, who tracked down his fifth offensive board on the far wing, worked back to near the top of the key and found the sophomore one last time. For a swish of the net.
“This was absolutely a character-building win for us tonight,” Roupp said. “I’m so proud of these kids. I told them Shamokin is a tough place to play, but it’s not only a tough place — it’s also a fun place (to play).”
And Roupp’s challenge didn’t start and end with Uscowskas. Role shooter Seth Derk, a junior guard who comes off of the bench, was also included in Roupp’s soapbox address.
“He (Coach Roupp) said he wanted us to be more aggressive offensively,” Derk said. “I took it to heart.”
Derk took the challenge like a dagger to Shamokin’s heart, too, scoring five of his 10 points within the final minute of the game, including a 3-ball with 47.7 seconds left in the game to bring the Wildcats within one, 45-44.
Though the Wildcats gave up plenty of size to the Indians, they pulled down 12 offensive rebounds.
“I call it crash-and-trash,” Roupp said. “Crash the board and get the trash points. It’s like another way of saying cleaning up the mess.”
Shamokin appeared to have Mifflinburg in quite the quagmire on two separate occasions, using a 17-1 run between the first and second quarters to build a 17-5 lead. Then, the purple and white had the guests down, 31-19 in the third quarter, opening the third period with a 7-2 spurt.
But little by little, Mifflinburg got Shamokin to unravel at the seams. The Indians’ Kime Newborn, who finished with seven blocked shots, got hit with a technical foul at the 1:38 mark of the third. Pierce, who scored a game-high 18 points, nailed both foul shots, and Mifflinburg pulled to within 32-27 of the hosts.
Guard Devon Craft drained a 3-pointer to quell Mifflinburg near the end of the third, but Roupp said his players weren’t phased.
“It took us the whole second half to overcome an eight-point deficit,” Roupp said. “But they didn’t blink. The whole second half — they didn’t blink.
“I told the guys to do three things tonight — concentrate, hustle and have fun,” Roupp said. “But there was no way they’d have fun if they didn’t take care of the other two.”
Derk’s 10 points were a career-high and Vidunas added seven points for the Wildcats in the victory.
Shamokin saw three players finish in double-figures — Kieran Kelley and Craft each scored 12 and Newborn added 10.
Uscowskas said Tuesday night’s victory was huge for Mifflinburg.
“It really is,” Uscowskas said. “It really puts a lot of confidence back in us after we had some tough losses. We knew we had it in us.”
The Wildcats travel to Jersey Shore Friday night.

Posted: January 18th, 2012 under JV-Varsity.
Comments: none

Ironmen pull past Wildcats in third

By Todd Stanford

The Daily Item

MIFFLINBURG — Andrew Andreychik didn’t have a bad first half Friday night by any means. But it was nothing compared to his second half.

Andreychik exploded for 15 of his game-high 25 points after intermission, as the Ironmen erased a one-point halftime deficit to beat Mifflinburg 58-43 in Heartland Athletic Conference Division I action.

“(Andreychik) basically took the game over,” Danville coach Lenny Smith said. “You just have to sit back and enjoy the show. That’s what I’m going to do this year: just turn him loose and let him do what he needs to do.”

“We were trying to deny Andreychik the ball as much as possible,” added Wildcats coach Andre Roupp. “And he still got his points; he’s that type of player.”

With the victory, the Ironmen (9-2, 5-0 HAC-I) won their ninth straight game.

“We’re on a pretty good winning streak right now,” Andreychik said. “We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and we’re taking advantage of the momentum we have right now.”

The Wildcats, who got a team-high 13 points from Connor Pierce and another nine from Alex Vidunas, fall to 3-8 with the loss (2-3 HAC-I).

“It feels like we’re right on the edge,” Roupp said. “Against good teams like Danville, Shikellamy, Selinsgrove, we need 32 minutes. Tonight, it looked like we put about 28 in.”

Danville did a lot of things well Friday, particularly on the offensive end. The Ironmen had 17 assists — Kyle Gruss led the way with five — on their 21 field goals, and they shot 47.7 percent from the floor (21 of 44).

“We’ve been stressing … the extra pass,” Smith said. “We say that, ‘We don’t often make the perfect pass or the great pass, we just have to make the extra pass.’”

Down 27-26 at halftime, the Ironmen turned it around thanks to a big third quarter. Danville retook the lead to start the third when Andreychik and Bret Berg orchestrated a perfect give-and-go, as Andreychik got behind Mifflinburg’s defense and skied for the alley-oop layup.

The teams traded buckets for a time — there were seven lead changes in the game — but the Ironmen put it away with a 15-1 run to end the third. In the final minute of the period, Andreychik twice penetrated and then passed it to a wide open Scotty Heeter for an easy layup. Then, with time winding down, Andreychik put up a three that bounced off the rim and backboard before falling through with one second left, putting Danville up 48-36.

“That was a big momentum (boost) that we needed going into the fourth quarter,” Andreychik said. “Then we just kept it going through the fourth.”

Mifflinburg never made a serious charge in the fourth, as the Wildcats only got the score under double figures once in the final frame.

“In the second half, we had some defensive lapses,” Roupp said. “We had guys help, and nobody rotated. We gave up easy buckets. Then they knocked down a couple of threes, and you could see it deflated us after they hit some shots.”

Posted: January 14th, 2012 under JV-Varsity.
Comments: none

Mifflinburg’s defense stifles Milton

by Josh Funk
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
MILTON — Prior to the start of the pregame warmup session, there were some technical difficulties in getting the music to play over the Milton gym speaker system.
Once the action began, Milton’s offense found itself mired in some technical difficulties of a different sort against Mifflinburg’s press defense.
Mifflinburg (3-7 overall, 2-2 HAC-I) forced a season-high 14 steals and Milton (3-7, 0-4) saw at least seven consecutive possessions in the second quarter end with a turnover. It all added up to a 48-30 victory for the Wildcats.

Posted: January 12th, 2012 under JV-Varsity.
Comments: none

Seals’ defense suffocates Wildcats in second half

by Josh Funk
Saturday, January 7, 2012
MIFFLINBURG — Prior to the start of the varsity game, a Selinsgrove assistant coach handed each Seal player a stick of gum.
By the second half, Mifflinburg found itself in a rather sticky situation — it wasn’t able to break through Selinsgrove’s defense for points.
Selinsgrove (4-3 overall, 2-1 HAC-I) limited the host Wildcats to only a pair of second-half field goals — both by senior Alex Vidunas — and Mifflinburg (2-7, 1-2) couldn’t overcome a deciding 13-0 Seal run in a 41-34 loss Friday from the Mifflinburg Intermediate School gym.
“We simply cannot (expect to) win basketball games with only two field goals in a half,” said Wildcat head coach Andre Roupp. “But you have to give credit to Selinsgrove’s defense. They continued their aggressive style of play and got us into a bit of panic on offense. They got us into playing one-on-one basketball (in the second half), and that’s not what we do.”
On the other side of the floor, Seals head coach Ray Moyer called the game a “gut check” for his team.
“We played pretty good defense in the first half, but part of the halftime speech was that we needed to play even better defense,” Moyer said. “We’re not a high-scoring team ourselves.”
Mifflinburg had everything going for it in the first half — the Wildcats used a 9-0 run to build a 17-8 lead in a span between the first and second quarters — and did so behind scoring from Vidunas and senior John Courtney.
But right before halftime, Roupp pointed to a situation that cost Mifflinburg momentum.
Up 24-16, the Wildcats turned the ball over and Selinsgrove converted for an easy two-point basket, slicing what could have been a 10-point lead to just six (24-18).
“We talked about game management and handling the ball,” Roupp said. “And again, at the end of the third quarter, game management cost us another two points.”
When the third quarter closed, Selinsgrove had already scored six consecutive points to close to within 26-24. Mifflinburg, to that point, only recorded two points, which came via Connor Pierce free throws.
That’s when one of Selinsgrove’s support players delivered a critical punch in the gut to Mifflinburg. Junior David Aurand, who came in as a sub, drained a basket and drew a foul in the process to start the fourth quarter. The old-school three-point play put Selinsgrove ahead, 27-26, and it was a lead the Seals wouldn’t relinquish.
“David Aurand came off the bench and sparked us,” Moyer said. “He scored all four of his points in the fourth quarter. That and-one was big.”
Eric Elliott, who led all scorers for the game with 13 points, pumped in the next two Selinsgrove baskets to stretch the run to 13-0 and the lead to 31-26.
Vidunas hit a two-pointer to draw the Wildcats within 31-28, and Pierce hit three of four overall foul shots to pull within 35-31, but Selinsgrove had an answer each time Mifflinburg tried to surge back into the game.
One of the answers was an alley-oop, with the “oop” end of things supplied by a lay-up by Kwazie Walker. Moyer said the Seals went to the rim more in the second half with Walker, Elliot and Josh Kahl, as he felt his team had a distinct size advantage on the Wildcats.
“That was just a part of our halftime adjustments,” Moyer said.
Mifflinburg got a game-high 12 points from Vidunas and Courtney scored all nine of his points in the first half. Pierce was held to a season-low nine points. He scored only one field goal and finished 7-of-10 from the foul line.
It was the first Mifflinburg game of the season a player other than Pierce took sole possession of the team’s leading scorer.
“Courtney was really aggressive in the high post and then shifting to the low post,” Roupp said. “When Connor (Pierce) isn’t scoring we need four available players on offense.”
Justin Keiser scored nine points for the Seals, Walker added six and Aurand and Kahl each had four.
“Mifflinburg played awfully hard tonight,” Moyer said. “We expected that from them and they certainly didn’t disappoint.”

Posted: January 9th, 2012 under JV-Varsity.
Comments: none

Wildcats drop tough road decision

by Josh Funk
Wednesday, January 4, 2012 8
SUNBURY — Shikellamy caught a Mifflinburg team starting the New Year with a fire in its belly, but the Wildcats couldn’t quite pull the upset.
Shikellamy (7-0 overall, 2-0 HAC-I) saw senior Tyler Pratt score 12 of his 15 points for the game in the fourth quarter to help propel the Braves to a 50-46 victory over Mifflinburg (2-6, 1-1).
“We had a game plan and everybody stuck with it,” said Wildcat head coach Andre Roupp. “We didn’t abandon it after the first few minutes or first half.”

Posted: January 4th, 2012 under JV-Varsity.
Comments: none

Dragons crowned tournament king

BY JOSH FUNK
Sports editor
Thursday, December 29, 2011

Consolation

Bloomsburg 57,
Mifflinburg 39

Ten different Bloomsburg players scored a point as Bloomsburg (3-3) rolled to victory in the consolation game of the Orange & Black Tournament over Mifflinburg (2-5).
John Klingerman led the way for Bloomsburg with 15 points, including four 3-point field goals. Klingerman scored nine of the Panthers’ 14 points as they built a 14-4 lead in the second quarter.
Zach Mrozek added nine points and Tyler Vincent eight for the Panthers, who connected for seven treys in the game.
Connor Pierce went off again, to the tune of 24 points, by hitting nine field goals and going 5-of-5 from the foul line. It was Pierce’s fourth 20+-point game of the season, and the Wildcat senior is averaging 18.7 points per game this season.
Mifflinburg trailed, 22-13 at halftime. Pierce had eight points by that time and Alex Vidunas three. The only other Wildcat who tallied points in the first half was Nick James, who scored a field goal off the bench.
Seth Derk added eight second-half points for Mifflinburg, including a pair of 3-balls.
Bloomsburg opened the third quarter on a 12-5 spurt and led by 16 (43-27) by the end of the third period.

Posted: December 31st, 2011 under JV-Varsity.
Comments: none

Milton, Lewisburg advance to Black & Orange Tournament title game

by Josh Funk
Wednesday, December 28, 2011

MILTON — Before the season started, Milton head coach Steve DeLong repeated a simple mantra: “This team is ready to win games.”
“There’s saying it (winning), but then you have to go out and do it, too,” DeLong said.
Behind timely baskets from Michael Jacobs and clutch foul shot conversions from both Jacobs and Logan Feltman with less than 20 seconds left, Milton (3-3) evened its season record with a 47-41 victory over Mifflinburg (2-4) in the semifinal nightcap of the Orange & Black Tournament played at Milton Area High School.

Posted: December 31st, 2011 under JV-Varsity.
Comments: none

Mifflinburg snaps three-game skid

by the Standard Journal
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Mifflinburg 59
Midd-West 28 
MIFFLINBURG — Christmas came early for the Mifflinburg Wildcats and head coach André Roupp Tuesday night.
The Wildcats (2-3 overall, 1-0 HAC-I) blazed to a 22-2 lead through one period and never looked back, posting a 59-28 victory over a young and injury-riddled Midd-West (0-4, 0-1) squad from the Mifflinburg Intermediate School gym.
Entering a week-long holiday layoff, Mifflinburg was able to snap a three-game losing streak and post its third straight victory over the Mustangs dating back to 2010. The Wildcats’ last three Ws against the Mustangs have come by a combined 186-95.

Posted: December 23rd, 2011 under JV-Varsity.
Comments: none

« Previous entries