Cougars ‘Usher’ Highlanders out with a loss
By Dean Dellamalva Jr.
MVI Sports
Prior to Friday night’s matchup against McGuffey, the Charleroi boys basketball team looked as if it might have to go on without one of its top players.
Charleroi’s Zach Usher injured his knee and had to be helped to the training room during warmups before coming back prior to the start of the game.
Usher looked unfazed by his brief departure and scored a career-high 27 points in a 51-39 win.
Will Wagner scored nine points for the Cougars (7-4, 5-3) but collected 11 rebounds.
“(Usher) came up big and he actually tweaked his knee. We had to take him in and get him fitted for a sleeve to get some compression on it,” Wiltz said.
Upon his return, he took a few warm-up shots and proceeded to score 13 of Charleroi’s 21 first-quarter points.
“Coming into the game we knew that Wagner and Usher were two of their better players,” McGuffey coach Mike Fatigante said. “We did a decent job on Usher the first time we played them but he was on fire tonight. You have to tip your cap sometimes.”
While Usher was pumping in the shots, the rest of the Cougars offense struggled.
“(Jake Caruso) gets in his own head really quick. If he can make the first couple, he can score 20 or 30,” Wiltz said. “When he misses the first couple, it takes him a little time to get in sync. But he is playing very solid for us; he’s a great defensive player and is our second ball-handler.”
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