Warriors have no problems with Scotties
By JOSE NEGRON
jnegron@yourmvi.com
After seeing his team roll to a 58-14 win over Southmoreland on Jan. 12, Elizabeth Forward head coach Matt Loftis didn’t want to witness a letdown in Friday’s rematch.
The Warriors quickly put Loftis at ease of his worries as they pulled away in the first quarter of a 60-33 victory over the visiting Scotties in Section 3-4A play.
EF (6-3, 6-1) started the game on a 17-0 run and held Southmoreland to just 11 first-half points en route to capturing its third consecutive victory.
“With the way the first game went, these second games always make you nervous, especially when they’re section games,” Loftis said. “I was nervous we were going to come out flat, so I was happy that we came out engaged, got out to a really good start and were consistent the rest of the way.”
While EF showed little difficulty scoring with ease, Southmoreland (1-10, 0-8) struggled on the boards and couldn’t find much fluidity on the offensive end of the floor.
After the Warriors’ run extended to 17 unanswered points to start the game, Southmoreland scored its first bucket of the night with 1:46 left in the first quarter on a 3-pointer by Ronnie Collins.
EF led 20-3 after eight minutes before winning the second quarter by a 16-8 margin to head into halftime with a 36-11 edge.
“With our youth, we’ve been struggling to rebound the ball,” Southmoreland head coach Frank Muccino said. “I would probably guess that they had 16 to 20 second-chance points in the first half. It was to the point where they were just shooting until they made it.”
A lot of the Scotties’ struggles can be traced back to their youth.
Of the 16 players on their roster, eight are freshmen and five are sophomores.
“We’re not physically strong enough at times, but then again, EF is a young team, too,” Muccino said. “We just physically weren’t strong enough to keep them off the boards and when you give teams more opportunities to get extra shots, it hurts you.
“The kids are fighting and they’re working hard, it’s just tough when you’re physically outmatched.”
Nine different players scored for the Warriors, while three finished in double figures.
Zach Boyd, who entered Friday averaging 17.3 points per game, led the way for EF with 14 points. While playing limited minutes, Boyd scored 10 of his points in a third quarter in which EF outscored Southmoreland by an 18-13 margin.
Matt Daniels contributed with 11 points and Vernon Settles finished with 10.
“We talked about the starting group coming out in the second half and putting a run on them to kind of settle everybody back in and make sure we could keep our commanding lead there,” said Loftis, whose team outscored Southmoreland, 24-22, in the second half.
“Zach did a really good job of setting the pace and getting some nice buckets there.”
Ty Keffer, a 6-2 freshman guard/forward, led the way in an improved second-half effort for the Scotties as he scored all 15 of his points. He had three 3-pointers in the loss.
“Going through the wars of 4A basketball and the physicality you have to play with, he hasn’t been deterred. There hasn’t been that freshman moment for him where he’s a deer in the headlights,” Muccino said. “He’s been steady all year and I’ve liked how he’s handled everything mentally. He keeps pushing forward, keeps working and we keep seeing improvement from him.”
Southmoreland will look to put an end to its six-game losing streak at South Park today. Meanwhile, EF travels to Uniontown Tuesday.
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