ëƵ

close

Farrell rides hot start to 67-55 win over Gators

By Rob Burchianti rburchianti@heraldstandard.Com 4 min read
1 / 13

Rob Burchianti | ëƵ-Standard

Geibel CatholicëƵs Tre White (12) puts up a driving shot during Tuesday nightëƵs PIAA Class A first-round playoff game at Farrell. White scored 13 points but the Gators lost, 67-55.

2 / 13

Rob Burchianti | ëƵ-Standard

Geibel CatholicëƵs Jaydis Kennedy fakes a jump shot and passes to a teammate during Tuesday nightëƵs PIAA Class A first-round playoff game at Farrell.

3 / 13

Farrell's Omar Stewart swats away a Geibel Catholic shot during Tuesday night's PIAA Class A first-round playoff game at Farrell.

4 / 13

Geibel Catholic's Trevell Clayton shoots over Farrell's Malachi Owens (1) during Tuesday night's PIAA Class A first-round playoff game at Farrell. Clayton scored 12 points but the Gators lost, 67-55.

5 / 13

Geibel Catholic's Jeffrey Johnson draws contact as he drives into the lane during Tuesday night's PIAA Class A first-round playoff game at Farrell.

6 / 13

Geibel Catholic's Jaydis Kennedy goes in for a layup during Tuesday night's PIAA Class A first-round playoff game at Farrell. Kennedy scored a team-high 18 points but the Gators lost, 67-55.

7 / 13

Geibel Catholic's Tre White (12) keeps the ball away from Farrell defender Kylon Wilson (4) during a PIAA Class A first-round playoff game at Farrell on March 8.

8 / 13

Geibel Catholic coach Don Porter talks to his players during a timeout in Tuesday night's PIAA Class A first-round playoff game at Farrell.

9 / 13

Farrell's Kebron Smith (23) hits a 3-point shot despite the defense of Geibel Catholic's Tre White (12) during the first quarter of Tuesday night's PIAA Class A first-round playoff game at Farrell.

10 / 13

Geibel Catholic's Jeffrey Johnson puts in a layup during Tuesday night's PIAA Class A first-round playoff game at Farrell.

11 / 13

Geibel Catholic's Jaydis Kennedy takes a jump shot during Tuesday night's PIAA Class A first-round playoff game at Farrell.

12 / 13

Geibel Catholic's Tre White sinks a free throw during Tuesday night's PIAA Class A first-round playoff game at Farrell.

13 / 13

Geibel Catholic's Trevell Clayton grabs a rebound during Tuesday night's PIAA Class A first-round playoff game at Farrell.

FARRELL ëƵ Most of the time all the work coaches do in reviewing film and scouting opponents pays off in some way.

That wasnëƵt the case, unfortunately, for Geibel Catholic in its PIAA Class A first-round boys basketball playoff game at Farrell on Tuesday night.

ëƵWe scouted them, watched film and they just didnëƵt look that proficient in shooting threes,ëƵ Gators coach Don Porter said. ëƵSo we decided as a coaching staff to come out and run our match-up zone on them.

ëƵThen they come out and hit four threes right off the bat.ëƵ

FarrellëƵs barrage left Geibel facing an early 10-point deficit and it never quite recovered in falling to the Steelers, 67-55.

FarrellëƵs LJ Samuels, who scored a game-high 21 points, made two of his three 3-pointers in the opening quarter and Kebron Smith, who tallied 13 points, also hit two early treys.

The Steelers (16-8) also got 14 points from Omar Stewart and 10 points from Nasir OëƵKane.

Farrell, the District 10 champion, advances to FridayëƵs second round where it will face Elk County Catholic.

The Gators took an early 2-0 lead on two free throws by Trevell Clayton but Smith and Samuels answered with consecutive 3-pointers and the Steelers never trailed again.

Farrell led 14-4 early on.

ëƵThose threes put us in an early hole and we were fighting to get out of it the rest of the game,ëƵ Porter said. ëƵWe can always second-guess ourselves. ItëƵs a chess match. Sometimes you have the right plan and sometimes you donëƵt.

ëƵThat first couple minutes of the game was on me because that was my decision, basically, to zone them up. Once we got out of that zone I thought our defense played pretty well.ëƵ

The Gators fought back to within 19-14 by the end of the first quarter on a late basket by Tre White.

Coach Myron LoweëƵs Steelers, who forced 22 turnovers with their full-court pressure defense, opened the second quarter with a 13-2 run to go up 31-16, prompting Porter to use a timeout.

The Gators, sparked by five points from Jaydis Kennedy and four by Clayton, responded with an 11-5 spurt to cut the margin to 36-27 at halftime.

Geibel whittled the gap to eight on a basket by Jeffrey Johnson early in the third quarter but Clayton drew his third and fourth fouls soon after and Farrell took advantage of the 6-foot-5 seniorëƵs absence by driving to the basket and scoring inside.

The Steelers held a 52-39 advantage after three quarters and after Clayton was whistled for his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter, the hosts extended the lead to as much as 20 before settling on a 12-point victory.

Porter felt ClaytonëƵs foul trouble had a big impact on the outcome.

ëƵBig TëƵs our guy. HeëƵs our leader,ëƵ Porter said. ëƵHe was doing well on the boards, scoring, blocking shots. HeëƵs a great player. The game was very, very physical at times and I felt some of the calls on him were very questionable.

ëƵWeëƵre not the same team when heëƵs sitting on the bench next to me.ëƵ

Geibel was also hurt by an injury to starter Kaiden Grady who missed most of the second half.

ëƵHe rolled an ankle,ëƵ Porter said. ëƵWe had to go deep into our bench tonight.ëƵ

Porter did laud the performance of bench player Brayden Curry who was pressed into significant action.

ëƵBrayden is a kid who worked his way through the system all year,ëƵ Porter said. ëƵHe had to play a lot of minutes tonight and he did a lot of good things out there.ëƵ

Kennedy led the Gators with 18 points, White followed with 13 and Clayton wound up with 12. Grady added eight points with Johnson and Mike Miller contributing two points apiece.

GeibelëƵs campaign comes to an end with an 18-7 record. ItëƵs the most wins the Gators have had since they were 18-5 under the late Ken Misiak in the 2004-05 season.

ëƵWeëƵre going to use this game as a learning lesson for next year,ëƵ Porter said. ëƵWe have everybody back but Trevell, although that is a big loss. Trevell always settled everybody down. HeëƵs the most level-headed guy on the team. HeëƵs the one everyone looked up to.

ëƵBut Jaydis, Tre, Jeffrey and Kaiden will be returning starters and Curry will be back. WeëƵll have Tommy Kolencik and Najaah Haggins coming back from injuries.

ëƵThe guys now have some valuable playoff experience. We made it to the semifinals of the WPIAL and we played a state playoff game so everybody knows what to expect now. WeëƵll be senior laden next season and weëƵre looking forward to that.ëƵ

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at /week.