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Defense the difference for BG

By Jamie Eichenlaub

For the Mirror

CRESSON — The Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic boys basketball team didn’t waste any time putting points on the scoreboard Wednesday night.

And the Marauders were pretty stingy when host Penn Cambria was doing all it could to get into the scoring column.

Luke and Kyle Ruggery combined to score the first 17 points of the game for the Marauders — spearheading the team’s 31-point first quarter — and the defense pitched a shutout in the second quarter as they steamrolled Penn Cambria, 74-33, Wednesday night in a Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference matchup.

“I thought we made the extra pass in the first half a lot,” Bishop Guilfoyle coach Chris Drenning said, “and when you make the extra pass you’re going to get better shots, and when you get better shots, hopefully, you’re gonna make your share of them, and we did tonight.”

Luke Ruggery scored 12 of his game-high 22 points in the first quarter, while brother Kyle did all of his damage in the opening period with 10 quick points, as BG improved to 12-2 overall and 9-1 in the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference.

“They were tenacious,” said Penn Cambria coach Jim Ronan, whose team fell to 4-11 and 2-9 in the LHAC. “They came at us in so many waves that we had no idea how to attack them offensively or defensively. They showed why they’re one of the best teams in the area.”

Kyle Ruggery, a junior guard, kicked things off less than a minute into the game with a 3-pointer, then senior guard Luke Ruggery followed with a layup to give BG a quick 5-0 lead. Kyle added another trey and then a layup, and Luke turned a steal into a layup, hit a jumper and then buried a 3-pointer to give BG a 17-7 lead at the 3:52 mark.

The Marauders rolled up a 14-5 run over the next 3:40 to stretch their lead to 31-12 before Penn Cambria’s Brayden Williams stopped the bleeding with a 3-pointer with just 12 seconds left, setting the score at 31-15 heading into the second quarter.

“It was definitely the defensive end,” said Luke Ruggery, who hit four 3-pointers in the game and was part of a Marauder defense that forced 11 first-quarter turnovers. “That’s always a big gameplan of ours, high-pressure defense; hopefully get a few turnovers and be able to finish on the other end.”

That defensive theme continued into the second quarter and wouldn’t stop until halftime. BG didn’t allow a point in the second quarter, outscoring Penn Cambria 15-0. Luke Ruggery tacked on seven points as Guilfoyle carried a 46-15 into halftime.

“I didn’t realize that,” Drenning said of the second-quarter shutout. “I thought we played hard and did some things well. I think Penn Cambria has some guys that we’ve seen on film who make shots and they had an off night, and that was probably part of it as well, but overall I was pretty pleased at halftime with the way we shared the ball and the effort we were getting on defense.”

BG’s Will Helton opened the second-half scoring with a 3-pointer to stretch the lead to 34 points (49-15), but Penn Cambria ended the scoring drought at the 6:59 mark of the third when Carter Smith connected on a 3-pointer. BG stretched its lead to 41 points (65-24) on a Michael Woolridge putback with less than two minutes left in the quarter, and that started the mercy rule running clock until the end of the game.

Michael Montecalvo chipped in 15 points for Bishop Guilfoyle while Helton added 11 points –including three 3-pointers –and a team-high seven rebounds.

BG hosts Westmont Hilltop on Friday.

Williams knocked down a trio of 3-pointers and finished with 10 points to lead the scoring for Penn Cambria, which travels to Central Cambria on Friday.

BISHOP GUILFOYLE (74): L. Ruggery 9 0-0 22, K. Ruggery 4 0-0 10, Montecalvo 7 0-1 15, Helton 4 0-0 11, Yanoshak 0 0-0 0, Kenner 2 0-0 4, Kiesewetter 2 0-0 6, Smith 1 0-0 3, Woolridge 1 1-2 3, Negola 0 0-0 0, Adams 0 0-0 0. Totals – 30 1-3 74.

PENN CAMBRIA (33): Tsikalas 1 1-2 3, Perrone 1 0-0 3, Reese 2 0-0 4, Smith 2 0-0 5, Karabinos 0 0-0 0, Garrett 3 0-0 6, Kochara 1 0-0 2, Williams 3 1-1 10, McCarthy 0 0-0 0, McCombie 0 0-0 0, Fogel 0 0-0 0, Marinak 0 0-0 0. Totals – 13 2-3 33.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Bishop Guilfoyle 31 15 19 9 — 74

Penn Cambria 15 0 12 6 — 33

3-point goals – Bishop Guilfoyle 13 (L. Ruggery 4, Helton 3, K. Ruggery 2, Kiesewetter 2, Montecalvo, Smith); Penn Cambria 5 (Williams 3, Perrone, Smith).

Records: Bishop Guilfoyle (12-2, 9-1 LHAC); Penn Cambria (4-11, 2-9 LHAC).

Officials: Tom Nedrich, Sam Brunetti, Steve Yesenosky.

JV: Bishop Guilfoyle, 55-39. High scorers: Casey Smith, BG, 15; Brodie O’Donnell, PC, 15.

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