Trending
By Jamie Eichenlaub
For the Mirror
Bishop Guilfoyle's Trevor Rehm provided a big challenge for the Penns Valley defense Monday night.
The 6-foot-9 junior forward's height advantage was apparent from the opening tip as he gave the Rams' front line -- with their tallest player listed at 6-foot -- fits the entire first half.
Rehm recorded a double-double before halftime with 13 points and 10 rebounds, including a number of blocked shots, as he helped spark the Marauders early as they rolled to a 61-32 Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference win over winless Penns Valley at the Pleasant Valley Gym.
"It feels great to win at home in front of these great fans," Rehm said. "I wanted to use my height to our advantage and do whatever I could in the post to help my team win."
Rehm finished the game with 17 points, including going 5-of-6 from the free throw line.
"Any opportunity we could get the ball inside, we wanted to get it into him," BG head coach Ryan Lestochi said. "They were sitting in the zone a little bit so if we were going to shoot, we wanted him to control the boards. He got after it on the boards tonight.
"Just being committed to playing inside and he's certainly done that this year," Lestochi added about Rehm. "Sometimes we probably need to do a little better job getting him the ball in there. He's come a long way the last couple of years. The sky's the limit for him."
BG ran its record to a perfect 5-0 overall and in conference. Penns Valley fell to 0-6 overall and 0-5 in the conference.
The Marauders came out firing on all cylinders, opening the game on a 9-0 run over the first 1:38, getting four points from Rehm and five points from junior guard Jude Haigh, who tossed in a game-high 19 points. Penns Valley finally got on the scoreboard at 6:02 on a deep 3-pointer from Carson Webster. BG stretched the lead to 13-3 at 5:44, fueled by a Tyson Lestochi layup and a Hamilton Gates layup off a steal, to force a Penns Valley timeout. Haigh kept the momentum rolling when he drilled a 3-pointer to put BG up 16-3.
Penns Valley hit a barrage of 3-pointers -- Jackson Romig made three and Fletcher Ironside had one -- to keep the game close in the first quarter, pulling the Rams within six points, 21-15, at the 3:22 mark.
BG's Haigh responded with a 3-pointer of his own to stretch the lead to 24-15, and then closed the first quarter with another 3-pointer, his fifth in the opening frame, to give the Marauders a commanding 30-16 lead.
"We knew they could really shoot the ball," Lestochi said. "And if they got hot they could keep it close, and they did exactly that. Jude got a little hot there in the first quarter and kind of got us going. We were getting up and down the floor, getting some layups, and that always makes the game a little easier."
Lestochi converted a layup, Nick Foor drained a corner 3-pointer, and Taurean Consiglio had an offensive rebound and a basket as BG opened the second quarter with a 7-0 run to take a 37-16 advantage at the 5:41 mark.
"They're a solid team, well-coached," Penns Valley head coach Rob Irwin said. "They have a lot of players who are very skilled and we knew that coming in. Our emphasis was just attitude and compete, and I thought we did that from start to finish. The scoreboard may not have shown that but I was happy with our effort."
BG carried a 49-21 lead into halftime. With a running clock the entire second half, the Marauders only outscored Penns Valley 12-11 the rest of the way.
BG faces an early-season challenge as it travels to play rival Central on Thursday.
"We want to win every game we play, so record-wise I'm happy with that," Lestochi said. "We know that playing at Central, we're going to have our hands full. It's a tough environment to play in. That's a game we've got to be mentally tough."
Game notes: Penns Valley hosts Bellwood-Antis in a conference matchup on Thursday. … BG freshman guard Troy Ruggery, who tossed in a game-high 35 points in the team's 68-17 junior varsity game victory, grabbed five rebounds in the varsity game. … Romig led Penns Valley with nine points, while Webster added eight points.
PENNS VALLEY (32): F. Ironside 2 0-2 5, C. Ironside 0 0-0 0, Webster 3 0-0 8, Romig 3 0-0 9, Althouse 2 2-2 7, Niewinski 1 1-2 3, Patel 0 0-0 0, Mast 0 0-0 0, Shawley 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 11 3-6 32.
BISHOP GUILFOYLE (61): Lestochi 3 2-2 8, Haigh 7 0-0 19, Tr. Rehm 6 5-6 17, Gates 3 0-1 6, Consiglio 3 0-0 6, J. Kissell 1 0-0 2, C. Kissell 0 0-0 0, T. Ruggery 0 0-0 0, Foor 1 0-0 3, K. Ruggery 0 0-0 0, Robertson 0 0-0 0, Ty. Rehm 0 0-0 0, Okonak 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 24 7-9 61.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
PennsValley 16 5 4 7 -- 32
Bishop Guilfoyle 30 19 10 2 -- 61
3-point goals -- PennsValley 7 (Romig 3, Webster 2, F. Ironside, Althouse); Bishop Guilfoyle 6 (Haigh 5, Foor).
Records: Penns Valley (0-6, 0-5 LHAC); Bishop Guilfoyle (5-0, 5-0 LHAC).
JV: Bishop Guilfoyle, 68-17. High scorers: Troy Ruggery, BG, 35; Alex Parsons, Noah Patel, Collin Forhinger, PV, 4 each.
Officials: Cliff Kitner, Dan Amrhein, Don Solomon.