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By John Hartsock
jhartsock@altoonamirror.com
The Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic underclassmen won the championship game in the Building II High School Boys Basketball League by beating Altoona, 55-39 Thursday night, but Robbie Okonak -- who served as the Marauders' head coach in the league -- was looking at the bigger picture.
"It feels great to win, and it's great for the kids, but it's summer, and we're looking for consistent improvement from the kids,'' said Okonak, who is a member of newly-hired BG varsity coach Ryan Lestochi's staff. "I think they've shown that improvement, and winning this league is icing on the cake for them.''
BG rode a hot-shooting night from 3-point land to the victory. The Marauders made nine 3-pointers, including five in the early to middle part of the second half, to expand a 29-23 lead at intermission to a 49-31 advantage.
Incoming sophomore Jake Marasco and incoming freshman Troy Ruggery both hit a pair of 3-pointers during the Marauders' big 20-8 run.
"I've been coaching both of those kids for a long time, and they both work really hard,'' Okonak said. "When they're open and they get a shot, the shot goes in more often than not.
"Our goal is to take the best shot that we can possibly get, whether that's a 3-pointer, a 15-footer, or a layup,'' Okonak said. "We've got a lot of guys who can shoot the ball really well.''
Ruggery scored a game-high 13 points for BG, while Marasco scored 12 and Connor Okonak added 11.
After Josh Lowery's field goal pulled Altoona to within 29-25, Marasco responded by scoring the Marauders' next eight points.
He sandwiched a fast-break layup between 3-pointers from the left side and the top of the circle to put BG firmly in command of the game with a 37-27 lead.
Both coaches agreed that BG played excellent defense in the championship game win.
"It all starts with defense,'' Robbie Okonak said. "Our coaching staff has been working hard on defensive fundamentals with the kids.''
Chuck Saylor, who served as the Altoona team's head coach Thursday, is an assistant varsity coach on Doug Pfeffer's Mountain Lions' staff. Saylor also saluted the BG team for playing an excellent defensive game Thursday.
"Their defense pretty much shut us down,'' said Saylor, whose team had entered the game with an 8-0 record. "We had beaten them in overtime during the regular season, and we knew that tonight's game would be a good game.
"Hats off to them -- they're a bunch of hustlers, a good bunch of kids who are going to win a lot of games next basketball season,'' Saylor said of the BG team."We had a great season in this league, but we missed a lot of foul shots tonight, and we didn't play too much defense.''
Led by Josh Lowery's 10 points, Altoona converted only seven of 16 free throws.
"We left some plays out there in the first half,'' Robbie Okonak said. "In the second half, a couple 3-pointers started dropping, we got some transition layups, and that really opened the game up for us.''
BISHOP GUILFOYLE (55): White 4 0-0 8, Marasco 5 0-0 12, T. Ruggery 4 2-4 13, G. Okonak 2 2-4 7, C. Okonak 4 0-0 11, Misiura 1 0-0 2, Boland 1 0-0 2. Totals - 21 4-8 55.
ALTOONA (39): Dunkle 0 0-0 0, LaRocca 2 0-0 4, Simendinger 2 1-8 5, Biddle 1 0-0 2, Lowery 4 1-2 10, Spahn 3 3-3 9, Wagner 2 1-2 5, Baumgartner 0 1-2 1, E. Hicks 1 0-0 3, D. Hicks 0 0-0 0. Totals - 15 7-16 39.
Halftime: Bishop Guilfoyle, 29-23. 3-point goals: Bishop Guilfoyle 9 (T. Ruggery 3, C. Okanak 3, Marasco 2, G. Okonak)
Officials: Randy Burkett, Jarryd Burkett, Brian Smith.