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By John Hartsock
jhartsock@altoonamirror.com
EBENSBURG -- A sense of motivation can often serve as a valuable ally for a high school basketball team -- a sixth man of sorts.
That's been the case with Bishop Carroll all season long.
"We lost a couple of seniors from last year's team, and everybody thought we'd be really bad this year,'' Carroll sophomore standout guard Jace Casses said. "That just made us hungry.''
After winning the District 6 Class 1A boys championship as the fifth seed in the tournament last week, Carroll opened up PIAA state playoff competition Friday, riding a team-high 19-point effort from Casses to a 56-47 victory over Johnsonburg at the Bishop Carroll High School gymnasium.
The win moves Bishop Carroll (16-10) into the second round of the state playoffs on Tuesday, where the Huskies will meet District 7 runner-up The Neighborhood Academy at a site and time to be determined. The Neighborhood Academy team advanced with a 63-40 first-round victory over District 10 runner-up Rocky Grove Friday night.
Casses scored 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, which Carroll carried, 22-16, to gain some separation after leading by only three points, 34-31, at the end of the third period.
"Our plan was to spread out,'' said Casses, who scored several of his eight field goals on darting, dashing athletic layups. "We knew that we are quicker than they are, and we could drive to the basket.''
Casses hit a driving bucket to start the fourth quarter, putting Carroll ahead, 36-31. After Eric Hoffman answered with a layup for Johnsonburg, Casses drained a 3-point shot from the top of the circle, putting the Huskies ahead, 39-31.
Johnsonburg (19-9), which was the fourth-place finishing team out of the District 9 tournament, got a field goal from senior Isaiah Jackson, who scored a game-high 23 points. But senior Max Oravec hit a pair of free throws and Casses connected on a pull-up jumper to give Carroll a 43-35 advantage with just under five minutes left in the game.
Senior guard Luke Repko added 15 points and senior forward Oravec chipped in 10 for Carroll, which reeled off six straight points after Johnsonburg had forged a temporary 29-28 lead early in the third quarter.
"We were down one point there, and we got a couple of steals and some layups,'' Carroll coach Cosie Aliquo said. "They're a very deliberate team, so we needed to speed up the game against them.
"We have two of the best guards in our area (Casses and Repko), and a lot of other good players too,'' Aliquo added.
Johnsonburg, which also got 11 points from junior Noah Stauffer, could draw no closer than to within six points in the game's final minutes, as Carroll's defensive pressure forced the Rams into turnovers and Johnsonburg was forced to pull out all the defensive stops on its own down the stretch, leading to some easy Carroll buckets in open space.
"We knew that they were going to press and create chaos against us,'' Johnsonburg coach Cole Peterson said of Carroll. "I thought we held our own for three and a half quarters, but some turnovers by us gave them momentum, and they took off later in the fourth quarter.''
Now it's on to the second round of the state playoffs for a Carroll team that has been thumbing its noses at its doubters.
"Everybody wrote us off at the beginning of the year, but we're still going,'' Aliquo said.
Casses is certainly enjoying the ride.
"It feels great,'' Casses said. "It feels amazing to be where we are now.''
Game notes: Repko collected 11 rebounds and Oravec snared 10 for Carroll, while senior Eli Perez had a game-high 14 and Jackson collected 13 for Johnsonburg ... Carroll made 21 of 55 floor shots for a 38.2 percent clip, while Johnsonburg converted 20 of 49 for 40.8 percent.
JOHNSONBURG (47): Perez 2 1-2 5, Zimmerman 0 1-2 1, Stauffer 4 3-5 11, Jackson 10 1-3 23, Hoffman 1 1-2 3, Peterson 1 0-0 2, Myers 0 0-0 0, Lehman 1 0-0 2. Totals - 20 7-14 47.
BISHOP CARROLL (56): Repko 5 4-7 15, Oravec 3 3-4 10, Tremel 1 0-0 3, Casses 8 2-3 19, Alexander 2 0-0 5, Sekerak 2 0-2 4, Becquet 0 0-2 0. Totals - 21 9-18 56.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Johnsonburg 8 12 11 16--47
Bishop Carroll 14 7 13 22--56
3-point goals: Johnsonburg - none; Bishop Carroll 5 (Repko, Oravec, Tremel, Casses, Alexander).
Records: Johnsonburg (19-9); Bishop Carroll (16-10).
Officials: Bill Pfeffer, Dave Heim, Todd Parker.