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By John Hartsock
jhartsock@altoonamirror.com
CRESSON -- The Bishop Guilfoyle Academy Marauders are a high-powered, high-scoring offensive machine that can feature any one of a half-dozen players taking the lead role in scoring on any particular night.
On Friday night, sharp-shooting senior guard Nick Foor stepped to the forefront for BG, scoring a game-high 23 points -- including five 3-pointers -- as the Marauders defeated Penn Cambria, 77-63 in a Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference game at the Penn Cambria High School gymnasium.
Foor scored 10 of his points in the second quarter, when BG (11-3 overall and a perfect 10-0 in conference play) pulled away from a narrow 22-17 advantage to take a 44-30 halftime lead.
Three other Marauders -- sophomore guard Troy Ruggery (15 points), and junior forwards Taurean Consiglio and Jake Kissell (11 apiece) also reached double figures for the Marauders, who converted 26 of 48 floor shots for a sizzling 54 percent clip.
"We played a pretty solid game for the most part,'' BG coach Ryan Lestochi said. "Toward the end of the game, we got a little sloppy, which is uncharacteristic of us, and something that we definitely will need to fix.
"This is a tough environment to play in, and Penn Cambria has a great fan base here,'' Lestochi added. "It was a good test for us, but I thought that we handled it well for the most part.''
Foor was a big reason why, draining a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter, another in the third, and two more in the fourth to continually give BG bonus offense throughout the game.
BG likes to play the run-and-gun game, and the Marauders pulled it off splendidly again Friday.
"I think we did a really good job pushing the ball against them tonight,'' Foor said. "That opened the driving lanes for us, and when those driving lanes weren't open, that often left the 3-point shot open for us.''
Lestochi counts on Foor as one of his team's go-to players.
"Nick had the hot hand for us tonight,'' Lestochi said. "Our boys really look to him to take shots, they trust him to take shots, and tonight he made them.''
Penn Cambria (6-7, 4-5) got 17 points and a game-high seven rebounds from junior Caden Gibbons, 15 points from senior Brandon Rabish, and 12 from junior Blake Lilly.
"Our kids battled from start to finish, but BG is really good,'' Penn Cambria coach Jim Ronan said. "They're a great shooting team, and there were times when we played really good defense against them, but they were able to get offensive rebounds and convert them.
"You can't give a team as good as BG is second chances, and Foor was lights out for them tonight.''
Game notes: Grant Okonak led the Marauders in rebounds with six ... Penn Cambria shot 23 of 56 from the floor for 41 percent.
BISHOP GUILFOYLE (77): Lestochi 2 2-4 6, Consiglio 5 0-0 11, Ruggery 5 5-8 15, Foor 8 2-2 23, J. Kissell 2 7-10 11, C. Kissell 1 0-0 2, Gates 2 1-1 5, G. Okonak 1 1-2 4, Nachtman 0 0-0 0. Totals - 26 18-27 77.
PENN CAMBRIA (63): Harrold 1 0-0 2, Lilly 4 3-3 12, Rabish 6 0-0 15, Gibbons 7 2-2 17, L. Semelsberger 3 0-0 8, Jones 2 4-4 9, Hite 0 0-0 0, Strittmatter 0 0-0 0. Totals - 23 9-9 63.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Bishop Guilfoyle 22 22 14 19--77
Penn Cambria 12 18 12 21--63
3-point goals: Bishop Guilfoyle 7 (Foor 5, Consiglio, G. Okonak); Penn Cambria 8 (Rabish 3, Semelsberger 2, Gibbons, Lilly, Jones).
Records: Bishop Guilfoyle (11-3 overall, 10-0 in the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference); Penn Cambria (6-7, 4-5).
Officials: Bill Pfeffer, Craig Andros, Joe Bilka.