George and Evelyn Doty tournament
Perfect second leads Prattsburgh to basketball title
BY BOB BENZ THE LEADER

PRATTSBURGH - It would be difficult to imagine a more perfect quarter.

Owning a 12-4 lead after eight minutes in the championship game of the George & Evelyn Doty Christmas Tournament Thursday, Dec. 28, Prattsburgh put together a second quarter head coach Jim Burke probably wishes he could bottle up and mass produce.

Prattsburgh outscored Naples 23-0 on 10-of-16 shooting in the second stanza en route to a 66-27 rout of the Big Green to capture the tournament title.

Each of the Vikings' five starters scored in the second, while defensively,

Prattsburgh forced five turnovers and held Naples scoreless on 0-of-8 shooting from the field.

"The second quarter today was getting pretty close (to perfect) on both ends of the floor," Burke said. "We've been playing well and we haven't been giving up a lot of points and outside of Batavia Notre Dame, the competition hasn't been that great, but Naples has got some kids who can play."

With a smothering man defense, Prattsburgh (9-0) pestered Naples throughout the game, forcing 23 turnovers.

Offensively, the Vikings spread the ball around as each of the team's five starters scored at least nine points and received tournament honors. The Vikings got tremendous ball movement offensively and were able to score both inside and outside with seemingly equal ease.

Senior Jake Socola capped the Vikings' 23-0 secondquarter run with two of his 11 points and was named the tournament MVP. Socola posted a double-double by ripping down 12 rebounds and also came up with six steals.

Each of Socola's fellow starters were named to the all-tournament team.

Wade Fuller netted 11 points, dished out seven assists and came up with six steals to garner all-tournament team honors. Teammate Patrick Wright - a 6-foot-7 senior - camped out in the post and poured in eight of his game-high 14 points in the second quarter to gain alltournament honors.

Eli Applebaum - who stands 6-6 - added 12 points in the win and Kyle Parker connected on Prattsburgh's only two 3-pointers before finishing with nine points.

"You just can't go after one or two kids," Burke said. "We've got five different ways to score."

Applebaum and Parker also earned all-tournament honors, joining Avoca's Joe Wallace, along with Naples' Jake Biles and 6-foot-4 center Nick Schmitt, who was limited to just one point against Prattsburgh.

"Our kids I thought did a great job defensively," Burke said. "We shut (Schmitt) down and we controlled the boards. Our size is pretty difficult to deal with, especially at this level."