Wildcats hand C-S another SCAA loss
BY BOB BENZ THE LEADER

CAMPBELL - Even if play did get a bit sloppy at times Friday, Jan. 18, the Jasper-Troupsburg Wildcats appear worthy of their place as Class D's fifth-ranked team in the state.

In addition, the Wildcats' 51-43 victory over Campbell-Savona provided further ammunition to doubts concerning the Panthers' ability run their string of Steuben County titles to eight next month.

Campbell-Savona - once untouchable in league play - fell to a Steuben County opponent for the third time in five games, after winning 59 straight in the SCAA.

"It's been awhile," Jasper-Troupsburg head coach Tom Price said, trying to recall the last time his team beat Campbell- Savona (9-7). "We've taken some pretty bad beatings over here and I was just thinking, the last time we played them in a league game here, we scored 17 points and got beat pretty bad. They've lost some games this year, but they're still a pretty good team."

Jasper-Troupsburg (12- 1) blew open a five-point lead at halftime by opening the third quarter on a 9-0 run on 4-of-4 shooting. It was part of a 12-0 swing for the Wildcats considering Ryan Hadley closed the first half by burying three free throws with two seconds left in the second quarter.

Brennan Thurber scored four of his eight points and Caleb Drake drained a 3-pointer and netted five of his six points to jump-start the Wildcats in the second half.

After going up by 14 early in the third quarter, Jasper-Troupsburg maintained a comfy doubledigit lead for most of the rest of the way.

"For some reason, we've been pretty good in the third quarter this year and we talked about the importance of that first possession," J-T head coach Tom Price said. "The first possession (of the second half), we want to get a real good possession and we did and we defended pretty well. Those three or four minutes to start the third quarter were big."

Campbell-Savona made a late push with a 9-0 run late in the fourth quarter, but never got closer than six of the Wildcats.

Ultimately, J-T's 9-0 run proved too much to overcome.

"They did us in in the third quarter and quite frankly, we had every opportunity to bury them early in the game," Campbell-Savona head coach Merlin Button said. "(J-T) made a lot of mistakes and they were cold when they first came out, which is very unusual for J-T and we had an opportunity that we did not take advantage of."

Neither team played particularly well in the early going. Heading into the second quarter, the scoreboard read more like a high-scoring soccer game than a basketball game, with Jasper- Troupsburg owning a 5-4 advantage.

In the second quarter, Jasper-Troupsburg finally found its touch behind the scoring of senior forward Jim Willis, who came off the bench and hit back-toback 3-pointers, before finishing with a teamhigh 13 points.

"They're very scrappy," Button said of the Wildcats. "Once again, they're not big, but the Thurber kid is a good, strong kid inside and they have great shooters. It's really hard to maintain that intensity on defense to stop their 3-point shooters."

Randy Graham and Hadley each added 10 points for the Wildcats. Hadley left the game in the fourth quarter after taking a hard foul, that caused bleeding from his nose. The extent of the injury was not known after the game.

Campbell-Savona's Maynard Crane put together a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Zach Sutton added nine points for the Panthers and Camden Wright chipped in with eight points.

Since the beginning of the new year, Campbell- Savona has dropped games to Canisteo- Greenwood, Prattsburgh and Jasper-Troupsburg after going six years without a league loss.

Still, Button believes his team will remain the favorite, when the county tournament begins in less than three weeks.

"I still believe that when we get this team together, we're still the best team in Steuben County," Button said. "When we get together and we get to doing what we need to do. We've got to shoot the ball better, we've got to shoot foul shots better, we've got to cut the turnovers down. But when we get there, I still think we have the best team in Steuben County."