Third quarter dooms

WHS in loss

to Roanoke Catholic
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

In two of its last three games, Watauga has struggled in the third quarter. As it was in the Pioneers’ loss to Ashe County two weeks ago, it was fatal in their 62-53 loss to Roanoke Catholic in the Watauga Classic finals last Friday night.

Watauga (6-5) was outscored by Roanoke Catholic 24-8 in the third quarter after trailing 25-23 at halftime.

The Celtics (6-4) opened the quarter with a 10-0 run capped by a three-point play from Mindaugas Marcelicius, who led all scorers with 24 points. His basket and foul shot gave Roanoke Catholic a 35-25 lead.

“It’s been like that the past three or four games,” Pioneers coach Rob Sanders said. “We’re coming out of the lockerroom and we can’t get any of the momentum back that we had going into the lockerroom.

During that run, Watauga went ice cold from the field, missing eight shots and turning the ball over twice.

Alan Herndon temporarily stopped the bleeding with an inside basket with 3:02 left in the period, pulling Watauga to 35-28. Watauga kept pace with the Celtics during a two-minute stretch and actually pulled to within 40-33 on a Zach Greene 3-pointer.

But the Celtics closed out the quarter with seven straight points and took a 47-33 lead into the fourth quarter.
“We were kind of baffled,” Sanders said. “We were thinking, ‘What do we have to do to score?’ I don’t know how long it went there. It was probably (five) minutes in before we even scored a basket.”

Marcelicius, one of three Celtics to score in double figures, scored eight of his points during the quarter. He also had three of Roanoke Catholic’s four 3-point baskets. Jamar Brown added 16 points and point guard Clarence Turpin scored 10.

Greene nailed four of Watauga’s five 3-point baskets and finished with a team-high 20 points. David Isaacs had the other 3-point goal and finished with 10 points, while Chad Eppley had eight.

Neither team was doing much scoring in the fourth quarter until Greene hit a jumper with 4:37 to break the ice. It led to a brief 10-4 run that brought the Pioneers to within 51-46. The Pioneers pulled to within six points one final time when Ian Dale scored on a stickback to close the Celtics’ gap to 59-53 with 18.1 seconds left.

Sanders was understandably pleased with how the Pioneers played in the first half. Watauga jumped out to an 8-3 lead, helped by the 1-for-7 shooting the Celtics displayed. It was 13-10 at the end of the first quarter and 25-21 toward the end of the second period when Turpin was able to hit a stickback before the buzzer to close the Watauga lead to 25-23.

Sanders felt the Pioneers competed well with the Celtics for three out of the four quarters.

“To play with a team that is as athletic as Roanoke Catholic and to be in the game the entire way, you can’t have a breakdown and put yourself in a hole,” Sanders said. “That’s a tough team to dig out of a hole from.”
Greene and Isaacs both made the all-tournament team. Marcelicius was the tournament’s Most Valuable Player and Brown also made the all-tournament team.

Watauga returns to Northwestern 4-A Conference play with it hosts Freedom Friday.

Roanoke Catholic 62, Watauga 53
Roanoke Catholic (6-4)
Turpin 3 3-5 10, Westmorland 1 0-0 2, Hicklin 3 1-2 7, Marcelicius 6 6-9 21, Moret 2 0-1 4, Brooks 1 0-0 2, Brown 7 2-3 16, Joachim 0 0-0 0, Allman 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 12-20 62.
Watauga (6-5)
Watson 1 0-0 2, Greene 8 0-1 20, Isaacs 3 3-5 10, Moyer 0 2-2 2, Newell 1 1-2 3, Eppley 3 2-3 8, Herndon 2 2-8 6, Dale 1 0-0 2, Chiarolanzio 0 0-0 0, Fancher 0 0-0 0, Steury 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 10-21 53.
Roanoke Catholic 10 13 24 15 — 62
Watauga 13 12 8 20 — 53
3-point goals—Roanoke 4 (Marcelicius 3, Turpin), Watauga 5 (Greene 4, Isaacs). Rebounds—Roanoke 29 (Brown 7); Watauga 29 (Herndon 5). Turnovers—Roanoke 15, Watauga 11. Total fouls—Roanoke 16, Watauga 11. Fouled out—None. Technical fouls—None.

All-Tournament team
Name                     School
*M. Marcelicius         Roanoke
Jamar Brown             Roanoke
David Isaacs             Watauga
Zach Greene             Watauga
     J.D. Mabe                 West Stokes
Nash Carter               Mt. Zion
*Tournament MVP