For three years we have watched an extraordinary group of young men, teenagers, reach incredible heights in the world of high school basketball.  Many good teams have passed through New Castle Field House over the years but none were ever this good.  We will never forget these young men and the thrills they have given us.

Tonight before a packed house at Pitt’s Fitzgerald Field House the Red Hurricanes lost in overtime to a scrappy Erie McDowell team 52-48. 

David Young opened the scoring for the Canes at the 7:15 mark for a 2-0 lead.  McDowell scored the next four points and led at 6:27.  Young then hit again at 6:11.  Two free throws (take note) by the Trojans put them up 6-4.  Eddie Pagley then nailed a ‘three’ giving the Canes back the lead.  Erie then outscored New Castle 7-0 over the next 3:15 including two free throws (again) to lead 13-7.  Two free throws as the quarter ended by Pagley made it 13-9 after one. 

Desmond Whetzel had picked up his second foul at the 2:48 mark of the period and sat out for about half of the Canes first period scoring draught.

With Whetzel back in the lineup to begin the second the Canes came alive.  Whetzel hit a ‘three’ at 7:46 then hit a ‘two’ and then slashed to the hoop for another score and the Hurricanes led 16-13 at 5:08. 

The Trojans came right back scoring twice to regain the lead 17-16 at 3:37.  Young hit at 2:42 and then Erie did again 10 seconds later. 

Pat Cain scored at 2:20, then Young made two free throws and things started to look better for the Canes.  Pagley responded to a Trojan basket with a ‘three’ and 3 of 4 free throws and New Castle led 28-20 at the half.

Young came out on a mission in the third period.  At 7:07 he hit a ‘three’ and was fouled.  The four point play gave the Canes a 12 point lead.  Young scored again on a drive to the hoop and again on a feed from Pagley and the lead was now 16, 36-20.  Pagley hit a ‘three’ off a dish form Whetzel and New Castle has just ripped off a 17-0 run and led 39-20. 

McDowell then scored two straight baskets to close within 14.  Young made two free throws at 2:13 and the Canes led 41-25.  Erie scored at 2:02 then neither team scored again until McDowell hit with 24 seconds left in the third.  The good news, after three quarters New Castle still led by 12, 41-29.  The bad news, the Canes had gone the last 2:13 of the period without scoring.

Pagley nailed a ‘three’ at 6:12 for the first score of the fourth but the Canes had gone 4:05 between baskets. 

At 5:40 McDowell hit two free throws, two more at 5:29, then two more at the 5:00 mark.  After trailing by 15 the Trojans suddenly found themselves back in the game. 

When Pagley hit the ‘three’ to begin the fourth period McDowell had almost no pulse and was ready to expire.  Suddenly the Trojans received a lifesaving procedure called CPR (critically poor refereeing).  Desmond Whetzel picked up three charging fouls (and fouled out with 3:16 to play), David Young had no fouls in the first half and ended with four (one charging), Pat Cain had no fouls in the first half ended with three, Eddie Palgey picked up his fourth foul with 1:35 to play and fouled out in overtime.  New Castle was called for 17 fouls in the second half. 

McDowell hit a ‘two’ at 4:46 to draw within seven, 44-37.  Despite the "CPR" the Canes had their chances to maintain control of the game.  They missed the front end of a one and one at 4:31 but a Young putback put the Canes back up by nine.  Another missed Hurricane free throw then a ‘three’ by Erie made it a six point game. 

Young hit the front of a one and one at 2:41 to make it 47-40 Canes.  A ‘two’ by McDowell made it 47-42.  Another front end miss on a one and one for New Castle opened the door for Erie and at 1:42 they made it 47-44.  The Trojans hit again at 1:06 and trailed by only one.  McDowell then hit two free throws with 27 seconds to play and went ahead 48-47. 

With 18 seconds left Young stepped to the line to shoot two.  He hit the second shot to tie the game at 48.  McDowell had the ball and called timeout with eight seconds to play.  McDowell got the ball into the foul line but Jared Farris quickly tied up the Trojan player and New Castle got possession with four seconds to play.

The four minute overtime period started with the Canes getting the tip.  New Castle missed a shot on their first possession and McDowell quickly ended up back at the foul line.  They hit one of two and led 49-48 with 1:39 gone in the overtime.  No one scored again until Erie hit another free throw with only 28 seconds to play.  McDowell hit two free throws to ice the win with just eight seconds left.  For a final score of 52-48.

The Hurricanes had six possessions in the overtime.  They missed four shots (one a tip back), had two turnovers and were tied up once with McDowell taking possession.

David Young led the Canes in scoring with 22 while Eddie Pagley added 17.

New Castle shot 12 of 20 from the free throw line.
 
 

Name	FG	FTA	FTM	3's	TP
Young	7	11	7	1	22
Pagley	4	8	5	4	17
Whetzel	3	0	0	1	7
Cain	1	0	0	0	2
Moore	0	2	0	0	0
Farris	0	0	0	0	0
Staples	0	0	0	0	0
	15	21	12	6	48

 back to the top