Wyalusing Valley's Preston Hitchcock shoots over a trio of Troy defenders during the Trojans' 55-41 win in the opening round of the District Four Class AA playoffs at Mansfield University on Feb. 19. Photo by Bob Hutchings.

Rams Fall to Troy in Playoffs

By Pete Hardenstine

A season that started many questions and much uncertainty ended for the Wyalusing Valley boys’ basketball team on Feb. 19 with a 55-41 loss to Troy in the opening round of the District Four Class AA playoffs.

The Rams, who had lost by large margins to the Trojans during the regular season, made a much closer game of it at Mansfield University’s Decker Gymnasium.

Wyalusing coach Mark Fogel went with a smaller starting lineup than he used all season in an attempt to stay with the quicker Trojans.

The ploy worked early as Wyalusing held an early 10-6 lead midway through the first period, thanks to five points by Jared Johnson.

Troy closed out the period with an 8-1 run to take a 14-11 advantage into the second stanza.

The teams exchanged baskets through the early moments of the period.

Leading 21-15 with 3:02 to play, Troy went on a 15-1 run that bridged halftime to take command of the game.

“Offensively, we just didn’t execute,” Fogel said of the fatal stretch. “We made some turnovers—eight to two—in the second quarter. Turnovers kill you.”

While he felt that the smaller lineup helped him early, it was just a stop-gap measure to an insolvable problem against Troy.

“The quickness helped us early,” he said, “but we’re still not as quick as Troy.

“When we got behind and had to go man and try to trap, we opened it up for them big time, but we had to do something different.”

Trailing 38-18 early in the third period, the Rams were able to cut the margin to 10 points entering the fourth quarter with a 12-2 run led by Ben Fish and Preston Hitchcock with six points each.

Troy was able to cruise home through the fourth quarter to advance in the playoffs.

Brian Seeley led Troy with 17 points. Craig Sheeley added 15 points.

Sheeley led Troy with nine rebounds. Matt Stroup handed out five assists.

Fish paced Wyalusing with 14 points, followed by Zach Reinhart with nine points.

Reinhart, Fish and Brad Kintner all had six rebounds. Reinhart added four assists and three steals. Kintner made two blocks.

For the Rams, 12-13, overall, who had to win their last two games of the regular season just to reach the playoffs, the 2003-04 campaign was a learning experience.

“They were young and inexperienced,” said Fogel, the long-time assistant coach who assumed the helm under difficult circumstances in the pre-season. “I think that hurt us sometimes.

“I thought they did well,” he continued. “As well as they could considering everything. There were a couple of games we should have won that we didn’t, but there were a couple that we stole from somebody.”

The Rams were the only Northern Tier League East team to beat Sayre in the first half. They also defeated a strong Athens team at home and Canton on the road in the final two games to qualify for the post-season.

With only two seniors on the squad, the future is a bright one.

 “We’ve got a bunch of sophomores coming back in Zach and Jared and some sophomores coming up,” Fogel said. “The juniors (Fish and Hitchcock) are still there.”