Buck Boys Senior Night Friday

by Jim Morgan

FARWELL – The Bucktail Bucks (8-13) will have a chance to end their season at home on a winning note Friday night, Senior Night, the last game of the season against Montgomery.

It will not be an easy task as Montgomery won the first game 55-44. Coach Dave Pentz feels that the boys will respond on their home court, knowing this is the last game for the seniors.

Last Thursday Muncy came to Bucktail and just dominated the Bucks as the Indians won 83-72. Indian forward Nick Ring dominated the middle all night when he was on the court and scored 17 of his total 32 points in the first quarter. Coach Pentz tried everything to stop him but he is a smart player and does not try to force things to happen. Bucktail was able to stay with Muncy in the first quarter, down 25-19. Seniors Trent Risley and Chuck Probst with junior Willie Hopkins and sophomore Josh Knauff all contributed to the scoring in the quarter.

The absence of Ryan Fantaskey this game due to illness surely weakened the inside for defense as Coach Pentz pushed Probst down to up try to stop Ring. In the second quarter the Bucks started to turn over the ball, Muncy started to click on all cylinders off the turnovers as the Bucks could not get back in time to stop the fast-breaks; Muncy outscoring the Bucks in the quarter 21-13 to have the lead at halftime 46-32.

Sophomore Ryan Prebble came off the bench in the second quarter as he had a strong second half scoring 14 of his total 17 points in the game along with 9 rebounds. He even had a Kodak moment as he stole the ball at half court and took it all the way for the lay-up. The Bucks did make a run in the third quarter to get it within single digits, but Muncy was able to push that back up to 20 points in the fourth quarter before the final horn sounded. Coach Pentz was happy the way the boys played.  “Muncy is just a better team. The last time we played, Muncy won big 90-50. So to end up losing by eleven on our court means a lot to the team.”

In the JV game, it was a thriller at the end as the Bucks won over Muncy 54-49. Tyler Riggle was the high scorer for the Bucks with 12 points.

Saturday it was a rematch with Coudersport here at Bucktail. This time, Coudy got the best of the Bucks 60-57. Bucktail defense was lacking quickness on the weak side. Coudy moved the ball around very quickly. If your defense cannot move fast with the ball, Coudy will have it in the basket before you can think about moving. Bucktail came out flat on offense as Coudy grapped the lead in the first quarter 14-6. The Bucks were not going to let Coudy get too far as they cut the lead at halftime 25-19 Coudy.

The Bucks came out of the locker room with a good run, outscoring the visitors 21-13 in the third quarter to take the lead 40-38. Risley had the hot hand this quarter as he scored 12 of his total 25 points in the game. With it becoming a shootout in the fourth quarter, Bucktail time mangement during the last seconds of the game was not good.

Still with four seconds on the clock and Coudy player missing both foul shots. Bucktail was able to get a good look at a 3-ball and a chance to tie the game, as the shot was wide.

The JV game saw Coudy just run over the Bucks 53-32. For the Bucks it was Tristan Schelb high with 10 points.

Monday the Bucks traveled to St. John Neumann as the Knights use the Bucks for practice before their last game of the regular season this week, the Knights winning 79-45. Coach Pentz was pleased on the ball movement that the Bucks showed on offense.  “I was very pleased on the way Probst and Risley got the big guys (Fantaskey and Prebble) underneath involved in this game.”  Fantaskey and Prebble worked hard this game on getting open and were rewarded with the points that they got.

Neumann is just more basketball sound as the Bucks fell behind 20-14 after the first quarter. Then it was all Neumann for the next two quarters as they increased the lead to 64-32 at the end of the third quarter.

Probst was the high scorer for the Bucks as he finished with 15 points. Fantaskey was the big surprise of the game as he finished with 14 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.

In the JV game, it was the third quarter where St. John Neumann put away the Bucks 29-9 as Neumann went on to win 75-49. For the Bucks it was Josh Knauff with 15 points.

Muncy 25 21 19 18-83

Bucks 19 13 24 16-72

Bucks: Trent Risley 9 2-2 23, Willie Hopkins 1 0-0 2, Derrick Long 1 1-2 3, Chuck Probst 6 7-9 19, Josh Knauff 3 1-2 8, Ryan Prebble 8 1-2 17, Total: 28 12-17 72

Muncy: D. Sellers 3 1-1 7, J. Fry 3 0-0 6, T. Clark 7 0-0 14, L. Ghezzi 7 2-2 19, A. Barberio 2 0-0 5, E. Warnick 0 0-0 0, N. Ring 15 2-4 32, Total: 37 5-7 83

3-Pointers: Bucks 4 (Risley 3, Knauff 1)  Muncy 4 (Ghezzi 3, Barberio)

Bucks JV: Tristan Schelb 0 0-2 0, Tyler Riggle 4 1-2 12, Derrick Long 2 2-4 6, Kiefer Mason 5 0-0 10, Mike Casper 3 1-2 8, Mitch Intallura 3 1-3 7, Josh Knauff 2 3-4 7, Trent bixler 2 0-0 4, Total: 21 8-17 54.

Coudersport 14 11 13 22-60

Bucks  6 13 21 17-57

Bucks: Trent Risley 10 5-8 25, Tristan Schelb 1 1-2 3, Willie Hopkins 1 0-1 2, Derrick Long 0 0-0 0 Chcuk Probst 6 2-2 14, Josh Knauff 2 1-2 5, Ryan Prebble 3 0-2 6, Ryan Fantaskey 1 0-0 2, Total: 24 9-17 57

Coudersport: S. Furman 4 0-2 8, P. Andrus 2 0-0 5, A. Rigas 4 4-9 13, A. Hershey 2 0-0 4, E. Hite 3 2-6 8, JT Maynard 2 0-0 4, D. KegLovits 6 3-3 16, Z. Layag 0 2-2 2, Total: 23 11-22 60

3-Pointers: Bucks 0  Coudy 3 (Andrus, Rigas, KegLovits)

Bucks JV: Tristan Schelb 4 0-2 10, Tyler Riggle 3 1-2 8, Derrick Long 0 1-2 1, Mike Casper 2 0-2 4, Mitch Intallura 0 0-0 0, Josh Knauff 3 3-4 9, JJ Michitsch 0 0-1 0, Total: 12 5-13 32.

Bucks: Trent Risley 4 2-2 12, Willie Hopkins 0 0-0 0, Derrick Long 0 0-0 0, Chuck Probst 6 3-4 15, Josh Knauff 0 0-0 0, Ryan Prebble 2 0-0 4, Ryan Fantaskey 7 0-0 14, Total: 19 5-6 45

St. John: R. Mars 1 0-0 2, N. Beiter 6 0-0 12, I. Beiter 3 5-6 11, R. Allen 5 0-0 11, C. Forsburg 1 0-0 3, M. Clark 2 0-0 4, A. Johnson 6 0-0 13, K. Burkholder 2 0-0 5, R. Reid 2 0-0 4, N. Amanze 7 0-1 14, Total: 35 5-7 79.

3-Pointers: Bucks 2 (Risley) St. John 4 (Allen, Forsburg, Johnson, Burkholder)

Bucks JV: Tristan Schelb 1 2-4 4, Tyler Riggle 4 0-0 10, Derrick Long 2 1-2 7, Mike Casper 2 2-2 6, Josh Knauff 7 1-1 15, JJ. Michitsch 1 0-0 2, Trent Bixler 2 1-1 5, Charlie Lefort 0 0-0 0, Total: 19 7-10 49