Buck Boys Coudy Champs

By Jim Morgan

COUDERSPORT –The Bucktail Buck boys traveled to the Coudersport Holiday Tournament wondering who they are?

Coach Dave Pentz had been so frustrated on the team chemistry in the games that he had no clue on how well the Bucks would play. Well, Happy New Year Coach Pentz and his new assistant Bob Varholak. The Bucks (3-4) won the Coudy title as they defeated Cowanesque Valley in Saturday’s championship game, 53-50. They defeated the host team Coudersport 53-45 in the semi-finals the night before.

On Friday coach Pentz had some family illness and asked former assistant Jim Morgan if he would take the team up to Coudy. Coach Morgan stepped up to the challenge as assistant coach Varholak gave the nod for Morgan to be the head coach this evening. Coach Morgan mentioned to the players how hard it was to watch them this past Monday night at home against Sullivan County. “Tonight we are going to change the season around. First we have to believe in each other as players and it is going to take all five on the floor and whoever is coming off the bench.”

The Bucks matched up well against Coudy as the Falcons had no answers for Bucktail’s Chuck Probst as he scored a career high of 33 points. Probst was able to drive the lanes at will as well as rolling off of screens as the Bucks made some nice passes to Probst for the lay-ups.

The Bucks were shooting lights out as they shot 69% from the field. Coach Morgan could not express enough on how hard Risley, Probst, Hopkins, Fantaskey, Prebble, Knuaff and Long played defense even though the stats only show 10 steals. But for Morgan it was all the tip balls out of bounds and the kick balls called.  That’s playing great defense.

With the Bucks jumping out to a 9-6 lead going into the second quarter, Coudy hit a 3-ball to tie the game 13-13 as both teams started to trade basket for basket. With time running out before halftime, Risley hit a three with 1.8 seconds left to give the Bucks the lead 20-19 going into the locker room.

The Bucks did not stop there as they came out in the third quarter to extend the lead to 28-19 before Coudy could score. In the fourth quarter as the Bucks were up 45-34, Coudy would answer on a 6-0 run. But the Bucks would continue to run their offense as Coudy would not have any answer on stopping the Bucks lay-ups.

On Saturday evening, Coach Pentz returned to the bench as the first half was not going too well as CV led 32-18 at halftime. Bucktail was getting good looks at the basket but they were not falling in. CV was hot from the outside as they could not miss. The Bucks were playing good defense and boxing out hard but the two big guys for Bucktail, Prebble and Fantaskey, found themselves in foul trouble early in the first half as CV lead 20-10 at the end of the first period.

For once the Bucks were able to get some scoring out of other players than just Probst and Risley as Long and Hopkins each hit a basket in the second quarter as this would help out later in the second half. It’s not a secret: You slow up Probst and Risley and you have the Bucks’ number. But tonight it is finally going to play out the way it needs to every game in the second half.

Coach Pentz expressed to keep playing hard on defense and the buckets will start falling in. The visitors got the ball to start the second half as Long drilled a 3-pointer uncontested then a two pointer to cut the lead within nine. This is where it got CV.  Now they have to play defense on the other two guards. Bucktail started showing signs of coming back as Risley and Probst each hit a three to cut it to 38-32. CV would answer back with a 6-2 run to finish the quarter as Bucktails’ Hopkins hit an outside shot.

Bucktails defense was still playing hard and the pressure was now turning on CV offense as they started throwing the ball away. The Bucks went on a 6-0 run before CV called timeout.  Then coming out onto the floor, Hopkins stole the ball and found Risley in the corner for a three as the score was 44-43 CV. Bucktail would extend that run 15-0 before CV would hit a basket with 1:47 left as the Bucks were up 49-45. Bucktail would start controlling the ball and forcing CV to foul but the Bucks were going cold on the charity stripe as they went 8-16 in the last 1:47 of the game. The only thing that kept the Bucks alive was that they boxed out on defense for the rebound and only allowing CV one shot. With 10.3 seconds left and CV coming out of a timeout, CV’s Painter had a contested three point shot from the top of the key hit the front of the rim as time ran out.

Last Monday before Christmas, the Bucks played their first home game of the season and it was a rematch of Sullivan County. This time it would be a little different from a couple of weeks ago. Even though the Griffins won again 59-38, Coach Pentz was pleased with the improvement of play he saw against the team this time.

Coach Pentz added, “We need to find scoring from other players besides seniors Chuck Probst and Trent Risley, that is the way we will start winning. There’s nobody else that wants to score? Our two big guys underneath refuse to look at the basket when they get the ball into them. They look to pass it back out first instead of making a basketball move. It’s not like we don’t work at it at practice.”

Yes, the Bucks did have some shining moments within the game, but so did Sullivan County as they would have more than just one big run within the game as they took complete control after a timeout in the second quarter with 5:32 left. It was 6-4 SC in the first quarter when Risley hit a 3-ball from out front to give the Bucks its only lead of the game. SC decided to go on a 7-2 run before a missed shot by the Bucks with six seconds left. SC got the rebound and pushed the ball down court as a Buck player fouled the SC player on a three pointer as time expired with SC making two of the three free throws as the score was 15-9 SC.

SC would push the lead to 19-9 before the Bucks called timeout at the 6:34 mark of the second quarter. The Bucks came out on a 8-0 run before SC would call timeout at the 5:32 mark. Risley would hit two more 3-pointers of his total four on the night. Junior Willie Hopkins would put in a lay-up during this run. Coach Pentz would un-wrap his next gift, but it was not what he asked for from Santa? SC would go on a 15-0 run before Probst would add two foul shots before the half. SC going into the lockerroom 34-19.

“Our big guys will not help our guards on defense. We let them get to the basket too easy,” Coach Pentz said. In the third quarter, SC outscored Bucktail 23-8 as they came out on a 10-0 before the Bucks would score. SC would have their starting five on the bench by the end of the third quarter as they lead 57-27.

Bucktail would score a total of 11 points in the fourth quarter; they were from good defensive plays off steals and fast-breaking. But the Bucks still could not score from a set offensive play. Bucktail’s Probst ended up as high scorer with 17 points and 6 assists as teammate Risley added 15 points.

In the JV game, it was a barn burner as SC won over the Bucks 28-27. High scorer for the Bucks was Josh Knauff with 8.

Next up for the Bucks is this Friday at home against Coudersport starting at 6 p.m.

	1	2	3	4	Final
BUCKTAIL	9	11	14	19	53
COUDERSPORT	6	13	9	17	45

Bucks: Trent Risley 4 5-6 14, Willie Hopkins 1 0-0 2, Derrick Long 0 0-0 0, Chuck Probst 14 5-9 33, Josh Knauff 0 2-2 2, Ryan Prebble 0 0-0 0, Ryan Fantaskey 1 0-0 2, Total: 20 12-17 53.

Coudy: Austin Ricke 1 0-0 2, Scott Furman 2 1-3 5, Philip Andrus 4 1-2 11, Anderson Rigas 4 3-3 12, Ethan Hite 1 0-0 2, JT Maynard 3 1-2 7, Darren Keglvits 3 0-1 6, Total: 18 6-11 45

3 Pointers: Bucks 1 (Risley), Coudy: 3 (Andrus 2, Rigas)

	1	2	3	4	Final
COWANESQUE VALLEY	20	12	12	6	50
CENTRAL MOUNTAIN	10	8	16	19	53

Bucks: Trent Risley 5 1-4 13, Willie Hopkins 3 1-4 7, Derrick Long 3 0-0 8, Chuck Probst 6 8-11 21, Josh knauff 0 0-0 0, Ryan Prebble 2 0-2 4, Ryan Fantaskey 0 0-2 0, Total: 19 10-23 53

CV: Nathan Bonham 1 0-0 2, Joshua Nudd 3 2-2 8, Bryant Painter 12 0-0 25, Brandon McLean 2 1-2 5, Tyler Melko 1 2-4 4, Dakota Corwin 2 2-4 6, Total: 21 7-12 50

3 Pointers: Bucks 5 (Risley 2, Long 2, Probst), CV 1 (Painter)

	1	2	3	4	Final
SULLIVAN COUNTY	15	19	23	2	59
BUCKTAIL	9	10	8	11	38

Bucks: Trent Risley 5 1-2 15, Willie Hopkins 2 0-0 4, Chuck Probst 7 3-4 17, Ryan Prebble 1 0-0 2, Ryan Fantaskey 0 0-0 0, Derrick Long 0 0-0 0, Josh Knauff 0 0-0 0, Total: 15 4-6 38

SC: S. Flannery 4 2-3 11, C, Wylie 8 4-4 20, A. Szklanka 5 0-2 10, J. Beinlick 2 0-2 4, B. Polorack 4 1-2 10, B. Frank 1 2-2 4, Total: 24 9-15 59

3 Pointers: Bucks 4 (Risley 4), SC 2 (Flannery, Polorack)

Bucks JV: Tristen Schelb 0 0-0 0, Tyler Riggle 1 1-2 3, Derrick Long 0 2-2 2, Kiefer Mason 3 1-2 7, Mike Casper 1 1-2 3, Mitch Intallura 2 0-1 4, Josh Knauff 4 0-0 8, Trent Bixler 0 0-0 0, Total: 11 5-9 27.