Devils Hope To Snap Skid Tonight
MASSENA - OFA will be looking to regroup tonight hosting Malone after the Devils lost a first half lead to Massena in a 60-56 loss on Thursday in NAC Central Division play.
“Ogdensburg is a very hard team to defend. I’ve seen a lot of teams that have two, maybe three good outside shooters but they can put five kids on the floor that can really shoot the ball. Both teams came out making three-pointers but that’s not our game,” said coach Tom Miller who celebrated his 350th coaching win after the 5-1 Raiders outscored the 4-2 Blue Devils 10-1 over the final 4:04 to win a duel for the NAC Central lead.
“We started playing an outside-inside game but for us to be successful, we have to play inside-outside and we got back to that in the second half.
After falling behind 20-12 the Devils surged to a 30-23 halftime lead.The Raiders cut deficit to 45-44 heading into the fourth where OFA took a 55-50 lead 4:04 left. Zack Rusaw stepped up to convert defensive stops into four more unanswered points and the Raiders regained the lead at 56-55 with 41 seconds remaining. Rusaw went on to score another field goal to push the lead to 58-55 before a free throw by Cosmo cut the deficit to two points with seven seconds left. Joey LaBelle would go on to seal the win by calmly draining two foul shots with 3.5 ticks remaining.
Rusaw finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds to anchor the Raider effort. Josh Miller added 12 points and five boards while Troy Myers generated 10 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and three steals. OFA’s Breton LaRose (6-10 field, six rebounds) led all scorers with 18 points, including four of the 12 three-pointers fashioned by OFA. Cosmo added 10 points, five rebounds and five assists. Matt Piercey (7 assists) and Kinnon LaRose (6 rebounds) both scored nine points on three 3s
OFA JV’s 44, Massena JV’s 36: The trio of Conor Hannan (14 points), Jack Manke (11 points, 10 rebounds) and Al Fisher (7 point, 11 rebounds) anchored the winning effort as OFA built a 32-17 halftime lead and made it stand. Logan Deshane led Massena with a game-high 15 points and eight rebounds.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Malone 65, OFA 38: Katie LaVoie generated 20 points and provided eight rebounds and Katie Tatro scored 15 points and collected five assists, three rebounds and three steals to lift Malone. Morgan Fountain added five rebounds, five assists and seven points.
Mackenzie Cole scored 11 points for OFA. Megan Dodge added nine while Riley Luckie chipped in seven.
Gouverneur 45, Potsdam 42: Jaelyn Gotham tallied 14 and Kirsten Roberts added 12 to pace the Wildcats past Potsdam. Sarah Vivlamore scored 16 for Potsdam. Shanielle Chambers added 14.
Salmon River 42, Massena 19: Defense carried the Shamrocks past the Raiders as Anna Kelly tallied 12 points and 11 rebounds and Taylor Francis added eight points. Alisha Jacobs netted a game-high 13 points in the losing cause.
