Frazier falls to Avella
PERRYOPOLIS – All prepared to defend a losing team’s right to make the WPIAL playoffs, Frazier coach Larry Mikesell realized his team had lost to Avella, 55-50, and couldn’t make them anyway. “I’m proud of what my kids did because we played an upscale schedule,” Mikesell said. “Obviously we didn’t play well enough to win to get into the playoffs tonight, so we don’t deserve to go.”
In a game that mirrored its season, Frazier started hot, fell off the pace, bounced back, but was held off down the stretch. The loss to Avella ended Frazier’s season at 10-13 overall and 3-7 in Section 3-A. The record’s not pretty, but the opportunity to make the playoffs was very real.
“We had every shot in the world,” Mikesell said.
He lamented earlier overtime losses to Bentworth and Avella, and the problem in those games was a problem last night:
“What was the foul shooting?” asked Mikesell.
When told his team’s 10-for-19 shooting from the foul line was slightly better than Avella’s 11-for-22, Mikesell shrugged.
“It’s still poor,” he said of an area that hurt Frazier all season.
“We didn’t shoot well from the field,” he added. “How many lay-ups did we give up and how many did we miss? We just didn’t play well enough to win. That’s basically what it was.”
Frazier got off to a late start, but a hot one. After the Frazier girls beat Avella, 62-58, behind Kristen Joseph’s 17 points, the Frazier boys tipped off at 8:30 p.m. and jumped out to a 7-4 lead. Senior guard Greg Johnson scored all seven points, and then added his second 3-pointer for his 10th consecutive point. But Johnson cooled off and so did Frazier, but the Commodores bounced back.
A six-point Avella lead was closed to one by halftime, and Frazier’s Tim Holt gave the Commodores a one-point lead with a lay-up out of the break. But Avella regained the lead and pushed its margin to seven points late in the third quarter.
Avella’s lead was cut to three with 2:48 remaining. Point guard Jim Traynor scored 12 consecutive points for Frazier, but he couldn’t pull his team any closer.
After Avella pushed the lead to 50-44 with 1:25 remaining, both Johnson and Traynor missed 3-point shots and Avella’s foul shooting clinched the win.
After his hot start, Johnson finished with 18 points. Traynor, with his fast finish, scored 14. Avella guard Shea Georgetti led all players with 24 points and scored his 1,000th career point midway through the fourth quarter.
“They held the ball well,” explained Mikesell. “They kept the ball away from us once they got the lead and we came down and hurried shots.”