Commodores stave off Freedom, 66-57
AVELLA — Frazier’s 66-57 victory over Freedom on Friday was almost like a microcosm of the Commodores’ season so far.
At times coach Ed Keebler’s team moved the ball well, made shots and played good defense, but in other stretches Frazier turned the ball over, missed open shots and blew some defensive assignments.
Keebler got more of the former than the latter as the Commodores ended their three-game stay in the Washington County Stocking Stuffer Tournament at Avella High School with a win after opening with a pair of losses.
Justin Novak poured in a game-high 26 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead Frazizer, and Chris Massey also turned in a double-double with 13 points and 12 boards. J.D. Celaschi contributed 12 points, four assists and three steals as the Commodores improved to 2-5 overall.
“In all of our losses, you can look at them and say turnovers are the reason or too many 3-point misses or missing free throws, things like that,” Keebler said. “If you look at the game we did win in the section (81-66 over Bentworth), we kept the turnovers way down, we shot 50 percent from the 3-point line, we shot 80 percent from the foul line.
“When we play a clean game we can play with most people, but a lot of times we’ve been sloppy.”
Frazier built a 12-6 advantage in a slow-paced first period and opened the scoring in the second frame with the play of the game, a flashy fastbreak basket off a steal by Celaschi who whipped a pass to Josh Cox, who touched it right back to Celaschi for a smooth lay-up. Frazier led 25-18 at halftime.
The persistent Bulldogs opened the second half with a 10-1 run fueled by several Frazier turnovers and capped by Nick Henderson’s 3-pointer and Santino Guandolo’s bucket to go up 28-26.
The teams traded baskets until Cox broke a 34-34 deadlock with the first of his two 3-pointers to put Frazier in front to stay. Cox ended up with eight points and three assists.
The Commodores led 41-36 after three and increased the margin to 10 thanks to a pair of nice assists by Brad Poling to open the fourth period. The first was on a long pass to Novak and the second a dish to Massey, both for easy lay-ups. Poling had nine rebounds and three assists.
For the second time in the game Freedom used its press to rally back, and an eight-point spurt finished up by consecutive treys from Zach Greene and Henderson whittled the gap to a single bucket, 50-48, prompting Keebler to call a time out with 3:46 remaining.
Henderson’s team-high 17 points all came in the second half. Greene wound up with 10 points and Javin Melvin also hit double figures for Freedom (2-6) with 12 points.
“They came out in a zone press and we had some people out of position on that,” Keebler said. “I just wanted to say if this is what they’re going to do, make sure we get someone in the middle and was just telling them how to handle it.”
The Commodores settled down coming out of the timeout and pulled away. Celaschi and Cox drained back-to-back 3-pointers and Novak sank a pair of free throw to bump the margin back up to 10, 58-48, and all but seal the victory.
“They kept it close most of the game, but when it counted we were able to make some key shots and pull away,” said Keebler, who commended Novak, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, for his play.
“He’s doing fantastic. The sky’s the limit for him. As much as he wants to work and lift weights and things like that, he can be a premier player in the section the next couple of years for sure. He loves basketball. He’s a great team player, the team loves him and he’s a good kid to coach.”
Frazier jumps back into Section 2-AA action on Tuesday when it travels to Jefferson-Morgan.
Washington County Stocking Stuffer Tournament
At Avella High School
Freedom 6-12-17-22 — 57
Frazier 12-13-16-25 — 66
Freedom: Nick Henderson 17, Javin Melvin 12, Zach Greene 10. Frazier: Justin Novak 26, Chris Massey 13, J.D. Celaschi 12. Records: Freedom (2-6), Frazier (2-5).