Ramblers boys bounced in championship tilt

BY AARON WEAVER
For The Tribune-Democrat

WINDBER December 29, 2007 12:25 am

— Peabody might be sitting in the middle of the Pittsburgh City League pack at this point of the boys basketball season, but they were top dogs at the 48th annual Windber Rotary Basketball Tournament, taking the title Friday night with a convincing 53-26 victory over host Windber.
Bishop McCort claimed third place with a 58-41 consolation game win against Northern Bedford.
Peabody (5-6) started out the championship contest in a pressuring, full-court trap defense that caused the Ramblers (2-6) to turn the ball over 18 times during the course of the game.
The Highlanders played stout half-court defense as well, holding Windber scoreless for a span of more than 10 minutes during the second and third quarters.
“Peabody’s just a step above who we’re used to playing,” Windber coach Kevin Charney said. “When we broke the press, we had good open looks on our end. We just didn’t convert all of them. ... They caused us to play more quickly, and we threw the ball away.”
The athletic Highlanders outrebounded Windber 36-18. Mike Peays led the way with 14 points and nine rebounds while Robert Taylor added eight points and seven boards.
“It was a big game for Windber, on the home court in a holiday tournament. We wanted to come out and put a lot of pressure on them early,” Peabody coach Jim Kahn said. “They’re well-coached and they knew what to do, but our speed makes up for a lot of things.”
Blake Henger led Windber with seven points.
“We had a good win (Thursday) night,” Charney added. “We gutted it out and did what we had to do to win. This tournament experience will help us out as we go into league play.”
In the consolation game, the Crimson Crushers led by two at halftime, but broke the game open in the third quarter, outscoring the Black Panthers 22-6.
Jack Schrey led Bishop McCort (6-2) with 14 points while Zak Boyd added nine. Jeff Mowry had 16 points for Northern Bedford (2-8) and was the tournament’s leading scorer with 27 points in two games.
Mowry, Bishop McCort’s Zach Freeman and Mike Cruz, Windber’s Henger and Peabody’s Taylor were named to the all-tournament team.
Peabody’s Sharod Green was named tournament’s most valuable player.

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