PIAA CLASS A Kennedy Christian rolls in opener

The Eagles scored an 82-49 victory over Coudersport to reach the final 16.
By BILL ALBRIGHT
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEW WILMINGTON -- It was a case of too many horses in the stable Friday night at Buzz Ridl Gymnasium, as Kennedy Christian High rolled to an 82-49 win over Coudersport in the first round of the PIAA Class A boys basketball championships.
The good news for the Falcons was a 9-9 tie with 2 minutes, 39 seconds remaining in the first quarter. However, the Golden Eagles out-scored them 11-2 the remainder of the period and never looked back.
"We really played sloppy, especially in the first quarter," said Kennedy Christian coach Joe Votino. "I don't know if we were a little nervous or what the problem was.
"When you get into the 32-team bracket, if you are to screw up and lose, you could go down and be on your way home. I don't know if that bothered us a little bit or not, but we just didn't have a good rhythm to start the game."
Leads the way: Dan McElhinny scored 12 points for the Eagles in the first quarter and finished with 19. Nolan Reimold and Keenan Christiansen added 12 each in the second quarter, as Kennedy Christian moved out to a 35-20 lead. Reimold finished with 17 points and Christiansen scored 13.
"Once we settled down we went bam, bam, bam and that is the was we usually start a game," said Votino. "I don't know whether it was because we were shooting too quickly, but as a result, we didn't play good defense, either.
"But, we won by 30 points and there are 16 teams left, so I told them to forget about how sloppy they played and we'll work out what we need to do tomorrow."
Gary Satterwhite added 10 points for Kennedy Christian.
"We have a lot of good players," said Votino. "McElhinny carried us early, then Keenan and Nolan took over."
Not looking ahead: Votino didn't think the Eagles' poor start was a result of them looking ahead.
"They have played such great competition and have been in so many big games, I don't think that would bother them," he said. "But, maybe they are feeling the heat a little bit because everybody is talking about making reservations [for the state championship in Hershey].
"We try to ignore all of that and they can't let themselves get caught up in all of the hoopla."