PIAA PLAYOFFS Kennedy Catholic boys surge to state semifinals

David Jackson's six straight points late in the game rallied the Golden Eagles.
CLARION, Pa. -- With his team trailing by five points with four minutes remaining, Kennedy Catholic High basketball player David Jackson rode to the rescue.
Jackson scored six straight points to give the Golden Eagles their first lead against Elk County Catholic. Kennedy capitalized on the late surge for a 51-48 victory in Friday's PIAA Class A quarterfinal game.
Tuesday, the Golden Eagles will play Blairsville, a 54-51 winner over Coudersport. The Class A Western Final will be played at a time and site to be determined. The winner will play for the state title next Friday in Hershey.
Late in the game, Jesse Bosnik gave the Crusaders their final lead with a jumper,
But a bucket by Shamus Reimold and four charity tosses from Brandon Mirizio in the final seconds gave the Golden Eagles their third straight tournament victory.
"[Mirizio], Jackson and Reimold are going to have the ball in their hands and when it comes to free throws, they don't miss many," Kennedy coach Tim Loomis said. "It is always going to be a difference in a big game like this one."
Jackson finished with 13 points including a perfect 9-for-9 from the charity stripe. The Golden Eagles were led by Blair Rozenblad with 16 points. Mirizio finished with 11.
Slow start
Kennedy trailed for much of the game before coming on strong in the fourth period.
"When they tried to spread us out, we were able to trap them and that was pretty much the ball game down the stretch," Loomis said. "Once we got it to three, I felt the game was ours. We didn't put much pressure on them most of the night so I felt good about our going to the trap."
Although the Golden Eagles didn't play well to start, they managed to hold the Crusaders leading scorer Jesse Bosnik to one point in the first half. Kennedy Catholic trailed, 26-18, at the break.
Adam Simbeck and Tony Lecker took off on the offensive end of the floor to combine 20 of Elk County's 26 first-half points.
"Nobody pushes us around and I thought they pushed us out of our offense," Loomis said. "Another thing is that [we] might have taken them a little lightly. Even though I preached to them that the one thing that team did was play hard, but I guess it just took a while for it to sink in."
For Elk County, Simbeck finished with 19 for the game while Lecker wound up with a dozen.