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YCS soars past JFK for 14th victory
Olonzo Johnson’s 27 points triggered an 81-67 win at Warren JFK.
WARREN — The Youngstown Christian boys basketball team might be the best kept secret in the area.
YCS (14-3) went on the road Saturday to face a very good Warren JFK team and easily dismantled the Eagles, 81-67.
Olonzo Johnson scored 27 points while John Pecchia dropped in six 3-pointers for 22 to lead the Eagles. Caleb Yanno added 20 points.
YCS and Warren JFK (9-5) are two of the top teams in Division IV in the area, but will play in different district tournaments in the postseason.
With the impressive road win, YCS showed they should be a top seed in the Struthers tournament.
“I don’t know how big a secret we are,” said YCS coach Dolph Carroll who is in his second season as coach. “We can’t control what happens in the tournament draw.
“We just have to go play whoever we do and play our very best and see what happens.”
The Eagles couldn’t have played any better against JFK.
YCS jumped out to a 10-0 lead on a baskets by Yanno and Pecchia and never looked back.
“[JFK] was a very impressive team we had to play on the road,” Carroll said. “Honestly, we were worried. We felt like we had to come in here and play our very best game to compete with them.
“We hit some shots early and got off to a very good start to say the least.”
Pecchia hit three 3s in the first quarter and Yanno added eight points at the Eagles opened up a 21-9 lead.
“[Youngstown Christian] is a very good basketball team,” Warren JFK coach Bruce Timko said. “We knew that coming in and they were hitting their shots like crazy.
“We gave a great effort after a tough loss last night against East and we’re just not the same team when we play Friday and Saturday back-to-back.
“But give all the credit to Youngstown Christian,” Timko said. “They are a great basketball team and hopefully if we keep improving we will see them again in the future [in a regional tournament game].”
Johnson, who is one of the top scorers in the area, started heating up in the second quarter and scored 10 points as YCS continued to pull away.
“We were coming off a loss [to Chaney] and really wanted to prove that we are a good basketball team,” Johnson said. “I just try to come out and play hard every game.”
Pecchia said he had a good feeling in warm-ups and that it could be a good night for the Eagles.
“I was shooting well in warm-ups and then when I hit the first 3-pointer I felt hot,” Pecchia said. “We just let the offense come to me and everyone started shooting well after that.”
JFK tried desperately to get back in the game in the second half after falling behind 43-21 at halftime.
Nick Brown, who leads the area in scoring with a 21.1 average, got his game going a little better in the second half. He scored 23 points and pulled down 10 rebounds.
His effort was way too little and way too late for JFK who got down 70-45 before staging a late comeback.
Stephen Procopio added 12 points and sox rebounds for JFK while teammate Pat Hull scored 10 points.