Aquinas overwhelms top-seeded Wellsville

March 4, 2014 at 12:05a.m.

STRUTHERS

While some might say that the St. Thomas Aquinas Knights ran themselves into the Division IV district title game, others will argue that the Wellsville Tigers simply turned over a golden opportunity to the Knights.

Anthony Moeglin scored 19 points and grabbed six rebounds while a stellar Knights’ defense forced 32 Wellsville turnovers as fourth-seeded Aquinas defeated the top-seeded Tigers, 74-47 in district semifinal action Monday at the Struthers Field House.

On Friday at 7 p.m., the Knights will meet the winner of today’s semifinal between second-seeded McDonald and No. 3 Lowellville.

“We knew that Wellsville could shoot the lights out if given good looks at the bucket, so our defense had to come ready to play,” Moeglin said. “Our regular season schedule really prepared us for tournament play, most especially tonight against the Tigers. We were prepared and felt like we knew them coming into the game, but a fast start really helped. We rely on our defense to set up our offense and tonight they created a lot of opportunities for everyone offensively.”

The Knights (14-11) won their fifth straight and have lost just once since playing Cardinal Mooney on Feb. 11.

St. Thomas Aquinas head coach Matt Hackenberg called their game against the Cardinals the turning point of their season.

“We were suffering through a losing streak at the time yet played really well against Cardinal Mooney,” he said. “Since that time it’s as if everything has come together for us.

“Defense has been our calling card since I got here and when you can hold teams to around 50 points, the other stuff takes care of itself. They [Wellsville] haven’t been uncomfortable too many times this season and a slew of turnovers in the first half really hurt them. You can talk all you want about our schedule, but you still have to go out there win those individual matchups.”

Trailing 13-11 with a little under two minutes to play in the opening period, Austin Hill’s triple keyed an 8-3 run to give the Knights a 19-16 edge heading to the second frame.

Wellsville’s Nate Scott, the school’s all-time leading scorer, scored the first five points of the period to knot the game at 21-all just 49 seconds into the period.

The Knights then closed with a 13-3 run, holding Wellsville scoreless the last 4:38 of the half as they built a 37-24 halftime advantage.

Wellsville’s next points didn’t come until the 5:18 mark of the third period when a bucket by Camden Douglas pulled the Tigers to within 45-26.

The Knights put the game away with a 19-0, with Wellsville going scoreless for over seven minutes.

“Their pressure defense did us in. Whoever had the ball is where they applied the pressure,” Tigers coach David “Bug” Thompson said. “Turnovers were costly, but they were without question the most disciplined team that we faced all season long. The 32 turnovers is a three-game total for us. We haven’t had that many miscues in a game since I got here in 2005.”

Wellsville (22-3) held a 30-24 rebound advantage with Seth Bradford’s 13 rebounds and 10 points giving him the game’s’ only double-double.

Sam Pusateri and Jacob Paul each dished out five assists for the Knights.