On a night when Charleroi celebrated its some of their past section championship teams and 1,000-point scorers, the Cougars celebrated a 56-41 Section 5 AA victory over the Frazier Commodores.
With the win, the Cougars (12-6, 10-2) maintained their hold on second place in the section behind California and one game ahead of third-place Brownsville.
Keeping with the team celebration theme, all five of Charleroi's starters scored in the opening quarter to give the Cougars a 15-11 lead.
In the second quarter, Frazier (4-13, 2-9) opened up on a 5-0 run to cut the lead to 18-16. Then, Ryan Konek re-entered the game to spark the Cougars to an 8-3 run of their own to finish off the half up 26-19. Konek scored five of his 10 first half points during the run.
“Konek's been a work horse all year. He battles on the boards, he's very effective from 10-15 feet (shooting), and he just works his butt off,” Charleroi coach Bill Wiltz gushed about his junior big man after the game.
Konek finished the game with a double-double, 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Charleroi continued pressuring the Commodores in the third quarter holding them to two field goals en route to a 38-28 lead going into the fourth.
“We played hard. We reached a lot in the first half and in the second half, the third quarter in particular, we played much better contain (defense).” Wiltz added.
The fourth quarter had Charleroi pull away from the Commodores. The Cougars opened up with another 5-0 run to take a 43-28 lead capped off by Matt Indorante's fourth three-pointer of the night. Indorante finished the game with a team-high 14 points.
Charleroi continued to add to their lead until with 1:31 left in the game Jimmy Diaz stole the ball and on the fast break threw it off the glass for an Eric Johnson alley-oop two-handed dunk to give the Cougars a 56-36 advantage.
“They had more energy than us tonight,” Frazier coach Ed Keebler said after the game.
Diaz and Johnson finished the game with 12 points each. For Frazier, Vinnie Bucci and Charlie Manack took team honors with 14 points apiece.
Charleroi goes to Jefferson-Morgan on Tuesday and Frazier hosts West Greene.
