Hornets knock off Central Columbia

By: Ed Weaver  /  February 24, 2016

The Wellsboro Boys Basketball team punched their ticket to play in their second straight District IV Class AA title game with a 48-41 win over Central Columbia on Tuesday, February 23.

The first quarter was neck-and-neck with Wellsboro leading 10-9 afterwards, but the second belonged to the Hornets as their defense kept the Jays off the glass and held them to just 7 points. Senior Dawson Prough, juniors Brandon Lamphier and Jacob Singer, and sophomore Dalton Prough all scored in the quarter, with Dalton Prough scoring 5.

Wellsboro led 21-16 at the half, but came out firing in the third as the Prough brothers scored 13 of the team's 15 points in the quarter. The Hornets pushed their lead into double-digits at one point, but Central Columbia hit two three-pointers and went 5-for-5 at the foul line to bring the margin back down to 5, trailing 36-31 heading into the fourth.

Central put the pressure on in the final frame and got the Hornets out of their rhythm on a few possessions to cut the lead to 2 points at one stretch, but Wellsboro shot 4-for-6 at the foul line down the stretch, with Singer and sophomore Quinn Henry each going 2-for-3 to give the Hornets the win.

Dalton Prough led Wellsboro with 15 points and 7 rebounds and brother Dawson finished the night with 14 points. Lamphier ended the night with 7, Singer and sophomore Collin Pietropola had 4 each, and Henry and sophomore Nic Ingerick pitched in with 2 points each. Singer added 5 rebounds and Henry made 3 assists.

"It means absolutely everything," said Dawson Prough. "This is what we've been working for the whole year, and our motivation has been coach Charles Griscavage. We're playing for him and our community and we wanted to go out there get it done."

Wellsboro will now play for their second consecutive District championship, and third in the last four years under head coach Todd Outman as they look to bring home the school's first District IV basketball title since the 1951-52 season.

"We did a great job tonight on them," Outman said. "We had tape on them against Montoursville and Hughesville and they really drove more against those two teams than they did our on guys tonight. We did a good job contesting threes, (Zach) Boyd went off for some, but we were challenging them and that's all you can do."

Standing between Wellsboro and their ultimate goal is No. 4 seed Danville, who knocked off top seed Hughesville 48-45. Outman knows this one won't be easy for Wellsboro.

"We're going to have to handle pressure. They will come at you for all 32 minutes. If we can handle that I think we can compete, but if we start throwing the ball all over it's going to be over quick, but I think we'll be okay."

The championship game will be played at Milton High School on Saturday, February 27 follwing the Wellsboro and Mount Carmel girls game.