Wolverines Beat Beaver Falls, Eye Rematch Against Riverside

Ellwood City and Riverside will have a playoff berth on the line Friday when the two teams square off in their Riv-Ell rematch.

This after Ellwood City used a 35-point scoring outburst by junior Joseph Roth to hold on and defeat Beaver Falls 57-51 Tuesday night at Lincoln High School.

Ellwood City (14-7 Overall, 6-5 Section) and Riverside (8-13 Overall, 5-6 Section) will enter Friday’s match-up with 4th place in Section 1-3A and a playoff berth on the line.  The Wolverines will look to overcome an overtime defeat at the hands of the Panthers last month and will need the victory to secure sole possession of 4th place as the Panthers hold the tie breaker if both teams finish with identical section records.

On Tuesday, the Wolverines stymied the visiting Tigers early, holding Beaver Falls to three first quarter points and a 25-14 halftime advantage before the Tigers made some noise in the second half.

The double digit advantage stood at 44-29 after three frames, but the playoff-bound Tigers were able to whittled the Wolverine lead down to four points late in the final quarter before Ellwood City wrapped up the narrow victory.

Chris Smiley scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half including a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter as the Tigers ratched up their defense and scrambled back into the contest. Smiley and Roth accounted for all of the Wolverines points in the fourth quarter.

Beaver Falls scored 37 points in the second half.  Trey Singleton led the Tigers (10-8 Overall, 8-4 Section 1-3A) with 15 points in defeat.

Ellwood City will travel to Riverside on Friday night for a 7:30 p.m. varsity tip-off.

Panthers Nate Kolesar (16 points) and Rob Janis (10 points) topped the scoring column as Riverside downed Freedom 54-37 to earn its section victory Tuesday night in advance of the Riv-Ell rematch.

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT – WINTER SPORTS

It’s Senior Spotlight time for Winter Sports!

First up is #31 Blake Foreman for the Boys Basketball Team! pic.twitter.com/tIO0BAUSAQ

— Ellwood City Wolverines Sports (@EC_Wolverines) February 8, 2023

GIRLS BASKETBALL:

On Monday, Claire Noble connected on four 3-pointers and scored a team-high 22 points for the Lady Wolverines who were defeated on the road by Beaver Falls 65-44.  After trailing 34-30 at halftime, the visiting Wolverines only collected 14 second half points.  The girls basketball team (8-13 Overall, 2-7 Section 1-3A) wrap up their regular season on Thursday with a 7:30 p.m. Senior Night tip  versus the section leading Laurel Spartans.

For the Lady Panthers, Gabriella Finch scored a team-high six points and grabbed six rebounds as Riverside fell on the road 54-22 at the hands of Laurel.  The Panthers (4-14 Overall) will wrap up their regular season on Thursday versus Mohawk.