CATAWISSA RR - Southern Columbia, despite being badly outsized, hung with Tamaqua for a half Friday. But the Blue Raiders' Russell Blaker nailed a three-point shot just before the break, giving Tamaqua a seven-point lead.
The Blue Raiders then exploded in the second half, burying the Tigers 67-36 to raise their early record to 4-0. Southern dropped to 1-1.
Tamaqua center Bret Kosciolek has size and skill, and is surrounded by a complement of good role players. Kosciolek scored 27 points with eight rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocked shots. He made 10 of 15 shots from the floor and 7 of 8 from the foul line.
Point guard Bo Rottet had nine points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals and Joe Marcin had nine points and five rebounds.
"We played them last year and we were bigger but they were quicker, and we were concerned about that," said Tamaqua coach Caz Kosciolek. "That was a big three by Russell Blaker just before the half. Then we came out with probably as good a third quarter as we've had so far. Bret not only really played well, but we did a real good job of getting the ball to him."
Tamaqua hit 11 of 15 shots from the floor in the third and outscored Southern 25-8 to build a 52-28 lead. The Tigers had several consecutive scoreless possessions, which came on top of missing a lot of layups in the first half which could have given them a lead to work with.
"That was an uncharacteristic game for our players," said Southern head coach Joe Britto. "I don't know if it was first home game jitters or what, but that's not the team I've seen so far. We had a bad practice yesterday (Thursday) and I told them sometimes you play how you practice."
Still, with possibly one player over six feet, the Tigers would have had to play a great game to beat the Blue Raiders.
"In order for us to beat bigger guys, we're going to have to run and get up and down the floor and tire them out," Britto said.
The Tigers did a good job of that in the first half, but the missed easy shots kept them from getting into transition as much as they wanted, and Tamaqua's overall talent just won out in the second half. Tamaqua out-rebounded the Tigers, 37-19 and even had one less turnover than Southern.
"They have a lot of good role players in addition to the big guy," Britto said.
"I thought Joe Marcin probably had his best game of the season so far," Kosciolek said.
Mike Klebon scored 13 points for Southern.
Game Summary
TAMAQUA (67) - Rottet 3 2-3 9, Frantz 2 0-0 4, Macdonald 1 0-0 2, Ty. Skripko 2 0-1 4, Kosciolek 10 7-8 27, Blaker 1 2-2 5, Wargula 1 0-0 2, Tr. Skripko 0 0-0 0, Co. Hartung 0 0-0 0, Martin 4 1-1 9, VanBuskirk 1 0-0 2, Murphy 0 0-0 0, Ch. Hartung 1 1-2 3. Totals 26 13-17 67.
SOUTHERN COLUMBIA (36) - Olson 0 0-0 0, Michaels 0 0-0 0, Klebon 5 3-7 13, Palacz 2 0-0 6, Gennaria 0 0-0 0, Brokas 1 0-0 2, Fegley 0 3-5 3, Ciocco 1 0-0 2, Rarig 2 3-8 7, Mostik 1 1-2 3, Keiser 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 10-22 36.
3-point FGs: Tamaqua (2) - Rottet, Blaker; Southern Columbia (2) - Palacz 2.
JV score: Southern 62-55 OT. Southern - Cameron Young 26.