Indians run past Elverado
Marcus Francescon's 27 leads Indians to BDC triumph

02-14-03
ELVERADO @ JOHNSTON CITY
BY JACK BULLOCK
JOHNSTON CITY - The Elverado Falcons were hoping to pull a huge upset Friday night on the road at Johnston City.

But if these Birds were to fly away with a win on this night, sophomore Jamone Lipsey needed to have a big game.

But on this night, he picked up fouls nearly as fast as he picked up points in the first half.

And while Lipsey was on the bench with his foul difficulty, the Indians took over the game and cruised to an easy 75-49 win.

In the eight minutes that the 6-0 lefty was on the floor in the first two quarters, Elverado outscored Johnston City 12-6.

His nine points in the opening minutes of the game had the Falcons thinking upset.

Lipsey's bucket on a pump fake in the lane with 1:59 left gave Elverado its biggest lead of the game at 11-5.

However he picked up his second foul on the next trip down the floor and went to the bench.

By the time that he returned to the floor late in the second quarter, the Indians had outscored the visitors 19-2.

"He (Lipsey) needs to understand that we need him on the floor and when he picks up fouls early, we are in trouble." explained Elverado coach Todd Tripp. "Our kids played hard tonight but we need to play our best to beat a team like Johnston City."

In the Tribe's second quarter burst, Marcus Francescon got things started when he stole a pass at mid-court and went it for a lay in the pushed the JC lead to 16-13.

He scored on a couple of baseline baskets on consecutive possessions later in the frame.

First, on a backdoor cut getting a nifty pass from Josh Dean.

He then knocked one home on a drive from the left side.

When his soft bank fell through, the Indians had a 20-13 advantage.

Lipsey returned to the lineup late in the second quarter but his stay was short lived.

He managed just over a minute on the floor before picking up his third personal on a charging call with 2:49 to go before halftime on.

The half ended with Johnston City's David Roberts hitting a 3-pointer from the right elbow to increase the Indians advantage to 28-16 with 2:04 left.

But Elverado hung in there with a pair of free throws by Daniel Tow and a 10-footer by Nick Hale to cut the Johnston City halftime lead to 30-20.

Like a broken record, the foul problems continued early in the third quarter.

Lipsey scored the first time he took a shot in the quarter as his short jumper found the mark with 6:47 left to cut the Johnston City advantage to 32-23.

But just ten seconds later, he was called on an obvious reach in foul and he headed back to the land of splinters with his fourth foul.

Things went south from that point on for the Falcons.

A Kyle Baker steal and basket pushed the Indians spread to 38-26 with 4:44 left.

Johnston City's Josh Hunter and Kris Ray both hit shots in a final third quarter push to seal the Indians win.

Hunter's lay in and Ray's short jumper in the paint gave JC a 47-30 lead. A bucket by Matt Mason and another score by Francescon finished the stanza at 51-32 Indians.

"This was a pretty good win for us because we got to play some seniors tonight and they played pretty well." said first year Johnston City coach Randy House. "We started five seniors and although they had some early turnovers, we still got a lot out of tonight."

The Indians (8-17, 6-3 in the BDC) had ten players get on the scoreboard with Francescon leading the way with 27. Baker added 10 points and Roberts pitched in nine.

Ryan Holland led Elverado (4-16, 0-9) with 16. Lipsey scored 10, but he had nine of those in the first quarter before his fouls limited his time on the court.

TOP LEFT
Johnston City's Marcus Francescon scores two of his game high 27 points on a lay up just ahead of Everado defender Ryan Holland during the third quarter of Friday night's 75-49 win by the host Indians.
(Jack Bullock Photo)