Elizabeth Forward holds on in back-and-forth 4th vs. Derry

By: Liam Belan
Tuesday, January 14, 2025 | 10:17 PM

Previous Next

With the logjam at the top of Section 3-4A boys basketball, Elizabeth Forward coach Nolan Larry said Tuesday’s home matchup with section-leading Derry was looked at as a must-win.

After seven fourth-quarter lead changes, his Warriors battled ahead and held on for an important 57-52 victory.

“I really thought we had to beat them at home because they are a very, very good team,” Larry said. “They were tenacious defensively, and they really bothered and irritated us. I don’t think we played our best tonight, but at times this year, we’ve found gritty ways to get it done. We don’t really hang our heads or worry too much when we fall behind because we think that we can get it done, and luckily that happened.”

Elizabeth Forward (11-3, 5-1) had no choice but to stay positive and continue battling even though the Trojans (8-5, 5-1) jumped out to a nine-point lead several times early in the contest.

But EF started grabbing more rebounds and earning more opportunities as the game wore on, something Derry coach Tom Esposito felt swung the game back in the home squad’s favor.

“I thought it was a tale of two halves,” Esposito said. “I thought we came out and executed very well offensively. We played very, very well on the defensive end in the first half, which was the key for us going up nine. But we had 13 turnovers in the first half, so that lead could have been 15 or 16.

“We kind of let them hang around in the first half, and then in the second half, they attacked the glass and went downhill on us. That was the difference right there.”

Derry led 22-13 at the end of the first quarter and 31-26 at halftime in large part because of standout Stanley Rajkovich. The impressive sophomore led all scorers with 26 points, but the Warriors limited him to just seven in the second half.

For EF, Tyler Basic was just behind Rajkovich with 25 as he scored 14 in the second half. Cy Herchelroath and James Gile also finished in double-digits with 10 points each.

After Gile opened the scoring and Herchelroath threw a dunk down, the Trojans quieted the home crowd with a 9-0 run that gave them control early.

Rajkovich had the first six of those points as he made two free throws, hit a jumper and finished at the rim before John Wasnick split a pair of free throws and Brayden Robinson added two more.

Justin Flournoy hustled for a putback to end that spurt, and Basic battled it back to 13-11 with a layup and a triple. But Rajkovich answered with a three of his own and four more points to give his squad some cushion once again.

After Basic and Wasnick, who finished with 11, scored before the first quarter ended, the score read 22-13 at the end of one.

Both squads only combined for 22 points in the second and 18 points in the third, which ended up working in EF’s favor.

They went almost the entire second frame trading baskets until the Warriors ended the half on a 6-2 advantage as Basic, Daniel Spence and Herchelroath made layups to counter a strong take from Rajkovich. Herchelroath scored the final points of the second quarter and made the halftime score 31-26 in favor of Derry.

Elizabeth Forward again gained four points on the Trojans in the third quarter, taking advantage of some missed free throws. Basic and Herchelroath made the score 35-32 before Logan Irvin split a pair of free throws to make his team’s lead four points. Basic then nailed a 3 and made a layup with 1:03 left in the third quarter to give the Warriors a 37-36 lead, their first since they opened the game up 4-0.

Rajkovich swiftly snatched the lead back for the Trojans with another difficult take to give Derry a 38-37 advantage heading into the final quarter.

The fourth opened with seven alternating baskets in a row, all resulting in lead changes as each team kept taking one-point advantages.

Gile opened the scoring with a putback, Rajkovich hit a jumper, Basic made a jump shot, Wasnick hit a two, then Herchelroath, then Rajkovich and finally Flournoy, making the score 45-44.

With 2:19 left to play, that back-and-forth rhythm was broken, and the Warriors scored two straight baskets as they forced a turnover and Basic converted with a layup on the other end. Wasnick came right back with two points, but the Warriors rattled off five straight points to take control at 52-46.

The first play of that stretch was a great long inbound pass from Herchelroath, who heaved it over halfcourt into the path of Flournoy. Up one at that point, Larry trusted in him to make the layup after missing one on the same play in another tight section game that was lost at Belle Vernon less than two weeks ago.

“It was in the back of my mind that if we got the opportunity, I would call that same play again for Justin because I trust him to make it,” Larry said. “I think the Belle Vernon situation was a 99 times out of 100 it goes in, and that was the one that didn’t. So I had all the confidence in him getting it done, and he did.”

From there, Wasnick battled to keep the Trojans in it, but the Warriors finally started connecting on free throws after starting the game 0 for 8 from the line.

Gile and Basic sealed the win at the charity stripe, an important 57-52 result that made Derry one of three trams atop Section 3-4A with one loss, EF and Belle Vernon being the other two. Through the first half of section play, the Trojans picked up a win over Belle Vernon, Belle Vernon won over Elizabeth Forward, and the Warriors defeated Derry.

Moving forward, EF will look for its fourth straight win in a nonsection battle at Southmoreland Friday, and Derry will look to snap a two-game losing streak at East Allegheny the same night.

“All credit to Derry, that was an extremely tough, gritty, and physical game,” Larry said. “It’s good to see that our guys have that intensity when it comes to rebounding and defense, especially after a tough start.”

Said Esposito: “We just have to regroup and get better tomorrow. February 10th when they come to our place, we could be playing for the section title. For now, we just have to put our heads down and get back to work.”

Tags: Derry Area, Elizabeth Forward