Youthful Elizabeth Forward hangs on vs. Mt. Pleasant after nearly wasting big lead

By: Don Rebel
Friday, January 29, 2021 | 11:06 PM

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Matt Loftis saw first-hand Friday night the blessings of having a young, athletic basketball team. He also saw the curse of his team’s youth.

Down by as many as nine points in the first quarter, Elizabeth Forward took control and built a 20-point advantage on Mt. Pleasant in the third quarter before holding on for a narrow 58-54 victory. The win puts the Warriors alone in second place in Section 3-4A, one game behind Belle Vernon in the loss column.

“I thought we did a lot of good things tonight,” Loftis said. “We’re a really young bunch with a lot of freshmen and sophomores and juniors. Obviously, the way we closed in the fourth quarter, it kind of got away from us a little bit.”

The Warriors have only three seniors, and three freshman and two sophomores play key roles. While Elizabeth Forward is 5-1 in the section (5-3 overall), it still has struggled delivering the knockout blow late to opponents.

“We’re a team that seems to put together two good quarters, then we’ll have a bad quarter,” Loftis said. “It’s just a consistency thing. Teams are going to switch things up on us in the middle of the game on us, and sometimes, we kind of get a little bit out of control. It’s a learning game for us how it ended.”

Mt. Pleasant came into the game on the heels of a three-game losing streak but jumped on host EF early by connecting on three 3-pointers to build a 14-5 lead. The Warriors ended the quarter on a 9-2 run to pull to within two points.

Elizabeth Forward’s youth, quickness and defense kicked in and for a span of about 13 minutes in the second and third quarters. The Warriors outscored the Vikings, 30-8, to lead 44-24 with three and a half minutes left in the third.

“They (EF) was very efficient on offense,” Mt. Pleasant first-year coach T.J. Kravits said.

The Vikings scored seven of the quarter’s final eight points to trail 45-31 after three.

Mt. Pleasant was gaining confidence as Elizabeth Forward’s double-digit lead was eroding. The Vikings kept coming, and the Warriors kept missing shots and turning the ball over. However, the one thing Mt. Pleasant could not do in its comeback was make free throws, specifically, one-and-ones.

The Vikings twice missed the front end of the one-and-one in the final minutes, and Elizabeth Forward was able to get the defensive rebounds.

“I think free throws were the difference,” Kravits said. “I looked it up and we were 2 for 9, while they hit on 9 of 11.”

After Tyler Salvatore hit a wild 3-pointer with 6 seconds left to pull the Vikings to within two points, Warriors freshman Vernon Settles hit two free throws to ice the victory. Mt. Pleasant fell to 2-6 overall despite the herculean comeback attempt that saw the Vikings score 23 of their 54 points in the final quarter.

“I told them afterward, I really liked their effort,” Kravits said.

Senior Jonas King led the Vikings with 15 points, and senior Nate Kubusky chipped in with 11 points.

For Elizabeth Forward, dreams of a section crown continue as they its right behind first place Belle Vernon, a team it hosts in two weeks. Settles led the Warriors with 23 points, and sophomore Zach Boyd added 11 points.

“Those two guys lead us,” Loftis said. “Settles is the best ball-handler I’ve had since I’ve been here. As a freshman, I completely trust him with the basketball. Zach Boyd has become a much more efficient scorer. He’s definitely our playmaker, and we rely on him to do a lot.”

Tags: Elizabeth Forward, Mt. Pleasant