By Ted Waddell
DOWNSVILLE — January 2, 2004 – The Roscoe Blue Devils narrowly defeated the Hancock Wildcats, 38-33, in Monday night’s consolation game of the Downsville Holiday Tournament.
The hard-fought game was noteworthy for the number of elbows tossed and tussles for control of the ball on the boards.
With a mere 38.2 seconds remaining in the game, Roscoe senior guard Justin Bowers iced the outcome by sinking a pair of free throws to give the Blue Devils a 35-30 lead.
At the 24.2 second mark, Hancock’s Jared Wormuth connected on a three-point shot to make it a 37-33 game. But it was a case of too little, too late.
The rough and tumble game of boys’ varsity hoops ended with a series of game-delaying intentional holding calls against Hancock (2-5).
Roscoe (2-4) enjoyed a slight advantage at the free-throw line. The Blue Devils made 8-of-17 foul shots, while the Wildcats converted just 6-of-16 free throws.
Bowers scored a game-high 19 points and Vinnie Carpinone added 10 points in the Blue Devils’ victory.
Hancock was paced by Dennis Clouston and Josh Rice, each of whom scored eight points.