CLARION – Nate Higgins of Elk County Catholic tallied 17 points and seven rebounds to earn Most Valuable Player honors while leading the Black-North squad to an 89-72 win over the Red-South team in the ninth annual Clarion County YMCA “Sportsmanship I” Boys’ All-Star basketball game Saturday at Clarion High School.
Higgins had plenty of help, as three other North squad members reached double figures and eight of the 10 team members had at least seven points.
Norm Felmlee (Cranberry) added 13 points and four rebounds, while Seth Streich (Johnsonburg) and Levi Welder (St. Marys) each had 10 tallies. Streich added eight rebounds and Welder five boards and two steals. Chad Wolbert (North Clarion) chipped in with nine points, all on 3-pointers, while Parker James (Venango Catholic) and C.J. Hesdon (Clarion-Limestone) each had eight tallies. Hesdon also had three steals, while James hit a pair of long-range 3-pointers. James’ Venango Catholic teammate Mike McNellie chipped in with seven points, while Hesdon’s C-L teammate Jaye Dulavitch had nine rebounds and one points. Cameron County’s Dan Sullivan rounded out the North scoring with six points.
DuBois Central Catholic’s John Ferraraccio earned the Sportsmanship Award after having fun the entire game including doing his best Harlem Globetrotters impersonation including a couple of times coming off the bench late with the game out of hand to give the South squad six players on the court. Ferraraccio, not known for his outside shooting ability, hit three 3-pointers in the game while scoring 17 points while grabbing seven rebounds. Matt Shiner (Clearfield) and Mark Shannon (Brockway) each added 12 points with Shannon also grabbing six rebounds, stealing three balls and blocking a couple of shots. Shiner won the 32 point contest at halftime. Jeremy Priester (Clearfield) chipped in eight points, Keystone’s Ben Black and Brock Witkowski each had six tallies, Redbank Valley’s Doug Bish scored five points, Union’s Neil Scott had two points and a game-high 11 rebounds and Keystone’s Brian Long had three steals and two rebounds.
The North led 43-36 at halftime and then used a 12-0 run near the start of the second half to take a 55-40 lead. But the South fought back going on a 10-0 run to pull with five, 55-50,, before a quick 5-0 spurt by the North restored the 10-point lead.
NOTES – Former Pittsburgh Steeler great Jerome Bettis was named the Clarion County YMCA “Sportsman of the Year”. Past recipients of the award include John Joy, Arnold Palmer, Don Stemmerich, Joe Paterno, Richard (Dick) Pae, Jodi Gault and David “Red” Bevevino.
BLACK-NORTH – 89, RED-SOUTH 72
Score by Halves
North 43 46 – 89
South 36 36 – 72
Black-North – 89
Levi Welder (St. Marys) 4 2-2 10, Parker James (Venango Catholic) 3 0-0 8, Dan Sullivan (Cameron County) 2 2-4 6, Mike McNellie (Venango Catholic) 3 0-0 7, Seth Streich (Johnsonburg) 4 0-0 10, C.J. Hesdon (Clarion-Limestone) 4 0-0 8, Norm Felmlee (Cranberry) 6 0-0 13, Nate Higgins (Elk County Catholic) 8 0-0 17, Jaye Dulavitch (Clarion-Limestone) 0 1-4 1, Chad Wolbert (North Clarion) 3 0-0 9. Totals 37 5-10 89.
Red-South – 72
Neil Scott (Union) 0 2-2 2, Mark Shannon (Brockway) 5 0-0 12, Doug Bish (Redbank Valley) 2 0-0 5, Ben Black (Keystone) 3 0-0 6, Brock Witkowski (Keystone) 3 0-0 6, Matt Shiner (Clearfield) 6 0-0 12, John Ferraraccio (DuBois Central Catholic) 7 0-0 17, Jeremy Priester (Clearfield) 3 0-0 8, Tyler Armagost (Moniteau) 2 0-0 4, Brian Long (Keystone) 0 0-0 0. Totals 31 2-2 72.
Three-pointers – North 10 (Wolbert 3, James 2, Streich 2, McNellie, Felmlee, Higgins). South – 8 (Ferraraccio 3, Shannon 2, Priester , Bish).