Andy Close
SHARON, Pa. – It just wasn’t their night.
For the second consecutive season, the Warren Dragons saw their season come to a close at the hands of the Hickory Hornets, this time in the District 10 Class 4A quarterfinals (the loss was in the semifinal round last year) by a score of 58-45.
“We talked in practice this week about being physical and being ready to go early,” said Warren coach Jeff Berdine. “We left a lot of opportunities on the table. We let them establish what they wanted to do and offensively I don’t think we did a good job of creating tempo.”
Hickory (15-7), the defending PIAA runners-up, led early, jumping out to a 16-8 lead at the end of the first quarter and 28-16 at halftime.
The Dragons (14-9) cut the lead to nine, 39-30 going into the fourth, but Hickory didn’t let Dragons mount a comeback.
Jackson Pryts led four Hickory players in double figures with 16 points, while Tyson Djakovich netted 13 and Tyler Mele and Joey Fazzone 10 each.
J.T. Blum, playing his final game in a Dragon basketball uniform, led Warren with 14 points, while Tommy Nyquist netted 12, Brady Berdine eight and Braylon Barnes six.
Hickory advances to play top seed Fairview in the semifinals.
“In the playoffs, you need everybody playing at the level they’re capable of,” Berdine said. “We didn’t do that tonight.”
Still, the future is bright for the Dragons.
“At times we had three sophomores and a junior out there,” Berdine said. “These are the type of games that they need to build on moving forward for next year.”
Eisenhower, Youngsville and Warren basketball coverage is sponsored by Ellwood National Forge.
