| Rockets are about to tip-off at home tonight. Our story from the weekend tip off tournaments for the News-Journal is below. Since our deadline Isiah Colon exploded for a monster game scoring 38 points in the Rocket route of Youngville 70-48. TNJ 12/8/2023 Last weekend the Titusville Rocket boys won their first game of the season in the Roy Sanner Tip off Tournament at Rocky Grove High School. Despite struggling to get his jumpers to drop, the usually deadly outside shooter Isiah Colon still managed to score 41 points on the weekend, through aggressive defensive steals leading to lay ups, putting back up rebounds in the paint and dropping free throws. In first game Colon, had he been on, would’ve destroyed Cranberry, but as a result they found themselves in a battle late. Solid fourth quarter play by Cameron Kerr with two big buckets when the Rockets needed them most, a steal and a couple big rebounds kept them in the game as Cranberry rallied to take the lead. Then, as the legend says “shooters shoot,” Colon drained a big three pointer with about a minute left to give them a little breathing room and take the wind out of the Berries sails. Colin Wagner had a solid end scoring on a jumper and two key free throws in the last minute. He finished with eight.Hudson Fratus added five, Devon Kurschinske had four and Brett Schmidt drained a couple free throws in the win. The hard fought win propelled them into the championship game against host Rocky Grove who dismantled Maplewood 62-32 behind Noah Baughman’s game high twenty-five. Colon’s shooting woes continued in the championship game. The shooter just couldn’t get his threes to drop in the first half. But again he hit a couple late that brought the Rockets close to the Orioles. But was ultimately not enough and they lost the championship game 45-41. Wagner again had a solid outing adding 11. Fratus and Kurschinske combined for another ten. They started out strong building a 9-2 lead. But the well balanced Orioles battled back to lead 13-11 after the first quarter. The Rockets took the lead back briefly after a big Colon three-pointer in the third quarter put them up 27-26. But they’d never see the lead again, though they got down by seven at one point they kept the Orioles in sight the rest of the way coming to within one with a little over a minute to play. But Rocky Grove build the lead to seven before Wagner’s last second three found the net. The Rockets were slated to play Youngville last Wednesday and Girard on Friday. They finish the calendar year on the road against Sheffield on Tuesday and Eisenhower on Thursday. The following week they visit General McLane on December 18 and Union City on the 20th. If Colon gets his shooting touch back or if the Rockets move the ball better to get more players involved they should be in for a decent season. |         |
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