ELDRED –– It was a rainy night in Eldred when the Yellowjackets hosted the Livingston Manor Wildcats for a regular season boys basketball game. Eldred was able to take an early lead and maintain it throughout the game to get the home court victory over Livingston Manor. 

Eldred coach Bill Furler had this to say after the win, “We fought hard and it was a battle. Manor is always a tough team and they can shoot but size matters a lot in this game and we definitely had the size over them. We lost to Burke on Friday so this is a big win for us. Definitely still need to work on foul shooting but we are getting better with ball control. We’re a young team and I’m very proud of how they played. We’ll see Manor two more times so hopefully those are good games too.”

Livingston Manor coach Charlie Hicks echoed coach Furler’s sentiments when he said, “I liked the way it started but then we couldn’t find the basket for a while and they went on a run. Saw a lot of things I liked but they had a bit too much size on us. The offensive  boards killed us and we couldn’t guard their big guys. It’ll be a good game when we see them next time.” 

Manor showed a lot of dominance in the opening of the quarter. They went on a fast run but Eldred was quick to respond with James Deyermond playing a major part in their scoring down low.  

In the second quarter Eldred’s big guys, James Deyermond and Koen McGill stole the show scoring multiple times off inside seal offs in the paint. Eldred was able to hold Manor to 4 points while the Yellowjackets scored 13 of  their own leading into the half. At the break the Yellowjackets were up by eight. 41-33 over the Wildcats. 

Eldred’s Trai Kaufmann sunk two late fourth quarter foul shots to increase Eldred’s lead in the game. Eldred scored once more before Manor was able to go on a five point run to bring the game within 10 points in the final 2 minutes. Despite Manor’s great effort they just couldn’t catch up to Eldred’s lead. The game ended with a commanding 62-49 win for the Yellowjackets.