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By DOUG PAPE [email protected]
Sunday, December 03, 2000 Page: 1C
WILKES-BARRE – University of Scranton men’s basketball coach Bob Bessoir
was showered with gifts before Saturday’s game against Wilkes University.
Bessoir, 68, who is retiring after his 29th year, was making his final
regular-season appearance at the Marts Center.
An engraved clock and a framed picture of him from the past coaching in a
white tuxedo against the Colonels were presented by Wilkes President
Christopher N. Breiseth and coach Jerry Rickrode.
Afterward, Bessoir said the gifts were the only bright spots for the
Royals.
The Colonels never trailed and proved to be downright inhospitable as they
blanketed Scranton’s top trio of Al Callejas, Dan Loftus and Derek Elphick en
route to a 77-50 victory.
“I was touched by it (the gifts) because it’s been a hard-fought,
competitive series over the years,” Bessoir said.
Wilkes (5-0 overall, 2-0 Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom League) travels
to cross-town rival King’s College (4-2, 1-1) at 8 p.m. Wednesday. Scranton
dropped to 2-3, 1-1 in the MAC Freedom.
The guard tandem of Callejas/Loftus, along with Elphick, a 6-foot, 8-inch
center, all entered the game averaging more than 18 points each per contest.
On Saturday, the Royal trio mustered 16 combined points against the Colonels’
feisty man-to-man defense.
“Our goal was to try to contain those guys and try to make some other
people try to beat us,” Rickrode said. “I thought for the most part they
didn’t get a lot of open looks.”
The Royals committed 14 turnovers and only converted 10 of 24 field goals
in the first half.
It was all part of Rickrode’s game plan.
On the offensive side, the Colonels wanted to pound the ball in the post,
and in the first half Ron McIntyre made that part of the scheme come to
fruition. The 6-6 forward scored all of his 12 points in the first 20 minutes
as the Colonels took a 39-25 advantage into the break.
“I just tried to go in and establish myself,” McIntyre said. “I may or
may not score a lot this year. It really doesn’t concern me … They played me
single, and I wanted to take advantage of it.”
He also had two slam dunks in the first half, including a dazzling
alley-oop pass from Meyers graduate Dave Jannuzzi, who led the Colonels with
13 points. Freshman Dave Plisko, from Hanover Area, added 12 points and went
3-for-4 from three-point range.
Wilkes’ Kevin Walsh was tough inside with 10 rebounds and nine points, and
Bishop O’Reilly’s Tom Stambaugh provided the main highlight in the second-half
with a steal immediately followed by a thundering dunk.
Kevin Courtney led Scranton with 11 points.
Rickrode was pleased with his team’s performance, but said it can still get
a lot better. And is the coach, who guided his team to a Final Four appearance
three years ago, hootin’ and hollerin’ with every Colonel victory?
Nope, he’s all business this season.
“I said to myself at the beginning of the year that I was going to enjoy
wins,” Rickrode said, “but I wasn’t going to celebrate anything until the
end of the road after the season. I think that we’re focused, and no one is
looking ahead at all.”
Doug Pape, a Times Leader sports writer, can be reached at 829-7227.