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Alter regroups, but runs out of time against Moeller

Scoreless first quarter sets ominous tone in Knights’ opener.

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By Jeff Ermann, Contributing Writer Updated 11:48 PM Friday, December 9, 2011

KETTERING — There’s not much that Joe Petrocelli, entering his fourth decade as head coach at Alter, hadn’t seen on a basketball court. But just eight minutes into his 40th season, that’s exactly what happened: the Knights didn’t score a single point in the first period in their home gym.

“We may have,” Petrocelli said, “but I don’t know if that’s ever happened, and certainly not at home.”

The Knights regrouped from their season-opening struggles against Cincinnati’s Moeller and eventually held several brief leads, but never fully recovered in a 45-44 loss Friday night. Moeller sharpshooter Ben Galemmo (game-high 17 points) hit five 3-pointers and knocked down a pair of late free throws to nullify Alter senior Jake Laravie’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

The Knights (0-1), who return two starters from last year’s 16-6 team, couldn’t buy a break in the opening period, with several 3-pointers going in and out, missing all 12 of their shots en route to a 10-0 deficit. Despite making only two field goals in the first 11 minutes, they raced back and eventually took a 16-15 lead after an 8-2 run by senior point guard Laravie (team-high 15 points) late in the first half.

Alter pulled ahead briefly several times in the third quarter, but another period-opening scoring drought — this time, two points in the first five-plus minutes of the fourth — did them in. It was a hot-and-cold opening night for Alter, which was out-rebounded 21-15 by a taller Moeller squad that used second-chance points to maintain control.

The Knights trailed by 11 points with less than three minutes remaining but drilled four 3-pointers in the final 2:16, that trimmed the deficit to 43-41 with 31 seconds left. Galemmo then made two free throws to push the lead to four before Laravie’s 25-foot heave went down with a half-second left.

Spencer stole the ensuing inbounds pass but could only toss up an off-balance shot from behind the backboard as time expired.

“We hit a couple of big shots there at the end,” said Petrocelli, who has the second-most wins in Ohio high school basketball history. “But you’ve got to make some early. The early ones are just as important as the late ones.”

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