Roth remains a constant for Ellwood City basketball
Dec. 21—The Ellwood City Lincoln High boys basketball team has had a lot of changes for the 2022-23 season.
The team is working through the loss of four starters to graduation, a change in coaching staff and a change in the style of play.
The one thing that remains the same with the Wolverines is Joseph Roth.
"We're a young team out there so I've got to be the leader that I've got to be. I'm the only person returning that played last year," Roth said. "I've got to make sure they can count on me. Then, hopefully, down the road they get enough experience where I can count on them in the big times we need them."
Roth was the leading scorer for all three of Ellwood City's games last week and hit a milestone of 1,000 career points in the process.
"It just didn't hit me for a while and then next thing you know I had 1,000 points," Roth said. "I'm really excited about that. Hopefully I can keep scoring; keep winning."
Roth netted 28 points in a nonsection loss to Central Valley, 69-52. Roth then went on to break his 1,000 career points in a victory over Western Beaver, 56-45.
"It's pretty nice. Anytime a player can score 1,000 is pretty impressive and to do it in your junior year is even bigger," Ellwood City coach Scott Dibble said. "Who knows? The way he's been playing, if he keeps scoring and stays healthy he might score two (thousand). We'll see how it goes."
After the milestone, Roth recorded a season-high 34 points in a 63-48 win against New Brighton. The win against New Brighton secured the first WPIAL Section 1-3A victory for the Wolverines.
"It wasn't our best. I sprained my ankle in the third play of the game," Roth said. "I wasn't really the best. I had a lot of major turnovers I think in my mind. If I can just work on those and not have those in the game it will help us a lot throughout the season.
"We always want those section wins to make sure we come close to a repeat section title. It's never about how ugly it is. It's a win."
For his efforts, Roth was named Lawrence County Athlete of the Week as voted on by the New Castle News sports staff.
"He's been tremendous. He's a great athlete. The nice thing about Joe is he's just sort of ultimately athletic and he can play inside, play outside," Dibble said of Roth. "It makes it tough for other teams to guard. He's such a presence inside and his size alone is a big asset to him as well. He's a team player. We look for him all the time which is another reason he's getting a lot of points too. He's our biggest asset to the team and we try to take advantage as much as we possibly can with him."
A son of Denise and Rick Roth, the 6-foot-5 junior said the more games played means the betterment of the Wolverines in general.
"I think the more games we play it will help us as a team together — more chemistry. We were starting off a little rough with a lot of turnovers," Roth said. "The more we play the less that will happen. I'm really happy that we're playing a lot of games."
The only big change for the returning starter was the coaching staff.
"I've always played with these guys growing up. It's not really that much of a change. The coaching change, it's somewhat of a different play style but we all adapted to it," Roth said. "Some of the younger kids had coach Dibble when they were in the eighth grade. They were used to it. It was just my grade, the juniors, had to adapt to it and we did very well."
It took awhile for Roth to meet Dibble.
"It was tough at the beginning of the year because he came in June, July when he got hired," Roth said. "We really didn't work in the summer and I didn't meet him until August. Other than that, he's been working very well, making sure we all do the right stuff and making sure we're all there."
What's remained the same for Ellwood City, according to Roth?
"I think running the offense through me," he said. "I think I opened up more looks for everybody else. So far this season it's been working."
The junior forward/center is now a leader on the hardwood.
"I like to be viewed as a leader. I learned a lot last year from the seniors. During those playoff games there sometimes my mind wasn't in the right spot," Roth said. "I'm a visualized person so I saw one play and that just helped me get my mind in the right spot and help me play a lot better with more confidence. Hopefully I can do that to them and they can play a lot better."
Roth believes the one strength that will help Ellwood City in the future is the defense.
"If we can just get our defense up that's probably going to be our biggest strength out there," Roth said. "We're not the best scoring team, but if we can hold people down to low scores and we can outscore them we'll be very good with that."
Roth also plays baseball and is currently competing in swimming during the basketball season with a co-op program with Riverside. Roth said he hopes to compete in swimming in the collegiate level.
"He's a great kid and a great role model for everybody to look up to," Dibble said. "His work ethic is unmatched. He's playing two sports at this time which is unheard of. To have the level of success he's had it's tremendous. I'm super happy for him and he's a great kid."
