Laurel Highlands starts season with win over Mount Pleasant
Laurel Highlands found the right way to open another basketball season, and it came from one of the oldest offensive lessons in the book. Get away to a big start and make your opponent chase you, but at the same time keep him at a fair distance.
The Mustangs made two scoring runs in the first quarter and were on their way to 63-40 win over Mount Pleasant in the opening game of the boys division in the annual Laurel Highlands Shootout Basketball Tournament Friday.
The Mustangs played aggressive defense and parlayed that with good shooting to lead 19-7, 40-16, and 54-24 at the stops with the Vikings making their best run in the fourth, 16-9.
Mustang coach Mark John said, “We shot well and we played good defense, and if you do those things you have a good chance to win. We did all of that in the first quarter, with those two scoring runs, and that got us going. I thought our defense was very aggressive and we did well on the boards.
“With a young team like we have here, we want to get everybody we can into the game and get a good look to see who will help us when the section schedule gets under way.”
Vikings coach Tom Traynor, whose team was at a height disadvantage, said “They got to us early and they were very physical. We had a lot of players playing their first game tonight and they were doing it against a very representative team. I thought we rebounded well in the second half, but we never caught up after their early jump.”
Mount Pleasant held its only lead at the start, 3-0, when Dave Gesinski got a layup and was fouled, making the free throw. The Mustangs took the lead on two Brian John baskets and one by Ken Riddell. Gesinski hit again for the Vikings in front to make it 6-5, then Riddell scored in front, Corey Nesser from the side, J.T. Stefanik a 10-footer, John a three goal, Andre Ramsey up the lane, Paul Briczinski in front, and the Mustangs were headed for the open prairie with a 19-5 edge.
John (9) and Nesser (7) led the Mustangs into a 40-16 halftime edge, and Briczinski (7) led the way to a 54-24 lead after three.
John was high for the Mustangs with 16, including three 3-pointers, and Nesser had 13.
Gesinski led Mount Pleasant and the game with 17 and Rob Patula hit 13.