Red Raiders open season with split against Allderdice
Junior Mays made a free throw with 7.5 seconds remaining to lift Uniontown to a 61-60 win over Allderdice in the exhibition boys basketball opener for both teams Friday night at A.J. Everhart Memorial Gymnasium. The teams played each other again Saturday night at Allderdice, a Class AAAA Pittsburgh City League team located in Squirrel Hill.
Allderdice evened the score with a 75-60 win in the rematch.
First-year Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky won his first game at the helm, but vowed his team will play better than it did Friday night.
“It’s always nice to win,” Kezmarsky said. “But we did not play anywhere near what we are capable of playing. This is an inexperienced team and we could have quit once we got down early, but these kids deserve a lot of credit for hanging in there and pulling out a win.”
Mays led a balanced Uniontown scoring attack with 17 points. Reese Hodge added 14 and Brandon Duncan 13. Brandon Stewart paced Allderdice with 13, Amir Johnson added 12 and Dominic Cravotta 11.
“It was a good game to watch and this is a tough place to play,” said Allderdice coach Buddy Valinsky. “I’m not disappointed at all in the way our team played. We start two freshmen (Johnson and Marcus Robinson), so it was important for them to get this game under their belt. It could have gone either way at the end.”
Indeed, this was a back and forth game. Allderdice jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the early going and stretched it to 20-11 2:58 before the first quarter ended. Uniontown closed to 23-19 at the quarter break and tied the score, 26-26, on a Mays three-pointer 6:20 before halftime.
Uniontown then went ahead, 33-28, before Allderdice tied it, 33-33 at the break. Neither team enjoyed more than a four-point lead until Uniontown scored six straight to take a 56-50 lead with 4:30 remaining in the game.
With the score tied at 50-50, Duncan, who went cold after scoring 11 first-quarter points, ignited the Red Raiders with his defense. His sticky man-to-man pressure forced an intentional foul call against Allderdice. Duncan made both free throws and fed Paul Gmutza for a layup. Hodge scored with a Mays pass to complete the run.
“Brandon has the best attitude of any kid I’ve ever seen,” Kezmarsky said. “He wasn’t on top of his game tonight, but he helped us with his defense.”
Allderdice fought back with an 8-3 to get within two and Eugene Harris tied it, 60-60 with 25 seconds remaining.
Mays was fouled dribbling through the middle and made one of two from the line. Allderdice failed to get off a shot in the last 7.5 seconds.
“We wanted this type of experience for our kids,” Valinsky said. “Uniontown is a strong program. This is the basketball place to play.”
Allderdice jumped out to a 16-9 lead in Saturday’s game. The Red Raiders pulled within four, 50-46 after three periods, but Allderdice pulled away in the final frame.
Uniontown was 8 of 14 from the foul line, while Allderdice hit 28 of 35 free throws. Mays scored 18 of his team-high 20 points in the second half, and Duncan added 13.