Red Raiders rip Scotties, 105-39
Southmoreland boys’ basketball coach Bill Schrecengost always admired Uniontown’s basketball program from afar. He got an up-close-and-personal look at it Friday night at A.J. Everhart Memorial Gymnasium. What he saw could have made him sick to the stomach, but he didn’t see anything he didn’t expect. Southmoreland kept the game close for the first quarter and a half before Uniontown ran away with a 105-39 Section 3-AAA win.
“I really enjoy the atmosphere here,” Schrecengost said. “I remember when I was 8 or 9 years old hiding under the covers in my bed, because I was supposed to be sleeping, listening to the Uniontown basketball game.
“That was back in the days of Parsons and Yates and those guys and it really stuck with me. I went to college in Ohio and people there always used to ask me about Uniontown basketball.”
On this night, the Red Raiders started lethargically, but gradually their talent came to the top and they posted the lopsided victory, thanks to 23 points from Brandon Duncan, 20 more from Junior Mays, 19 from Reese Hodge and 12 from Eric Sampson.
“I don’t know if we had a letdown from the Brownsville game or what, but we weren’t ready to play basketball,” Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky said.
“In the second half, we played the way we’re capable of. We just played basketball. We’re capable of scoring a lot of points in a short period of time.”
The Scotties jumped to a 4-0 lead in the game’s first minute, but Uniontown scored 12 in a row. Southmoreland managed to cut Uniontown’s lead to 36-26 late in the second quarter, but the Red Raiders ran off 10 quick points to take a 46-26 lead to the locker room at halftime.
Uniontown blew the game open with a 24-2 run to make it 70-28 and it was all over, except for waiting to see which lucky player would score the 100th point. It turned out to be Sampson, who nailed a three-pointer with 2:30 remaining to make the score 100-35.
“They were pretty much what I expected,” Schrecengost said. “Our kids came out in the first half and played some basketball. Then, it was another Uniontown trademark. Once they see a weakness on the court, they take advantage of it.”
Uniontown improved to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in section games, while the Scotties fell to 0-5, 0-2. The Red Raiders travel to Derry Tuesday, while Southmoreland visits Yough.