Red Raiders win struggle for Section 3 lead
You won’t see his name in the scorebook anywhere, but Uniontown snuck a sixth player into their lineup Friday night. His name was Moe – Moe Mentum – and he became the most valuable player for the Raiders after he jumped from the Yough lineup over to join Uniontown following intermission.
Uniontown trailed most of the first half and well into the third quarter, then “Moe” started to make his presence felt and the Raiders came back from an 8-point deficit at halftime to pull out a 68-61 win over visiting Yough in their battle for the Section 3-AAA lead.
Both were unbeaten in section play going into this one with Uniontown (7-1) now alone on top at 4-0, while Yough (6-4) is 3-1.
Uniontown was down at halftime, 35-27, but as the second half got under way, “Moe” shifted the Raiders into high gear.
Paul Gmutza opened the half with two free ones, Brandon Duncan got one of two on the line, and Junior Mays rebounded the miss back up then added another, cutting the Yough lead to 35-34.
The Cougars finally scored at 5:30 with two Cody Smouse free ones, but Uniontown answered with Kelvin Brown’s basket, and he made it a three-point play when he was fouled as he scored for a 37-37 tie at 4:53.
Brown followed with another goal, and Uniontown had the lead for the first time since halfway into the second quarter. Clint Lougner hit Yough’s first goal of the second half at 4:20, and the Cougars took the lead back on Smouse’s basket.
Uniontown came right back with Brown’s rebound goal, Todd Jackson’s layin and a short jumper by Reese Hodge for a 45-41 lead, this time for good.
Uniontown led 50-45 after three, and then got its biggest lead of the night, 57-45, on Hodge’s goal to open the fourth.
Yough still had a kick left and came back with free throws by McCauley (4), Adam King (2), and Loughner (1), cutting the Raider lead to two, 54-52.
A layin by Hodge, a putback by Brown with a rebound and Mays’ a free throw put the edge back to seven, 59-52, before Loughner’s 3-pointer cut it back to four, 59-55.
The closest Yough got after that was four, 65-61, with less than a minute to go.
Raider coach Rob Kezmarsky said, “We had seen Yough play and they are going to win some games. This is a huge win for us, to come back from eight points down and win. I think a big factor in the turnaround was the character of this team. When they were behind, they stayed calm and just played our game. That and the cold shooting hand Yough had to open the second half.”
The Raiders’ coach cited a factor from daily practice that also helped turn things around, noting “We work on box-out drills every day, and we were able to use it effectively in the fourth. When we started to take our game inside, and got their big man (6-7 McCauley) in foul trouble, that took away some of their defense. But until then they did an excellent defensive job on our screens.”
Yough coach Brian Znavor cited as a minus factor for his team “our turnovers in the third quarter. In the first half, we limited them to one shot and we handled their pressure very well, but Uniontown is very fast, quick, and they pressured us very well.
“McCauley got in foul trouble in the fourth and that cut his effectiveness, and while we did start to make a comeback in the fourth we made a couple of costly turnovers.”
McCauley was high for Yough and the game with 25 points, and Loughner had 18.
Uniontown had a balanced offense as Hodge scored 16 points, Brown 15, Duncan 13 and Mays 12.
Yough pulled away late in the first with a run consisting of a Loughner free throw and basket, sandwiched with two McCualey goals to lead 18-15 at the break.
Uniontown got the lead briefly in the second, 25-24, on two Gmutza free ones and Brown’s layin at 4:48, but Yough responded with an 11-2 scoring edge the rest of the quarter to lead 35-27 at intermission.
Then “Moe” jumped sides as the third quarter got under way.