Hairston hurt in Connellsville win
CONNELLSVILLE – The Connellsville faithful, as well as the coaching staff, had split attention between the scoreboard and the trainer’s room in the waning moments of Tuesday’s Section 2-AAAA opener at Connellsville. Leading 42-33 with 3:25 to go in the game, James Hairston, the Falcons’ leading scorer, limped off the floor with an ankle injury. With Hairston unable to finish the game, Connellsville rallied the troops and fought off the Ringgold pressure to hold on for a 50-39 victory over the previously undefeated Rams.
Hairston’s injury came in the midst of a Ringgold run created by frontcourt defensive pressure, adding more pressure to the Falcons’ ball handlers and stirring momentum for the Rams. With Connellsville leading 40-27, Troy Yonkers, a 6-8 senior, led the charge with field goals in three consecutive trips on his way to a team-high 17 points. Kevin Bell slowed Yonkers for the moment with a put-back, but Yonkers was fouled the next trip down the floor at the same time Hairston fell.
“Anytime you lose (Hairston’s) presence on the court the other team senses an opportunity,” Connellsville head coach Nick Bosnic said. “He wasn’t a go at the end of the game.”
Yonkers made 1-of-2 free throws, as did Joe Breiter on Ringgold’s next offensive possession. The Yonkers-Breiter combination cut the Connellsville lead to 44-39, but the Falcons responded with a 6-0 run in the final 1:58, ending the game in style on Bell’s dunk off a fast break right before the buzzer. Bell finished with 11 points.
“We took care of the ball at the end of the game. Ringgold was hungry. They were going after the ball. We did enough to make it through,” Bosnic said.
Ringgold coach Phil Pergola’s decision to increase the pressure was one made at the moment given the circumstances.
“It was the score and time,” Pergola said of the press. “We had to go up tempo. I thought our press bothered them a little bit. I thought we were coming back before (Hairston) was hurt. (Terrence McCrae) hit that one-and-one when we cut it to five. That was big.
“We got beat because a couple of other guys stepped up for them.”
The first three quarters was a rough-and-tumble defensive contest with the trio of officials letting the boys play with only 10 total fouls called in the first half. Connellsville’s late first quarter surge gave the Falcons a 13-8 lead and the two teams played to a draw in the second quarter with Connellsville holding the same five-point lead at halftime.
After scoring 10 points in the first half, Hairston showed how he could dominate the game by scoring the first 10 points of the third quarter. Bell’s 3-pointer and Zack Blackstone’s offensive rebound gave the Falcons a 15-9 third quarter and a 36-25 lead.
Both coaches agreed on one point. Their teams missed some shots that could have swung the game a different way.
“We missed a lot of easy shots. We held them to 50 points. Gee, that was our goal,” Pergola said.
“We had so many easy opportunities we missed. Ringgold’s size and athletic ability bothered us a little bit,” Bosnic said.
The two coaches differed in opinion on the weight the opening section game carried.
“The home team has to win its six games at home. If we lose tonight, we have to win at home Friday night,” Pergola said of his now 5-1 Rams. “Even if we got beat, maybe it’s a confidence builder.”
Bosnic doesn’t want only the home games; he wants victory through the entire section slate.
“Every game is big to us,” said Bosnic, whose Falcons improve to 4-2 overall.
Connellsville travels to Canon-McMillan while Ringgold hosts Trinity.