Uniontown races past Waynesburg
After watching Uniontown run through his team to an 80-46 Section 3-AAA boys basketball win, Waynesburg Central coach Mark Stoner couldn’t help but heap praise upon the shoulders of the Red Raiders. “When they want to play, Uniontown can be the best team in western Pennsylvania,” Stoner said. “They are a very good basketball team. We’re not as quick as they are. We’re quick; they are super quick. As long as Robbie keeps them together, they can go all the way.”
Of course, that’s the last thing Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky wanted to hear. His team improved to 9-1 overall and moved into a three-way tie atop the section standings with Waynesburg Central and Yough, all at 4-1.
“The bottom line is we can’t worry about going all the way,” Kezmarsky said. “We have to play them one at a time. We proved that the other night when we lost a section game at Yough.”
And Kezmarsky admitted he used that double-overtime loss to the Cougars as motivation for this game against a team that had beaten Yough.
“The kids knew that if we lost this game, we’d be two games behind Waynesburg,” he said. “Now we’re tied with Waynesburg and Yough, with Yough coming here in the second half.”
Junior Mays led the way for Uniontown with 28 points and 12 rebounds, while Reese Hodge and Eric Johnson added 12 each and Kelvin Brown 11 points and six rebounds. Scott Cree paced the Raiders with 12 points, including Waynesburg Central’s only three-pointer. Mays had all three of Uniontown’s three-pointers.
Waynesburg Central stayed with the Red Raiders for most of the first quarter and led, 12-11, when Jason Buter tipped in a basket, but Mays scored five straight points and Kishaun Cook got a tip-in at the buzzer to lift Uniontown to an 18-12 lead at the quarter.
The Red Raiders used runs of 7-1 and 9-1 to grab a 43-22 halftime lead and opened the third quarter with an 18-3 run to take a 61-25 lead with 3:57 left in the quarter. The mercy rule kept the clock running through the last eight minutes.
Foul trouble kept Waynesburg Central’s leading scorer, Nate Stoner, on the bench for long stretches and out of his game all night. He managed nine points, 10 below his average.
“I know they scouted us against Linsley and I’m sure they saw that we don’t do well against a zone,” Mark Stoner said. “Our best scorer was in foul trouble early (he had three with 7:30 remaining in the second quarter). We didn’t want to play man-to-man because of foul trouble, so we went to a zone and got in foul trouble anyway.”
Uniontown can enjoy the holiday season, with a six-day break before visiting cross-town rival Laurel Highlands Monday night.
“This break will help us,” Kezmarsky said. “I think we’re a tired basketball team right now. We worked these kids very hard through preseason drills and our exhibition schedule, so we can use a break now.”
Kezmarsky made special note of the solid play he received from Paul Gmutza, Cook and Leroy Ingram off the bench. He was especially pleased with Cook, who is rounding back into shape after experiencing some back problems.
While the Red Raiders are back in their customary spot at the top of Section 3-AAA, word came out recently that new PIAA enrollment will move them back into Class AAAA for at least the next two seasons. Uniontown has played in the highest classification in basketball every year except last year and this year, so the move back up is welcomed.
“We’ve really enjoyed playing in Triple-A these two years,” Kezmarsky said. “We’ve made a lot of new friends in this classification, but we’re excited about getting back into Quad-A next season. Hopefully, the WPIAL will put us back in the same section. We’ve played Laurel Highlands twice and Connellsville twice the last two years, so that would be nice to get back into our old section.”
The Red Raiders are not playing in a holiday tournament, but have exhibition games against Laurel Highlands, Gateway and Connellsville to keep them busy until Section play resumes .
on Jan. 6 at Mount Pleasant.