Vikings give Raiders fits
Uniontown stayed perfect in Section 3-AAA with a 64-59 win over Mount Pleasant, but the Red Raiders are finding Class AAA, after making a living in Class AAAA since its inception, to be anything but easy. “The more you watch our section, the more impressed you are,” Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky said. “The coaches in this section are outstanding. (Mount Pleasant coach Tom) Trainor has been coaching for 30 years and has won over 400 games. And the Mount Pleasant kids play hard. Every game in this section is a quality game.”
The Red Raiders struggled throughout the evening and trailed after a quarter, 18-13, and at halftime, 33-26. Even when they managed a lead, 41-39 late in the third quarter, the Vikings fired back with John Gray nailing a three-pointer with 10 seconds left to give the Vikings a 42-41 lead after three quarters.
“Those are some tough kids,” Kezmarsky said of the Vikings. “I knew it was going to be a tough game and so did our kids. We’ve seen film of them and we knew they were tough. They are a much better team than their record indicates.”
While Mount Pleasant fell to 5-9 overall and 3-3 in section games, the Vikings lost two close games to highly regarded Jeannette, lost to Class AAAA Connellsville by five and to Montour by two. Uniontown, meanwhile, improved to 10-2 overall and 6-0 in section games, with the midpoint of the section schedule coming Friday at Belle Vernon. Mount Pleasant hosts Southmoreland Friday.
“We did not play our best tonight,” Kezmarsky said. “But this is probably the seventh time that has happened so far and we haven’t quit yet. That’s a good sign when you can battle through a sub-par night and still win.”
James Mays paced Uniontown with 25 points, including 14 in the pivotal fourth quarter, and he shared rebounding honors with Reese Hodge (each had eight boards). Brandon Duncan added 17 points for Uniontown, including a three-pointer in each quarter.
Dave Gesinski paced a balanced Mount Pleasant offense with 15 points and was followed closely by sophomore Rob Patula’s 13, sophomore Jed Dulaney’s 12 and Dave Flaherty’s 10. Patula added eight rebounds.
Uniontown made up ground in the third and seemed ready to take charge in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t extend its lead beyond 58-51. The Vikings scored consecutive baskets to make it 58-55 with 1:45 remaining and closed to within a point, 60-59, with 24.8 seconds remaining. Todd Jackson made a pair of free throws and Hodge made two more to end the scoring.
“Our kids played well,” Trainor said. “We’re slowly getting there. We start a few sophomores, but we’ve been competitive with everyone all season.
“We made a few mistakes with the ball and a few calls didn’t go our way, but I’m not criticizing the officials. In a close game like this, the officials did a good job. They are a good team and so are we. We did a good job defensively against them.”
“We gambled a lot in the third quarter, which is something we usually try not to do,” Kezmarsky said. “But we had to force the tempo and we were able to do that. Also, we got an outstanding spark off the bench from R.J. Sargent. He hit a couple of big threes for us.
“When you gamble like we did, you run the risk of giving up some open shots and Mount Pleasant was able to knock them down when they needed to stay in the game. They shot the ball really well the whole game.”
Mays made the difference in the fourth quarter by getting open and nailing his outside shots and by scoring inside when he could. He scored 10 consecutive Uniontown points and 12 of 14 when the Red Raiders turned a 45-44 deficit into a 58-51 lead.