Win keeps Brownsville in playoff hunt
HILLER – The Brownsville Falcons kept themselves in the Section 3-AAA playoff hunt Friday night with a come-from-behind 62-56 win over Waynesburg Central. The host Falcons (6-8, 3-4) trailed by 11 at halftime, but outscored the Raiders 36-20 in the second half to take the win.
“This had to be our best overall game as a team this season,” Brownsville coach Pete Logan said. “Our young kids are starting to help us, and are finally getting comfortable into their roles.”
It appeared early that Waynesburg (10-4, 4-3) would eventually pull away for a convincing win on the road.
The Raiders raced out to a 10-4 lead on a three-pointer and a field goal from P.J. Schumacher and baskets by Robert Rohanna and Nate Stoner.
Brownsville senior center Paul Hlatky kept the Falcons within shouting distance, exploding for 10 of his game-high 30 points in the first quarter, as Brownsville trailed 19-15 after one.
“Paul played a tremendous game for us tonight,” Logan said. “We saw he was getting some good looks inside, and we just worked to get the ball into him.
“The big guy came through for us.”
Waynesburg started to distance itself from Brownsville in the second quarter, outscoring the Falcons 18-11. The Raiders opened up a 31-26 lead on baskets by Schumacher and Stoner, plus another by Scott Cree and four straight from the foul line by Rohanna.
Brownsville countered with two baskets from Hlatky, along with scores from Joe Cardone, Adam Kezmarsky and Mike Bogden.
Waynesburg closed out the half with a 7-0 run. Stoner drilled a three, and then the Brownsville bench was called for a technical foul with 23 seconds left. Schumacher converted both attempts and added another field goal to give the Raiders a 37-26 halftime lead.
“We were in a zone early and hit some shots. Brownsville did a good job getting the ball to their big man and we didn’t stop him,” Waynesburg coach Ed Zelich said.
“We have some problems we need to straighten out, and as the head coach, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
The Falcons started their comeback in the third. They found themselves trailing 43-31, and went on an 11-0 run to close out the quarter.
Hlatky started the run with a field goal. Carson Thomas hit two from the foul line, and Hlatky added another from the field. Corey Watkins hit one of two from the line and Hlatky sank both of his free throw attempts as the Falcons trailed 43-42 going into the fourth quarter.
Watkins gave Brownsville the lead on a three-pointer to open the final period, making the score 45-43.
“Corey came up big for us tonight with his defense. His rebounding and getting a couple of blocked shots in the second half helped to get us going,” Logan said.
Kezmarsky followed with the basket to give Brownsville a 47-43 lead before Schumacher cut that gap to two.
Hlatky and Watkins scored consecutive baskets to give the Falcons a 51-45 lead. Corey Walsh answered for the Raiders with a three. After Scott Fraley hit from the line, Schumacher and Cree had back-to-back scores to cut the Brownsville lead to 54-52.
Watkins started a 9-0 Brownsville run with a field goal. Thomas scored on a lay-up, Hlatky scored, was fouled and converted the free throw to complete the three-point-play, and the latter added two more from the line to give the Falcons a 61-52 lead and the eventual win.
“This is a very competitive section, and we need this type of effort every night,” Logan said. “We have a couple of non-section games coming up, and hopefully we’ll have enough momentum when we return to section play at Uniontown.”