Kezmarsky relieved after Gateway win
Uniontown boys’ basketball coach Rob Kezmarsky knew what he was getting into when he saw Gateway on the Red Raiders’ schedule. After Tuesday’s 53-44 exhibition win over the Gators, he admitted to feeling better than he had all season after a game. “When you can play a style that is not yours and win, you’ve got to feel pretty good,” Kezmarsky said.
Gateway coach Paul Holzschu’s teams always play a deliberate style of basketball, hoping to make every possession count. As a result, the Gators have won games this season by scores of 38-35, 28-27, 35-26 and 39-35. The Gators average only 38 points per game, but surrender only 41.8.
“We feel this style gives us our best chance to win,” Holzschu said. “That’s how we play night in and night out.”
On this night, the Gators played very well, except for two areas, according to Holzschu.
“We came in thinking if we could control the tempo, we could win,” he said. “For the most part, we did that. But when you get a lead, the two things you have to do are convert free throws and not turn the ball over. But those are the two things we didn’t do.”
The Gators made seven of 11 free throw attempts, but all four misses came in the second half. They committed only 13 turnovers, but give came in the fourth quarter.
“Coach Hulzschu is one of the five best coaches in the WPIAL,” Kezmarsky said. “His teams are always fundamentally sound. This is the best I’ve felt after a game.”
Helping Kezmarsky feel so good were his dynamic duo of Junior Mays and Brandon Duncan. Mays led all scorers with 24 points and added nine rebounds, two steals and a handful of assists. Duncan added 14 points, including nine consecutive second-quarter points to help Uniontown turn a 24-20 deficit into a 33-26 halftime lead.
Gateway held Uniontown to two points in the third quarter and led, 39-35, heading into the fourth. Uniontown forged a 40-40 tie when Mays scored with an offensive rebound and Duncan gave the Red Raiders the lead for good, 43-42, with a three-pointer at 4:03.
“I can’t tell you how impressed we are with Junior Mays and Brandon Duncan,” Holzschu said. “We knew about Brandon from last year, but Junior played a lot better than we thought he was capable of.”
Aaron Knight led Gateway with 16 points and six rebounds, while Derek Bauer added 15 points. Nick Davis had six rebounds.
In fact, playing the Class AAAA Gators could benefit the Class AAA Red Raiders come WPIAL playoff time, as well. All of Uniontown’s exhibition games, except Class A Monessen, have been against Class AAAA teams.
“These exhibition games are playoff games for us,” Kezmarsky said. “We want as many quality wins as we can get because we want to come out of the pairings meeting with a high seeding.”
“I played for Gateway from 1964 to 1967,” Holzschu said. “I remember the Parsons and the Yates. As long as I am involved, Gateway will always play Uniontown. It gives us a quality opponent that we want.”