Good shots just don’t fall for LH
There isn’t a lid on the basket at one end of Harold “Horse” Taylor Gymnasium, it just seemed like there was. Laurel Highlands missed several lay-ups and couldn’t fully capitalize on 15 Peters Township turnovers the Mustangs forced in the fourth quarter of the Indians’ 61-57 Section 2-AAAA win at LH Tuesday night.
“We created a lot of good shots for ourselves,” Mustangs coach Mark John said. “Sometimes they drop, sometimes they don’t. Tonight, they didn’t. The effort was definitely there. Maybe Friday night, they’ll drop for us.”
The loss drops Laurel Highlands to 7-10 overall and 4-4 in section games, while Peters Township (14-5, 6-2) strengthened its grip on second place instead of allowing LH to grab a share of second behind front-running Connellsville. LH travels to Connellsville Friday night, in hopes of bolstering its playoff hopes.
“We’ve got to win these types of games at home,” John said. “The bottom line is we’ve got to win. We got good effort in the fourth quarter, but it was too little, too late. Now, we’ve got to get ready for Connellsville Friday night.”
Peters Township jumped to a 31-25 halftime lead on the strength of an 11-0 run from the end of the first quarter into the second that turned a 16-13 LH lead into a 24-16 PT advantage. The Indians scored five points in the last 13 seconds of the first quarter, then got the first six of the second.
“It was a tough game,” Indians coach Victor Giannatta said. “We got a lead, but we couldn’t pull away. Sometimes you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to win.”
The Mustangs kept scraping and clawing their way back into the game, never allowing PT to get a double-digit lead. LH scored five straight to cut PT’s lead to 41-38 late in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Laurel Highlands applied full-court pressure and started creating turnovers in bunches, but the Mustangs couldn’t find the bottom of the net when it counted most.
“We played hard, especially in the second half,” John said. “We got down, but we kept coming back and coming back. We just couldn’t get all the way back.”
Peters Township extended its lead to 55-48 when Mark Smith made two of three free throws (including one for a lane violation). The Mustangs got to within four, 55-51, then got to within two, 57-55 on back-to-back Paul Briczinski baskets.
PT hit a free throw, then Briczinski scored again to make it 58-57 with 16 seconds remaining. Craig Korpiel made two free throws to make it 60-57 with nine seconds remaining, but the Mustangs couldn’t connect from three-point range at the end.
Smith led all scorers with 20 points and Korpiel added 12 for PT.
Briczinski paced LH with 15 points, Corey Nesser added 12 points, nine assists and seven steals. J.T. Stefanik scored 10 for LH. Andre Ramsey led with five rebounds.