Red Raiders rally past Mustangs
The script couldn’t have been written more perfect for Uniontown’s Brandon Duncan. The senior came up with a clutch steal and his subsequent basket put the Red Raiders in front to stay as Uniontown won another shootout with Laurel Highlands, 91-88, at A.J. Everhart Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday night.
Duncan, who scored a game-high 30 points, also made two free throws with 11.5 seconds left, and R.J. Sargent dropped in a pair with 4.5 seconds left to salt the game away.
“It was a dream situation,” said Duncan, who had scored 30 or more points in his last three games. “Playing my last game against Laurel Highlands at home, and to make those plays, it was a great feeling.”
The Red Raiders (16-3) had to work hard for their 47th victory in the 80th game of the all-time series with the Mustangs. Uniontown trailed by as much as 13 in the second period and was down 55-45 at halftime.
There was no panic on the Red Raiders’ part, though.
“Our assistant coaches (Warare Gladman, Jason Hutchinson and Jason Winfrey) kept the team calm and didn’t yell,” Uniontown coach and former Laurel Highlands star Rob Kezmarsky said. “We just told them what they had to do. We were having too many mental lapses. The kids left the locker room upbeat.”
It showed on the court as the Red Raiders opened the second half with a 15-2 run, capped by Reese Hodge’s basket, to take the lead for the first time since late in the first period.
The Mustangs didn’t fold, however. Coach Mark John’s squad fought back and wound up with a 68-67 advantage after three periods.
A tenacious fourth period saw LH go up by five early on consecutive buckets by Kenny Riddell, only to have Duncan ignite an 11-0 run with a pair of treys to put Uniontown in front by four. Sargent’s 3-pointer from the corner put the Red Raiders in front and Lou Allen’s lay-up capped the spurt.
Laurel Highlands pulled even twice with Corey Nesser’s steal and lay-up making it 78-78 and Hirsch’s bucket knotting the score at 80-80.
Duncan hit the last of his six 3-pointers on the night to put the Red Raiders up by three with 3:15 left.
Riddell answered for the Mustangs, and Paul Briczinski gave LH its final lead, 84-83, by calmly dropping in a pair of free throws with 1:56 left.
The Mustangs missed two free throws with 1:23 remaining, but recovered the rebound.
Duncan then came up with the defensive play of the game.
“They were trying to post up and I snuck around, batted the ball away and got it,” Duncan said. “Then when we got down the other end, I got the ball and was guarded on the three, but I had a step so I took it all the way to the basket.”
“I give Brandon a lot of credit for stepping up when he had to,” John said. “That’s the veteran in him coming out. He’s been through a lot of wars.”
Duncan’s hoop with 55 seconds left was followed by two more missed LH free throws. Then it was up to the Red Raiders to come through at the foul line and put the game away, which they did very efficiently.
Mays made both ends of a one-and-one with 27 seconds left, to set the stage for Duncan’s and Sargent’s game-sealing foul shots, which offset two final baskets by Nesser.
Hodge and Mays followed Duncan in the scoring column for Uniontown with 19 and 17 points, respectively. Sargent came off the bench to score eight points with two treys.
Hodge scored 12 of his points in a high-flying first period that ended with Laurel Highlands on top 27-26.
Nesser was outstanding in defeat. The junior guard paced the Mustangs with 23 points and an amazing 10 steals, and also had seven rebounds and three assists.
Riddell totaled 21 points, 12 boards and four assists, and Briczinski tallied 14 points. Andre Ramsey led the Mustangs’ floor game with six assists to go along with five points, including a 3-pointer, and three steals. J.T. Stefanik totaled eight points and nine rebounds.
The first matchup between the cross-town rivals this season produced a thrilling 94-91 Uniontown victory.
“This was a great game for both schools, just like the first one,” Kezmarsky said.
“I told the kids after the game that these were two of the greatest games in the series,” John said.
Both teams were going into their heated non-section battle coming off Friday night section contests. The Mustangs, however, were trying to bounce back from a hard-fought loss at Connellsville, while the Red Raiders breezed past out-manned Derry by 45 points.
John refused to use that as an excuse, though.
“Both teams had to play back to back, and both came ready to play,” John said. “This is a tough loss, but we’ll accept it and we’ll move on. The credit goes to Uniontown. We had them on the ropes, but they battled back.
“But even though my kids lost this game, I think of them as winners. They deserve better than they’ve gotten lately, but that’s the way things have gone, and we’ll bounce back.”
Duncan, who has 92 points and 20 3-pointers in his last three games, credited his teammates for his hot streak.
“It all starts with screens, and Reese, Paul (Gmutza) and Kelvin (Brown) help me to come off wide open a lot of times,” Duncan said. “And it’s Todd (Jackson) and Lou who get me the ball at the right time. With all those guys’ help, it ends up being a high-percentage shot for me.”
One player for each team fouled out in Brian John for LH and Gmutza for Uniontown, both of whom finished with seven points.