Feb 21, 2007 By Rob Burchianti 5 min read

CARROLL TWP. – The defense was there and the effort definitely was there for Uniontown in its WPIAL playoff game on Tuesday night at Ringgold High School.

The offense, however, was nowhere to be found for much of the Red Raiders’ Class AAA first-round clash with Montour and the result was a 55-43 loss to the Tigers. Bryce Pfeuffer scored 11 of his game-high 18 points in the final period and Christian Wilson added 16 points as ninth-seeded Montour advanced to the quarterfinals to play top-seeded Greensburg Salem Saturday at a site and time to be determined.

Uniontown, usually known for its firepower on offense, suffered through one of its worst shooting nights of the season. It managed only 16 second-half points and 16 field goals for the game.

Sophomore Doogie Sanner was the only Red Raider to hit double digits with 10 points, including one 3-pointer. Josh Thomas and sophomore James Pratt followed, with nine and eight points, respectively. Kevin Sanders added seven points and Andrew Burnsworth came off the bench to also score seven.

“I feel bad for the kids,” said Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky, who did one of his finest coaching jobs in guiding the Red Raiders to a second-place finish in Section 3-AAA after missing the postseason last year. “No one thought we’d be in the playoffs, and we got here and we gave a great effort. It’s a shame because I thought we played a pretty good game. We just couldn’t get any shots to fall.

“Montour played good defense, but we missed a lot of open looks, too. We played with a lot of effort and emotion, but you still have to be able to make shots to win.”

The game started well for the eighth-seeded Red Raiders (14-10) when Ryne Turner hit a lay-up after taking a pass from Sanders off the opening tip.

Montour (17-7) quickly surged to an 8-3 lead, though, before Uniontown got hot from 3-point range. Sanders hit a trey and Pratt made two in a row as the Red Raiders went up 12-11.

Wilson sank a 3-pointer for the Tigers, but Burnsworth swished a jumper and the score was knotted at 14-14 after one period.

Two free throws by Pratt and a trey by Sanner early in the second period put Uniontown up 19-15, and it still led 23-19 when the Tigers began to press and cause turnovers. Montour held the Red Raiders scoreless for four minutes and built a 28-23 lead in that span.

The Tigers would never trail again.

“I think the key part of the game was when we started to full-court press,” Montour coach Frank Guerra said. “That was really the turning point.”

Rich Toal scored nine of his 11 points in the first half as Montour led 30-27 at intermission. It used its press again at the start of the third period to help push the margin up to 42-31. Wilson and Pfeuffer hit 3-pointers in the 12-4 run.

While the Tigers’ defense helped it take control, Uniontown turned up its defense at that point to fight its way back into the game.

The Red Raiders stifled Montour for the final 4:35 of the third period and got three points from Burnsworth and a bucket by Sanner to pull within 42-36 after three periods. Uniontown held Montour scoreless for the opening 1:29 of the fourth period as well and a bucket by Thomas whittled the gap to four, 42-38.

Pfeuffer then hit a 3-pointer to snap a 6:04 scoreless stretch and made a free throw shortly afterwards to make it 46-38.

Thomas scored on a steal and lay-up to pull Uniontown within six and Pratt came up with a steal off the ensuing inbounds play, but he then turned the ball over. The Red Raiders went cold from the field again from that point, mustering only a free throw by Sanner and a basket by Sanders the rest of the way.

In looking back, Kezmarsky cited a key foul that added to Uniontown’s woes during Montour’s game-turning spurt in the second period.

“James picked up his third foul during that run, and he’s our point guard so that definitely was one reason their press worked on us at times,” Kezmarsky said. “That was a key moment there because James was called for a charge and he made the basket, so that would’ve put us back in the lead.

“That play had sort of a negative effect on James, too, because I don’t think he played the same way after he got that third foul.

“Another thing was when we did start to break their press, we had opportunities to make easy shots at the other end and didn’t capitalize.”

Kezmarsky was glad his players got to taste the playoff experience after a year off.

“It’s good that they got to play in front of a big crowd at a big place like this,” Kezmarsky said. “It’s a good atmosphere for them to go out in. Hopefully, the younger kids will learn from the experience and we’ll be back here again next year.”

Guerra saw the game as a great battle.

“I think the teams were evenly matched and both teams played extremely hard,” Guerra said. “I think Uniontown is a very athletic, well-coached, good team.”

“Montour deserved to win,” Kezmarsky said. “We wanted more than anything to get a playoff win. Nobody wanted it more than these players. It’s tough because they worked so hard in practice all week. But I’m proud of all of them and the season they had.”