Jan 13, 2007 By Rob Burchianti 5 min read

YORK RUN – Albert Gallatin didn’t play its best game of the season, but two runs at key times propelled the Colonials to an important 55-46 Section 1-AAAA victory over visiting Connellsville on Friday night. Coach Dan Andria’s squad put together a six-point run in the final 46 seconds of the first half to cut a seven-point deficit to one, and then used a 10-point burst midway through the third period to take the lead for good.

The victory keeps Albert Gallatin (10-5, 4-3) in a tie with Hempfield for fourth place in the section, while coach Nick Bosnic’s Falcons (3-11, 1-6) fell three games behind both teams in the battle for the final playoff spot.

Both coaches agreed AG’s flurry late in the second period was the turning point in the game.

“Right before the half we gave up that six-point run with a couple turnovers and bad decisions,” Bosnic said. “We were doing a lot of things right and we built up a seven-point lead, and just like that it’s down to one, and a lot of it was due to errors on our part.”

Andria felt the momentum change at that point as well.

“I thought the key to the whole game was the last 47 seconds of the first half,” Andria said.

Anthony Stevenson sparked the run with a lay-up and two free throws after Jawaan Alston scored off a rebound.

Stevenson saw significant playing time off the bench and scored all nine of his points in the second period.

Andria shuffled his starting lineup so he could bring Mark Marshall, who’s usually a starter, off the bench with the less-experienced Stevenson.

“Give a pat on the back to Mark Marshall,” Andria said. “He’s usually a starter, but I asked him to come off the bench tonight. Some kids might not take well to that, but he understood. I had a feeling Stevenson could put some pressure on Connellsville’s guards off the bench, but I didn’t want to bring him in by himself. So I set it up where he and Marshall would go in together, and I think they gave us a spark. The offense Stevenson gave us was a bonus. He even hit a big 3-pointer.

“Without those points there, especially those four at the end, we’d be down seven or more and we really would’ve been in trouble.”

Connellsville pushed its lead out to 31-27 early in the third period before the Colonials exploded with a 10-point run to go up 37-31. Alston, who was having a tough shooting night, scored the first seven points of the spurt, and Marshall capped it off with a three-point play.

The Falcons responded with buckets by Trent Hurley and Michael Omatick to pull within two, but Marshall answered with his second 3-pointer of the game and Connellsville would never get closer than three the rest of the way.

“Our defense bailed us out, because we had a terrible shooting night,” Andria said. “Even our foul shooting … we were 10 for 10 at Norwin, and we missed a ton tonight (14 of 28).”

Alston led Albert Gallatin with 23 points, 19 rebounds and eight blocked shots, and Marshall followed with 12 points, five boards, five assists and four steals. Aaron Cromwell contributed six rebounds.

John Dilworth was Connellsville’s only double-digit scorer with 15 points. Mason Leos added eight points, and Lance Straughters and Hurley tallied seven apiece.

The Falcons never trailed in the first period and led 12-11.

Alston scored the first bucket of the second frame to give AG its first lead, but a 3-pointer by Leos and buckets by Alex Fogle and Robbie Egan put Connellsville back in control, 19-13, and forced Andria to call a time out.

“Give Connellsville a lot of credit. Nick had them ready,” Andria said. “They came to play. I thought Straughters had a good game, and Dilworth is a good player.”

The Falcons led 27-20 before the Colonials’ game-turning run.

Connellsville pulled within 41-38 when Straughters made one of two free throws to open fourth-period scoring. Albert Gallatin reeled off the next seven points, though, including a dunk by Nate Turner, and were never threatened again.

The Colonials have won five of their last six with only a three-point loss at Norwin marring that stretch.

“I thought both teams challenged shots, but their size seemed to intimidate us a little bit,” Bosnic said. “AG is big, long and tall. There were too many two-on-ones and three-on-twos where we came up empty too many times to win the game.”

Of Connellsville’s six section losses, five have been by 10 points or less including a pair by four points and one by six points.

“All those games we had a chance to win, but we’re not getting it done, we’re not making the key plays, the key shots when you have to,” said Bosnic, who has only two seniors. “It’s frustrating. But I’ve got it in the back of my head that these are young guys and we’re going to have a really good team in the future with this group.”