McCoy and Roberts lead Brownsville to victory
HILLER – Brownsville’s inside tandem of Terrance McCoy and Andrew Roberts combined for 39 points, as the Falcons breezed past Waynesburg Central, 59-36, in Section 5-AA action Friday night. McCoy wound up the game’s high scorer, connecting on seven shots from the field and six of seven free throws for 20 points.
Roberts, meanwhile, knocked down nine field goals, added a foul shot and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.
“That’s what we want to do, get the ball inside,” said Brownsville coach Paul Jones. “That’s our strength and has been our bread and butter pretty much all season.”
The victory snapped a four-game losing streak for Brownsville (5-14, 2-8), which won for just the second time in its past 12 games.
Friday’s outcome was never in doubt as the Falcons jumped out to a 10-2 lead after one quarter, and pushed that margin to 26-9 at the half.
Waynesburg’s offense struggled mightily in the first half, finishing the first 16 minutes with just three field goals.
“I don’t think we were there tonight,” said Raiders coach Aaron Ankrom. “That wasn’t our team. Honestly, that was the worst game we’ve played all year.
“But I have to credit Brownsville. They had a good defensive scheme and their ball pressure kept our offense out beyond the three-point arc. And we didn’t get any penetration kickouts.”
Roberts opened and closed Brownsville’s first-quarter scoring, and in between, McCoy scored on three lay-ins.
After Waynesburg’s Dominic Denicola scored to cut Brownsville’s lead to 14-7, the Falcons closed the first half with a 12-2 run.
Brownsville then opened the third quarter by outscoring Waynesburg, 8-2, to push its lead to 34-11, and led 39-22 with eight minutes to go.
Following a McCoy lay-in to begin the fourth quarter, the Raiders briefly made a game of it with three straight baskets to pull to within 41-28. But that’s as close as the visitors would come the rest of the way.
“I’m very pleased with our effort,” Jones said. “We stayed in our match-up zone and held our position most of the time and I think it gave Waynesburg some problems. Offensively, we stayed disciplined most of the game.
“We’re starting to get to where we need to be as a team.”
Denicola and Kenny Blackwell shared scoring honors for Waynesburg, each tossing in 13 points. Denicola also pulled down seven rebounds.
Friday’s game was the Raiders (6-14, 2-8) third this week. Waynesburg was coming off a 46-44 non-section win over Carmichaels.
“I don’t know if we were tired because of that and I’m not going to make any excuses,” Ankrom said. “But we’re usually a lot more energetic. We tried to pick it up a little in the second half, but it didn’t seem like we had our usual effort tonight.”