Mustangs corral Red Raiders
Laurel Highlands' Shane Guthrie (42) scores two during Tuesday's game against Uniontown at Laurel Highlands High School.
Uniontown's Jordan Pratt (10) tries to bat the ball away from Laurel Highlands' Joe Pegg (5) during their game at Laurel Highlands High School Tuesday.
Uniontown's Christian Kezmarsky (4) looks for an opening to the hoop between several Laurel Highlands defenders during Tuesday's game at Laurel Highlands High School.
Uniontown's Birdie Winfrey (1) shoot for two over Laurel Highlands' Joe Pegg (5) during Tuesday's game at Laurel Highlands High School.
Uniontown's Christian Kezmarsky (4) takes the ball to the basket on a breakaway during Tuesday's game against Laurel Highlands at Laurel Highlands High School.
Laurel Highlands' Keith Liptock (11) looks to shoot the ball over Uniontown's Xavier Ellis (5) during their game at Laurel Highlands High School Tuesday.
Laurel Highlands grabbed a 10-point lead in the second quarter and kept holding off a charging Uniontown team in Tuesday’s 77-71 LH win over the Red Raiders.
The outcome leaves both teams at 5-1 at the midpoint of the Section 3-AAA season. The Mustangs are 9-5 overall, while Uniontown fell to 11-2.
By winning this 98th installment of the storied rivalry, Laurel Highlands narrowed Uniontown’s series lead to 58-40.
This one came down to size, experience and uncharacteristic marksmanship from the free throw line.
Uniontown has the speed to run anybody out of a gym, but Laurel Highlands has something the Red Raiders never seem to enjoy: Not one, but two big guys who can score from in close and rebound all night.
Keith Liptock (6-4) and Shane Guthrie (6-3) took care of business against the Red Raiders.
Guthrie, playing on an ankle he sprained in Monday’s practice, scored 13 of his game-high 23 points in the fourth quarter, pulled nine rebounds and blocked three shots.
Liptock, meanwhile, spread his 18 points throughout the game and grabbed an even dozen rebounds. Guard Joe Pegg added 17 points for LH.
Uniontown had four players in double figures, led by Christian Kezmarsky’s 19, including five three-pointers, none bigger than the one that cut LH’s lead to 51-48 at the third-quarter buzzer. Xavier Ellis and Jordan Pratt added 13 and sophomore Joe Campbell scored 10 and led Uniontown with seven rebounds.
“I thought Keith had a terrific effort tonight,” LH coach Rick Hauger said. “He made some nice drives and second-shot opportunities, but he was a big part of us getting the ball past Uniontown’s press, too.
“I give Shane a lot of credit. He got hurt Monday and came to the gym on crutches tonight. I think he played on adrenaline. Our guards played really well tonight.”
And then there was the free throw shooting. Hauger said his team had a mediocre 57.7 success rate at the foul line coming into tthe game, but LH made its first 12 and finished the night converting 23 of 27.
Equally uncharacteristic was Uniontown’s 11-of-25 night at the foul line.
“We didn’t shoot the ball as well as we normally do in the first quarter and we didn’t make many of our foul shots,” Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky said. “But I thought it was a good game to watch, very exciting, very well-played by two good teams, typical of this rivalry.”
Uniontown managed early leads and forged a 16-16 tie before the Mustangs scored 10 in a row to grab a 26-16 lead on a Gurhtiw layup early in the second quarter. From then until the game ended, Uniontown would storm back, but LH would gather itself and maintain control of the game.
“Every time we’d make a run, LH kept answering us,” Kezmarsky said. “We knew Nick Lancaster (7-of-8) and their guards would make their free throws and we got into foul trouble in the first quarter.”
“Uniontown is so quick,” Hauger said. “There were times in the second half when they were driving through three guys to get to the hoop. Once they got it down to one (51-50 to open the fourth quarter), our kids held it together. The game was in the balance and our kids gave tremendous effort to hold them off.”
So well, in fact, that Uniontown didn’t lead after a 9-8 Red Raiders’ edge forced a LH timeout in the first quarter.
To their credit, Uniontown stayed in the game by attacking LH’s zone in the second half.
“If we can attack a zone like we did in the third and fourth quarters, we’ll be OK,” Kezmarsky said. “We played a great second half. Christian hit a couple of threes (four) and I was very pleased with how our two sophomores (Campbell and Jeremy Perkins) played against Guthrie and Liptock underneath. Everybody talks about Guthrie, but Liptock is very underrated. He’s a good player and I thought our kids did a nice job for only being sophomores.”
The second half of section play begins Friday for both teams, with Uniontown traveling to Derry and LH hosting Southmoreland.