Mustangs earn 10-point win over Falcons
Laurel Highlands held off a Connellsville comeback to post a 58-48 win in the FCCA Tip-off Challenge Friday night at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus.
It was a typical season-opening game, according to both LH coach Rick Hauger and first-year Falcons coach Andy Hedrick.
“There were periods where we looked pretty good, but there were way too many where we were out of sync,” Hauger said. “It was very typical for a first game.”
Not to discount his team’s gallant effort in making a game of it late, Hedrick felt the Falcons actually lost game much earlier.
“Where we screwed up was early,” Hedrick said. “We couldn’t shoot. In the first half, we didn’t have a ton of turnovers (9), but we weren’t scoring, either.”
The Falcons grabbed an 8-0 lead, thanks to a pair of Avery White three-pointers, but LH tied it on back-to-back treys from Patrick Mahoney on the way to a 13-11 lead at the quarter break.
The Mustangs build a 32-20 lead by halftime and pushed it to 38-20 70 seconds into the third quarter.
“We were down 18 early in the third quarter and brought it back down to five (53-48 with 1:16 remaining), so give our kids credit for that,” Hedrick said.
“Connellsville is obviously a bigger team than we are and they play aggressively and are tough on defense,” Hauger said. “Our decision-making has to get a whole lot better. We had a lot of unforced turnovers and we didn’t shoot the ball as well as we are capable.”
In fact, the Mustangs got 21 of their 26 second-half points from senior David Rusko, who led all scorers with 25 points. Rusko made eight of LH’s nine field goals after intermission and made 5-of-6 free throws while the rest of the team made 3-of-10 after the break.
“Our effort was outstanding,” Hauger said. “We are working some younger kids in and weren’t quite as cohesive as we’d like to be.”
Connellsville got 17 points from Griffin Thompson, while White added 16.
“These are good games for us to play,” Hedrick said. “Getting to open the season against Laurel Highlands and Uniontown will be good for us.”