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Red Raiders hold off Warriors, 53-47

By Rob Burchianti rburchianti@heraldstandard.Com 6 min read
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Elizabeth-Forward's Colin Pastor (left) and the Red Raiders' Lorenzo Oden battle for the ball during Friday's Section 4-AAA game at Uniontown High School.

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Uniontown's Malaky Howard goes up for two against Elizabeth-Forward defenders during Friday's Section 4-AAA game at Uniontown High School.

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The Red Raiders' Ben Wilson scores two against Elizabeth-Forward's Vincent Mitchell during Friday's Section 4-AAA game at Uniontown High School.

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Christine Pocratsky

Uniontown’s Phil Mosley dribbles past Elizabeth-Forward’s William Sorton during Friday’s Section 4-AAA game at Uniontown High School. Mosley scored a game-high 20 points, including two crucial free throws with 21 seconds left, in the Red Raiders’ 53-47 victory.

Uniontown held the lead almost the entire game when it hosted Elizabeth-Forward in the Section 4-AAA boys basketball opener for both teams on Friday night.

The Red Raiders needed some heroics in the final moments, however, to secure a 53-47 victory inside A.J. Everhart Memorial Gymnasium, and they got just that from Phil Mosley and Ben Wilson.

With Uniontown holding a precarious one-point lead after a quick five-point burst by the Warriors, Phil Mosley stepped to the foul line with 21.5 seconds left for a pair of pressure-packed foul shots and calmly swished both to make it 50-47.

After a missed 3-pointer by EF, Wilson came up with the last of several key rebounds he grabbed down the stretch against the much bigger Warriors and was fouled with 11.1 seconds left.

Wilson, who missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:13 left and missed two more free throws with 1:01 remaining, misfired again on his first of two. He put in the most important one, though, draining the second for a four-point lead that made it a two-possession game to all but clinch the win.

Mosley added two more free throws with 5.6 seconds left to set the final score.

Mosley led all scorers with 20 points, including three 3-pointers, and Armani Williams added 14 points with two treys to pace Uniontown (2-1, 1-0). Lorenzo Oden and Malaky Howard chipped in with eight points apiece.

The Warriors’ 6-foot-7 twin towers Tre Mitchell (17) and Will Greijack (8) combined for 25 points. Jenkins tallied nine.

“That’s a good win,” Red Raiders coach Rob Kezmarsky said. “We’ve seen every team in this section play and we feel there’s going to be a lot of close games.”

Uniontown might have been on the wrong end of this tight contest if not for Mosley, who made seven of nine foul shots in the final 2:38.

“Phil does everything for us,” Kezmarsky said. “He’s a leader. Phil goes hard every play.”

Kezmarsky lauded Wilson’s effort as well.

“The thing that sticks out to me is Ben went up over the rim to get those couple rebounds at the end so they didn’t get a second shot,” Kezmarsky said. “Even though he missed some of the foul shots, those rebounds, especially the last one, were huge. And he did make that one big foul shot.”

Uniontown led 40-31 heading into the fourth period. The Warriors (1-3, 0-1) reeled off the first six points of the frame to get within three and had a chance to pull closer before the Howard came up with a steal and lay-up.

The Red Raiders led 43-39 midway through the final period when Kezmarsky had his team go to a delay, and it worked at first as Mosley was fouled and made two free throws with 2:38 left to make it 45-39.

“I thought we did a good job of four corners,” Kezmarsky said. “That’s the first time this group has ever run that.”

The problem was Uniontown started to struggle at the free throw line when it got fouled. The Red Raiders missed missed four straight foul shots over a 42-second span, including the front end of two one-and-ones, to help the Warriors stick around.

Williams finally settled the Red Raiders down when he made two free throws with 46.9 seconds left to make it 47-39.

The Warriors had one last charge left in them, though.

EF’s Jake Jenkins hit the final of his three 3-pointers on the night, and after Mosley made one of two free throws, Connor Paoletti nailed a trey as well for the Warriors. EF then came up with a turnover off the inbounds pass that led to a quick 3-pointer by Gavin Martik and suddenly it was 48-47.

Mosley was fouled on the inbounds pass, and he and Wilson then made sure the victory didn’t slip away.

Uniontown trailed only at the beginning of the game with Jenkins opened the scoring with a 3-pointer.

Williams hit a lay-up and Mosley swished a trey to make it 5-3 and the Red Raiders never trailed again.

Uniontown led 12-7 after one period and took its biggest lead of 19-9 early in the second after a high-arcing Williams 3-pointer and a lay-up by Howard.

Foul trouble forced Kezmarsky to use his bench liberally the rest of the half, however, but Uniontown still held a 26-20 lead at intermission.

“Tonight we had to put two or three sophomores (Mike Jones, Trenton Uphold and Connor DeMoss) on the floor, and those kids kept the lead,” Kezmarsky said. “We’re starting to develop a bench a little bit more.

“Armani was big for us in the first half, too, with 12 points. He kept us going. He’s a senior who was playing his first varsity home game and he did well, which isn’t easy on this floor with all the tradition we have here.”

The Warriors used a six-point run to pull within 33-30 in the third period before Mosley hit a 3-pointer from the corner. Oden banked in a runner late in the frame and then made two free throws with :00.7 seconds left to make it 40-31.

Kezmarsky was happy with his team’s defense and credited assistant coach Warare Gladman with the effectiveness of a 3-2 zone that gave EF fits and forced a slew of turnovers.

“We matched up on their shooters well I thought,” Kezmarsky said. “Their number 1 (Connor Paoletti) had 25 points last game.”

Paoletti was held to two points on Friday.

Foul trouble prevented the Red Raiders from doing what they do best, though, according to Kezmarsky.

“We’re able to play different styles with this team,” Kezmarsky said. “There’s no secret about it, our best style is full-court press, but you can’t pressure when guys have two or three fouls. That will come more as our bench develops.

“But right now we’re 2-1 and, more importantly, 1-0 in the section.”

Section 4-AAA

Elizabeth Forward 7-13-11-16 — 47

Uniontown          12-14-14-13 — 53

Elizabeth Forward: Tre Mitchell 17. Uniontown: Phil Mosley 20, Armani Williams 14. Records: Elizabeth Forward (1-3, 0-1), Uniontown (2-1, 1-0). JV score: Elizabeth-Forward 41 (Zach Lewis 9), Uniontown 35 (Connor DeMoss 10).

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