Red Raiders ride second-period burst to win over Leps
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Belle Vernon’s Travis Snyder (22) tries to block the shot of Uniontown’s Joe Campbell (33) during Friday’s Section 4-AAA game at Uniontown Area High School.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Uniontown’s DeAundre Winfrey (12) slips past Belle Vernon’s Tom Rodriguez (24) to shoot a layup during Friday’s Section 4-AAA game Friday at Uniontown Area High School.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Uniontown’s Jeremy Perkins (23) finds room to shoot the ball during Friday’s Section 4-AAA game against Belle Vernon at Uniontown Area High School.
Belle Vernon's Travis Snyder (22) pulls in a rebound underneath Uniontown's basket during Friday's Section 4-AAA game at Uniontown Area High School.
Belle Vernon's Phil Baldini (3) scores for the Leopards during Friday's Section 4-AAA against the Red Raiders at Uniontown Area High School.
Uniontown took one period to get back into the flow of the boys basketball season after having nine days off.
When the Red Raiders hit their stride, they left Belle Vernon in the dust.
Joe Campbell scored a game-high 23 points, Lyric Ellis followed with 19 and DeAundre Winfrey totaled 12 in playing a stellar all-around game as Uniontown exploded for 31 second-period points to pull away from the visiting Leopards, 86-58, in their Section 4-AAA game Friday night.
The win improves coach Rob Kezmarsky’s squad to 9-1 overall and 4-0 in the section, pulling it even with West Mifflin atop the standings. Belle Vernon falls to 3-5, 0-4.
Kezmarsky thought it was more Belle Vernon than the layoff that affected his team early on.
“When you go to the playoffs, you have about the same amount of time off before you play,” Kezmarsky said. “If you play well, everybody is going to say, ‘Well, that rest helped you.’ If you play bad, they’re going to say, ‘Oh, you didn’t play good because of that long rest.’ Sometimes I think people read into that too much.
“I know our kids, after the Ringgold game (Dec. 23), we needed some time off after playing three games in Disney (Orlando), traveling that far.”
Uniontown has perhaps its toughest week of the season coming up when it travels to West Mifflin (8-1, 4-0) on Tuesday and Steel Valley (5-4, 3-1) next Friday.
“Right now we’re 4-0, we’re very happy with that and we’re looking forward to Tuesday night at West Mifflin,” Kezmarsky said. “We’re going to go there and do everything we can to win.”
The Red Raiders did just that, starting in the second period, against the Leopards.
The game was tied 20-20 after eight minutes and 24-24 early in the second after a basket by Belle Vernon’s Travis Snyder. Winfrey then hit two free throws and Campbell converted a three-point play to spark a 21-8 run that put the Red Raiders up by 13, 45-32, and they were never threatened again. They out-scored the Leopards 31-19 in the second period for a 51-39 halftime lead and Belle Vernon never got closer than 11 the rest of the way.
Nate Guerriere scored eight of his 11 points in the second period and Campbell had 10.
“Nate had probably one of his best games of the year,” Kezmarsky said.
Snyder led Belle Vernon with 13 first-half points but was shut out in the second half. Phil Baldini and Tom Rodriguez also scored 13 points for the game.
Coach Kyle DeGregorio’s Leopards got off to a quick start thanks to a barrage of 3-pointers. Snyder hit two and Rodriguez and Noah Bukowski made one apiece as the visitors took an early 14-9 lead.
Uniontown got right back in the game with a quick spurt, though. After Campbell converted a 3-point play, Winfrey came up with a steal and lay-up, then stole the inbounds pass and fed Ellis for a lay-up to give Uniontown a 16-14 lead.
The Leopards hung tough until Uniontown took control with its second-period burst.
“We started catching on in the second period,” Winfrey said. “We started playing more aggressive on their players that can shoot, started to lock up.”
“We just started playing as a team, started coming together,” Ellis said. “Everybody started getting open looks. We’ve been playing together for so long we just know how everybody plays and where one player is going to be.
“It’s just chemistry.”
Kezmarsky was pleased with all three of his leading scorers, even though his Red Raiders failed to hit a 3-pointer.
“DeAundre played an outstanding game. He is such a floor general for us, but we really want for him to look to score more,” Kezmarsky said. “Tonight I thought he was starting to. When he shoots it gives us another dimension. Tonight, Rodriguez had a few fouls so we were trying to drive the ball to him and DeAundre made some great moves to the hoop.
“I thought the difference was Lyric and Joe attacking the rim. It’s what we want to do. We don’t want to just settle for the outside shot. When we shoot the ball well we’re capable of scoring a lot of points.”
“Joe, I keep saying all the time, he’s one of the better players in the entire WPIAL. When he takes the ball to the hoop he’s explosive, and he’s so unselfish, he’s always looking for the players inside. He plays above the rim. He’s a big-time player for us.”
Team play is the key to the Red Raiders’ success this season, according to Kezmarsky.
“If Joe wanted to be a little more selfish he probably could score a little bit more, but that’s not his concern,” Kezmarsky said. “He wants to win, as all these kids do. They’ve been playing together since sixth grade. They’re 31-4 the last two seasons and have been to the WPIAL semifinals.”
The Red Raiders put away the Leopards with a 22-8 edge in the third period to go up 73-47 and Kezmarsky went to his bench liberally in the final frame.
“It was nice to get all 13 kids in there the last five or six minutes, but that game wasn’t as easy as the scored looked,” Kezmarsky said. “Belle Vernon is only going to get better so we know when we go out there we’re going to have to be prepared to play.”
Section 4-AAA
Belle Vernon 20-19-8-11 –58
Uniontown 20-31-22-13 — 86
Belle Vernon: Phil Baldini 13, Travis Snyder 13, Tom Rodgriguez 13. Uniontown: Joe Campbell 23, Lyric Ellis 19, DeAundre Winfrey 12, Nate Guerriere 11. Records: Belle Vernon (3-5, 0-4), Uniontown (9-1, 4-0). JV score: Uniontown 57 (Malary Howard 25), Belle Vernon 56 (Sabolek 13, B. Washington 13).