GAME OF THE WEEK: Mustangs jump out early on Red Raiders, hold on for 65-51 victory
Evan Sanders
Laurel Highlands’ Junior Salauca looks for an open teammate and moves the ball up court after gaining possession of a loose ball in the first half of Uniontown’s match up against Laurel Highlands held at Laurel Highlands High School Tuesday.
Laurel Highlands' Bryce Laskey (right) moved the ball ahead of Uniontown's Lorenzo Oden during the first half of Tuesday's non-section boys basketball game at Harold "Horse" Taylor Memorial Gymnasium at Laurel Highlands High School. Laskey led all scorers with 22 points.
Evan Sanders
Laurel Highlands’ Will Deichert (center) puts up a shot through the defensive pressure of Uniontown’s Giovani Marian (left) and Kam Fitzgerald (right) in the first half of Laurel Highlands match up against Uniontown held at Laurel Highlands High School on Tuesday.
Uniontown's Kam Fitzgerald (left) puts up a shot over Laurel Highlands' Junior Salauca in the first half of Uniontown's match up against Laurel Highlands held at Laurel Highlands High School on Tuesday.
Laurel Highlands jumped out to a big lead, withstood a Uniontown rally, and earned a 65-51 non-section boys basketball victory over the Red Raiders in the 106th meeting of the cross-town rivalry on Tuesday at Harold “Horse” Taylor Memorial Gymnasium on the campus of Laurel Highlands High School in the Herald-Standard Game of the Week.
The Raiders hold a 63-43 lead in the all-time series. The two will play again on Jan. 21 at Uniontown.
Laurel Highlands (0-1, 4-3) came out strong to open the game, and held a 9-0 lead before Uniontown (0-2, 3-3) scored with 4:33 left in the first quarter.
Bryce Laskey scored three of his game-high 22 points to extend the Mustangs’ lead to 12-2. Laskey scored 14 points in the first on four field goals, including two 3-pointers, and was 4-of-4 at the foul line. Laskey made seven field goals, including two 3-pointers and was 6-of-7 at the line.
“I was really excited to go against Uniontown,” Laskey said. “This always means something to everyone in the town and I was just happy to come out with a big win.
“We knew what we needed to do to slow them down when they made their run. Coach took a timeout a gave us a little pep talk, and we knew we just had to go out and execute.”
LH ended the first on a 13-2 lead for a 25-4 advantage heading into the second.
The Mustangs pushed their lead to 32-8 on a putback by Junior Salauca, who came off the bench to put up 10 points on five field goals.
“Junior (Salauca) is still kind of learning the game, but he can jump and can play good defense, and his offense is in the process of catching up,” Laurel Highlands coach Rick Hauger said. “I thought he made a couple of nice shots in there and blocked some shots, and did a good job.
“Hopefully, this is a step in his evolution of being a force in there. Elijah Guynn has been playing very well for us, but he was in foul trouble pretty much the whole night, and it was a perfect time for Junior to step up.”
Both teams scored 15 points in the second and Laurel Highlands went into halftime with a 40-19 lead.
The Red Raiders are known for their ability to put points on the board in a hurry and went on an 8-4 run to open the second half and cut the deficit to 44-27.
“This isn’t the first game where we have had third quarter letdowns,” Hauger said. “I don’t want to say we didn’t come out with the intensity, because I think we did, but I think maybe we got too relaxed.
“We knew before the game that we would have some spurts, and so would they. The third quarter wasn’t our best quarter, but we gathered ourselves back and it went back up to 20 in the second half. I would say we missed an overabundance of layups. I was still proud of their effort. They played good tough defense the majority of the night. Any time you get a win, and it’s against Uniontown, you’re happy.”
Uniontown forced nine of the Mustangs’ 18 turnovers in the third. The Red Raiders gave the ball up on turnovers 20 times.
LH took a 46-27 lead on a basket by David Runco, but the Raiders went on a 9-0 run and the Mustangs held a 46-36 lead. Uniontown freshman Billy DeShields scored four of his six points during the run.
“To be quite honest, if we played (the whole game) the way we did in the third and fourth quarter where we cut it to 10, we would have been right there, but unfortunately, we didn’t have a couple of bounces go our way,” Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky said. “They had three big offensive rebounds and maybe we used up a lot of energy. If we can continue to drive to the basket like we did in the second half, we are going to win some games.
“Laurel Highlands is an excellent team. They have Bryce Laskey and Hudson Novak, who are two of the better players in the WPIAL. Will Deichert does an excellent job for them, and their inside presence does such a good job. They came out playing and that was the first Laurel Highlands-Uniontown game for about six or seven of our kids, our juniors especially, and our freshmen.”
Laurel Highlands ended the quarter with a putback basket by Salauca and Laskey converted on a three-point play for a 51-36 lead heading into the fourth.
“Bryce is a team leader,” Hauger said. “There are times where he has to take it and be a little bit determined to make a play himself. Most of the time, he is working to distribute the ball where it needs to be as a guard.”
The Red Raiders didn’t make a run in the fourth but outscored the Mustangs, 15-14.
“The third and fourth quarter, we really drove the ball well to the hoop,” Kezmarsky said. “Our kids are not here for moral victories, but we probably won the second half. Laurel Highlands did a great job in the first half.”
Lorenzo Oden led Uniontown in scoring with 14 points on six field goals, including two 3-pointers.
“I was happy with our performance against Lorenzo,” Hauger said. “Overall, it is a team effort, but primarily David Runco was given that assignment and I thought he did a very good job.”
Novak added 13 points for the home team.
Laurel Highlands returns to play tonight with a non-section game against Hempfield in the Greensburg Salem Tournament. The tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
The Red Raiders are off until Jan. 3 when they return to Section 3-AAAA play against Keystone Oaks at AJ Everhart Memorial Gymnasium with a 7:30 p.m. start.
“We have 16 games and our goal is to win, and we still want to win and make a run at the section and the playoffs,” Kezmarsky said. “We leave this gym even more positive moving forward. Our goal is going to be there. We have nine section championships since I’ve been the coach here and only two where we finished undefeated.”