Dec 19, 2017 By Adam Brewer for The 3 min read

WAYNESBURG — Keystone Oaks scored 46 points in the final 16 minutes, as the Waynesburg Central dropped its second straight Section 3-AAAA game, 75-69, in boys basketball action Tuesday night.

The Raiders (1-4, 0-2) led 18-10 at the end of the first quarter and 37-29 at halftime. It was the fourth time in five games that Waynesburg carried a lead into intermission.

“We didn’t play any defense in the second half,” Waynesburg coach Kirk King said. “It’s that plain and simple. In the first half we made all of our rotations on defense and got in front of our man. We gapped up and helped each other. For some reason in the second half we didn’t do any of that. We have to learn to finish games and bring a winner’s mentality to games.”

Waynesburg’s Darton McIntire led all scorers with 29 points, while Blake Brewer and Aaron Yorio chipped in with seven apiece off the bench.

The Golden Eagles (3-2, 1-1) limited the home team to just 32 points in the second half and was able to dominate the paint.

Vonte Mitchell tallied 26 points for Keystone Oaks, while Josh Snell added 22.

“We were a little bit timid in the first half,” Keystone Oaks coach Phil McGivney said. “We were on our heels and not fighting for the ball. In the second half it was a completely different team. We finished around the hoop and I really liked our interior passing that broke their pressure.”

Trailing 10-3 at the midway point of the opening quarter, the Raiders bounced back with the final 15 points of the quarter. The run was capped off by a trey from Brandon Turcheck.

The Eagles scored the opening four points of the second stanza and trimmed the deficit to 28-24 after an old-fashioned 3-point play by Ben Kvederis.

Waynesburg responded with seven straight points and McIntire recorded a late bucket to give the Raiders a 37-29 lead at half.

The visitors opened up the third period with a 12-7 rally that was jump-started by a pair of 3-pointers by Mitchell. Waynesburg collected six of the final 14 points to maintain a 50-49 lead going into the final eight minutes of regulation.

In the early moments of the fourth quarter, Keystone Oaks regained the lead for the first time since the opening frame after an old-fashioned 3-point play by Snell.

The Eagles than put together a 16-7 run to gain separation and take the momentum back. Despite a couple of late threes by Turcheck, Yorio and McIntire, the visitors were able to secure the section victory with some clutch shooting at the foul line.

In the final 1:50 of the game, Keystone Oaks made 14-of-16 free throws to preserve the victory.

“It’s a very frustrating effort,” King said. “You have to play the whole game. You can’t just play one half. That just doesn’t work, in any sport. That sloppiness on defense did translate to some poor execute on offense in the second half. When you get stops, it gives your offense that extra momentum. We just allowed way too many easy lay-ups.”

Both teams will be back in section action on Friday, as Waynesburg travels to Belle Vernon and Keystone Oaks hosts Uniontown.