Mustangs survive battle with Colonials, 80-68
YORK RUN — Like a boxing match, Laurel Highlands won the first round and then kept delivering counter punches the rest of the way to keep Albert Gallatin at bay.
The result was an 80-68 victory by the Mustangs over their nearby rivals in a Section 1-AAAAA boys basketball battle on Tuesday night.
Hudson Novak scored 25 points and Bryce Laskey followed with 22 for LH, which upped its overall record to 10-4 and its section mark to 4-2, keeping the Mustangs in a three-way tie for second place. Tavian Mozie scored a game-high 25 points to lead the Colonials, who fell to 4-10 overall and 0-6 in section play.
“Give them credit,” LH coach Rick Hauger said of coach Shea Fleenor’s squad. “They’re having a little run of tough luck but they battled. One thing about them, they played hard, they played aggressive the whole game. I’m not so sure we matched their intensity which is upsetting, I was sure that Shea would have them ready to play,”
The game began with four early lead changes capped by a basket by Laskey that put Laurel Highlands in front to stay, 6-5.
The Mustangs pushed the margin up to 12, 18-6, after a Laskey 3-pointer, but the two teams would play even the rest of the way as AG refused to fold.
The Colonials closed to within five before ending the first period down 23-15. The Mustangs remained in control during the second period and used a late 8-2 run to take a 42-29 halftime lead.
Albert Gallatin scored the first seven points of the third period on a 3-pointer by Colby Uphold and baskets by Matt Rankin and Nate Bricker to pull within 42-36.
Laurel Highland pushed to lead back up to 49-38 and the game continued to flow back and forth. AG pulled with six, 55-48, when Mozie nailed an NBA-range 3-pointer with 11 seconds left in the period but LH got a basket by William Deichert and a steal and two free throws by Laskey to finish the frame up 59-48.
“We got it to six a few different times and then would make a bad turnover and let them stretch it back out,” Fleenor said. “The kids worked extremely hard but when you are continuously doing that, it taxes you.”
The Colonials charged out in the fourth period, scoring the first seven points on another long trey by Mozie followed by two free throws apiece from Rankin and Uphold to make it 59-55. After an exchange of baskets, AG forced a turnover and had a chance to pull within two or one, but turned the ball back over to the Mustangs, with Novak scoring.
David Runco then came up with a steal and lay-up that resulted in a three-point play and the Mustangs’ lead was back at nine, 66-57.
“Hudson got loose on the back side against their trap and Will Diechert hit him with a pass underneath,” Hauger said. “Then David made a nice defensive play and got a steal.
“No question, that’s a big turnaround from a four-point lead and them having position to all of a sudden a nine-point lead.”
The Colonials had a chance to pull within six a short while later but Mozie was called for a charge that Fleenor disagreed with.
“That was a huge call at that point on a charge that was a block where now our best free throw shooter is going to the line. You got a chance to get closer and get some emotion and energy back into it.”
Novak hit back-to-back buckets and, after a Mozie basket, Laskey made six consecutive free throws to salt the game away.
Elijah Guynn followed Novak and Laskey in the LH scoring column with 14 points and Deichert added 10.
Bricker scored 18 points for AG and Uphold contributed 14.
“When we get scoring from multiple sources we’re obviously a much better team,” Fleenor said. “Tavian is a really good player but he can’t do this all by himself. We know when other guys start stepping up and scoring we know we’re going to be in the game.”
The Colonials were, to the dismay of Haugher.
“We had our moments when we were really good and we had some when we were really bad,” Hauger said. “Over the past few games we were fairly consistent. We weren’t tonight.
“I will say that our guys have been resilient. When it looked like things were going bad, they would right the ship.”
The Colonials trapping defense gave the Mustangs problems the entire game and forced an avalanche of turnovers, but LH forced its share of turnovers as well.
“That’s kind have been our staple this year. It’s something we’ve put a lot of time and effort into,” Fleenor said of his defense. “We turned a lot of teams over this year.
“On the other hand, we’ve got to value the basketball better. Too many times we made a great defensive play and then just gave it back, or we make a pass and it looks like we’re going to score and we make another bad turnover.”