Colonials ride big second half to 68-43 win over Falcons
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Albert Gallatin senior four-year starter Nate English is presented with a basketball noting his 1,000th career point by Colonials coach Shea Fleenor (left) and AG athletic director Duane Dupont before Friday night’s game against Laurel Highlands at Albert Gallatin. The Colonials fell to LH, 69-66, but defeated Connellsville on Tuesday night, 68-43.
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Nate English was presented with a basketball noting his 1,000th career point before Friday night’s game against Laurel Highlands at Albert Gallatin.
Hunter Sexton sparked the offense and Dylan Shea spurred on the defense as Albert Gallatin seized control in the second half in pulling away for a 68-43 win over visiting Connellsville on Tuesday night.
Sexton poured in seven 3-pointers in scoring a game-high 22 points and Shea led the way for a defense that allowed just 12 points in the second half, including only two in the fourth quarter, as the Colonials improved to 5-3 in Section 1-AAAAA and 7-4 overall.
On a team that features 6-foot-7 dunking machine AJ Blyden, 1,000-point scorer Nate English, 6-4 Ja’Shir Kean and Shea, Sexton is sometimes the forgotten fifth starter.
Not to AG coach Shea Fleenor, though.
“That kid is playing great right now,” Fleenor said of Sexton. “He was seven for nine tonight. The thing about Hunter is he understands and kind of relishes the role he has. He’s a very good shooter who’s not forcing anything. He’s taking advantage when he the opportunity presents itself.
“We did realize after a while that he was hot and we did a good job of moving the ball and getting it to him in good positions.”
Sexton scored 10 points, including three 3-pointers in the first quarter when Albert Gallatin opened up a 20-15 lead, but the Falcons (0-3, 0-3) hung tough and trailed only 31-29 at halftime after Donovan Taylor’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
“We talked at halftime about how our defensive pressure needed to increase,” Fleenor said. “We needed to do a better job of staying in front of guys and driving them off the 3-point line. We gave up too many easy ones in the first half.”
Shea made sure AG’s defense clamped down after intermission and the Colonials out-scored the Falcons 23-12 in the third quarter and 14-2 in the fourth to win going away.
“Dylan Shea defensively was our catalyst,” Fleenor said. “That entire run in the second half started with him on the defensive end. There were three or four straight possessions where they went at him and he could not have played any better and other guys started to follow. It led to a couple steals and AJ cleaning up on the glass after Dylan stopped whoever he was guarding.”
The Colonials’ outside shooting helped them take control in the third quarter as Sexton and Blyden both hit a pair of 3-pointers and Mason Layhue added another.
“We’re not a 3-point shooting team, but we hit 12 tonight,” Fleenor said. “If we’re getting them with our ball movement where we’re able to step in and shoot, I’m OK with that. Early in the game we weren’t doing that, we were forcing too many without the ball movement.”
Connellsville was still in the game and a basket by Kolby Keedy put the Falcons within 55-43 with just under seven minutes remaining.
Shea then hit a free throw and Sexton followed with his sixth and seventh 3-pointers on consecutive shots to make it 62-43 and AG was on its way.
Blyden scored 12 points, including another dunk, Kean had eight points and English wound up with seven points.
Keedy and Braydon Stillwagon, who made three 3-pointers in the first half, both tallied 11 points to lead Connellsville. Liam Youdell added 10 points.
“Kudos to Connellsville. Those kids play hard and they’re big and physical,” Fleenor said. “Physically, them and TJ match up with us size-wise as good as anybody else. They’re so well coached. If you just watch them run their stuff, they do it so well. They don’t force a lot. They did a good job tonight.”
Albert Gallatin’s Tito Harrison returned to action after missing two-plus weeks due to injury.
“Even though he didn’t get a ton of time it was a welcome sight to see Tito back out on the floor tonight,” Fleenor said. “We’ve got to try to start working him back in. He’s an important piece of the puzzle.”
Fleenor doesn’t feel his team has reached its potential yet.
“Overall, we won a game,” he said. “I’m happy about that. We’ll gladly take it. But to sit there and think there’s not things we need to continue to work on would be wrong on my part and my players’ part.”
English honored for 1,000
English scored his 1,000th career point on Jan. 23 in a 77-71 loss at North Allegheny. There was little fanfare for his accomplishment at the time besides the game being stopped momentarily to recognize his achievement.
“It was during a tight game so I didn’t really feel like celebrating at the time,” said English, who hit a free throw for point No. 1,000.
His feat was announced before the Colonials’ game against visiting Ringgold on Jan. 25 and again before AG’s home game against Laurel Highlands on Friday when he was presented with a special basketball noting his milestone.
When he finally had time to reflect, English said, “I put a lot of hard work into it, a lot of nights by myself in the gym. I couldn’t have done it without my teammates and my coaches. I give all the glory to God.”
Fleenor praised his senior four-year starter.
“Nate is the hardest working kid on the floor, which may be more of a testament to the kind of player he is than any points,” said Fleenor, who noted a few of English’s plays that have stood out this season.
“One game there was a possession where he contested a shot on one wing, caused the kid to miss it, there was a long rebound that went all the way to the opposite wing and Nate was the one that got to it.”
In the Colonials’ 69-66 loss to the Mustangs on Friday, English hustled to save the ball from going out of bounds in the final seconds and spectacularly pushed it to Blyden so he could fire up a potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer. The shot rattled out but English’s play won’t be forgotten.
“Even when he makes a mistake he shows you his character,” Fleenor said. “I remember two particular turnovers he made against Trinity and NA, after one he sprinted back and took a charge, and after the other they tried to throw a deep pass over his head and he sprinted back and got a steal.
“He’s guarding the best guard on every team every possession and a lot of times he’s out-sized, but he still does a great job.”
Fleenor commended English for adjusting to his new teammates this season.
“His scoring is about where it has been before even with the new offensive weapons we’ve added and his assists are way up,” Fleenor said. “He’s doing everything we ask him to do. But he always has.”