Hot-shooting Beaver downs Red Raiders, 62-56
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Uniontown’s Da’Marr Lewis takes a jump shot against Beaver during Monday night’s WPIAL playoff game at A.J. Everhart Memorial Gymnasium.
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Uniontown’s Evan Townsend puts up a 3-pointer against Beaver during Monday night’s WPIAL playoff game at A.J. Everhart Memorial Gymnasium.
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Uniontown’s Josh Curry Jones dribbles into the halfcourt as Beaver’s Josiah Santiago defends during Monday night’s WPIAL playoff game at A.J. Everhart Memorial Gymnasium.
Uniontown's Bakari Wallace comes up with a steal against Beaver during Monday night's WPIAL playoff game at A.J. Everhart Memorial Gymnasium.
Uniontown's Da'Marr Lewis (3) drives past Beaver's Sawyer Butler (1) for a layup during Monday night's WPIAL playoff game at A.J. Everhart Memorial Gymnasium.
Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky directs his team as Beaver coach Greg Cercone looks on in the background during Monday night's WPIAL playoff game at A.J. Everhart Memorial Gymnasium.
Uniontown's Josh Curry Jones shoots a 3-pointer against Beaver during Monday night's WPIAL playoff game at A.J. Everhart Memorial Gymnasium.
Uniontown's Brian Sykes drives in for a layup against Beaver during Monday night's WPIAL playoff game at A.J. Everhart Memorial Gymnasium.
Uniontown's Da'Marr Lewis (5) blocks a shot by Beaver's Sawyer Butler (1) during Monday night's WPIAL playoff game at A.J. Everhart Memorial Gymnasium.
Uniontown's Tanner Uphold lets fly with a jump shot against Beaver during Monday night's WPIAL playoff game at A.J. Everhart Memorial Gymnasium.
One would’ve expected Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky to be angry and upset after watching his team fall in its postseason opener to Beaver Monday night.
The Bobcats scored the first 11 points of the third quarter to take a 10-point lead and went on to earn a 62-56 win over the Red Raiders in their WPIAL Class AAAA preliminary round game at A.J. Everhart Memorial Gymnasium.
Kezmarsky, however, had nothing but praise for his team which wrapped up its season with a 6-10 record.
“I told them you don’t have to be 22-1 for us to love you and be proud of you,” Kezmarsky said. “They played their butts off.
“In all my years of coaching that was probably the best end-of-the-season meeting we ever had with our seniors. They’ve done everything we’ve asked. It’s been so tough for them. This had been a unique season, a very different season.”
Beaver entered the game with a 1-16 mark but was coming out of rugged Section 2.
“I don’t want to hear about Beaver’s record,” Kezmarsky said. “Beaver didn’t come here to lie down and not to play. We scouted them. They have some players. They lost several close games (five by five or fewer points). Two years ago we beat them by 20 in the playoffs. They beat us tonight.”
Tyler Ziggas led the way for the 19th-seeded Bobcats with 15 points, Sawyer Butler had a pair of 3-pointers in scoring 14 points and Joshua Hill sank three treys in tallying 12 points.
The first half was a tight battle with seven lead changes that ended with the 14th-seeded Red Raiders holding a 22-21 lead thanks to a late six-point run on baskets by Bakari Wallace, Da’Marr Lewis and Brian Sykes.
Beaver caught fire after intermission. A basket by Charlie Higgs, a 3-pointer by Sebastian Hill and a layup by Josiah Santiago gave the visitors a 28-22 lead and prompted Kezmarsky to call a timeout.
The Bobcats kept the run going with consecutive buckets by Ziggas and Hill bumping the margin to 10, 32-22, as Kezmarsky used yet another timeout to try and stem the tide.
“I give Beaver a lot of credit,” Kezmarsky said. “They were making their shots. It was a good game. Our kids kept battling. The ball didn’t bounce our way a lot of times but that’s basketball.”
From that point on, every time Uniontown seemed to get a bit of momentum, the Bobcats hit a huge shot.
Evan Townsend ended Beaver’s run with a 3-pointer to make it 32-25 but Butler immediately answered at the other end with a trey of his own. The Red Raiders closed the quarter on a 9-4 run to get within 39-34.
Hill made a 3-pointer at the start of the fourth quarter but Lewis and Wallace both scored to make it 42-38.
Higgs followed with a three-point play.
Wallace scored three straight points to get the Red Raiders within four again.
Hill countered with back-to-back 3-pointers and the margin was suddenly 10 again, and Beaver took its biggest lead, 54-42, with 3:45 remaining.
The Red Raiders whittled the gap to 54-49 with 1:11 left thanks to a seven-point run on a steal and layup by Wallace, a driving basket by Sykes and three straight points by Lewis.
Wallace, who was hampered by a knee injury throughout the second half of the season, went down at that point and had to be helped of the floor. Uniontown’s hopes of a late rally left with him and the Bobcats hung on for the six-point win.
Free throws played a key role in the fourth quarter with Beaver converting 12 of 18 while Uniontown made just four of 11.
Wallace, a sophomore, scored a game-high 16 points.
“To play like he did after being off so long is a credit to him,” Kezmarsky said of Wallace.
Lewis, a senior, followed with 13 points and Townsend hit a trio of 3-pointers in totaling nine points. Seniors Sykes and Curry Jones added seven and five points, respectively.
“Da’Marr, in my opinion, is still one of the better players in this area,” Kezmarsky said. “He basically played a different position than he did all his life. Brian Sykes played hard. Josh Curry, that was one of his best games. I thought he played really well.”
Beaver advances to play at third-seeded Montour, also out of Section 2, at 6 p.m. on Thursday.
“We would’ve loved to have gotten to play Montour and taken the kids to a gym like that, but unfortunately it didn’t happen,” Kezmarsky said.
The Red Raiders lost the bulk of their team to graduation last year and had only 24 total points returning for the 2020-21 season.
“Like I’ve always said, we’re not here for moral victories but at the beginning of the year our goal was to still be competitive and I think we were,” Kezmarsky said.
All teams were invited to the postseason in this year’s open tournament, but Uniontown likely would’ve been in the playoffs regardless, despite their almost entirely new cast.
The Red Raiders wound up fifth in Section 3 with a 6-6 record but in a normal season would’ve probably placed in a tie for fourth with Mount Pleasant (which only played section champion and top-seeded Belle Vernon once in finishing 6-5).
“It was good for them to experience it (the playoffs),” Kezmarsky said. “This is a dedicated group and we have 75 percent of our team coming back.
“These kids never missed a Saturday practice. Win or lose on a Friday night you knew 9:30 they were going to be in that gym. These kids have come a long way. We’ve got a lot to look forward to.”