Red Raiders top AG as Uniontown sweeps doubleheader
Payden Fitzgerald tallied 20 points and Uniontown gradually pulled away from Albert Gallatin to claim a 75-50 victory in Section 1-5A boys basketball action Friday night.
The game was part of a girls-boys doubleheader with the Lady Raiders defeating the Lady Colonials, 60-25, in the opener.
“It was a great atmosphere for high school basketball,” Red Raiders coach Rob Kezmarsky said. “It was a packed house, like an LH-Uniontown crowd.”
It was the third win in a row for the Red Raiders as they improved to 4-4 in section play and 8-7 overall. Uniontown moved ahead of Laurel Highlands, which lost at McKeesport, into a fourth-place tie with Penn-Trafford.
“I’m proud of the team we are becoming,” Kezmarsky said.
Isaac Ellsworth hit five 3-pointers in ringing up 19 points for the Red Raiders, who also got a pair of 3-pointers and 15 points from Nolan Baker.
Fitzgerald scored 11 points in the first quarter when the Red Raiders took a 20-14 lead.
“Payden had a breakout game, 20 points and he grabbed so many rebounds,” Kezmarsky said. “Nolan helped set the tone. Isaac made his 200th career 3-pointer in our win over Franklin Regional on Tuesday and he now has 206.”
Uniontown pushed its lead up to 34-26 at halftime and increase the margin to 55-38 after three quarters.
The Red Raiders out-scored the visitors 20-12 in the fourth quarter.
Darrin Ford sank four 3-pointers while pouring in a game-high 27 points to lead the Colonials (0-8, 2-12).
“We give AG credit, they played so hard,” Kezmarksy said. “It was a very good game on both sides. That was another great win over a rival. If AG keeps playing like that they’re going to win some games in this section.”
Uniontown girls 60, Albert Gallatin 25 – Aierra Jenkins rang up 29 points in the Lady Raiders’ Section 4-5A victory over the visiting Lady Colonials to begin the doubleheader.
Uniontown led 18-7, 31-16 and 50-23 at the quarter breaks.
Charlie Murtha hit a trio of 3-pointers in adding 19 points for the Lady Raiders (2-4, 9-6), who also got eight points from Lyric McLee.
Paiton Lovis led AG (0-7, 0-13) with eight points and Ellie Seese had seven.