Rodney’s night: Gallagher breaks LH scoring record as Mustangs rout Highlands
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Laurel Highlands senior Rodney Gallagher (right) poses with LH graduate Nick Bosnic as the two display a banner noting Gallagher’s accomplishment after the Mustangs’ 83-60 win over Highlands in Wednesday night’s WPIAL Class AAAA third-place consolation game. Gallagher scored a game-high 26 points to surpass Bosnic’s mark of 1,936 to become the school’s all-time leading scorer.
Laurel Highlands’ Rodney Gallagher soars above two Highlands players for a layup during Wednesday night’s WPIAL Class AAAA third-place consolation game at Harold “Horse” Taylor Memorial Gymnasium. Gallagher scored 26 points in the Mustangs’ 83-60 win to become the school’s career scoring leader.
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Laurel Highlands’ Keondre DeShields throws down a dunk against Highlands during Wednesday night’s WPIAL Class AAAA third-place consolation game at Harold “Horse” Taylor Memorial Gymnasium. DeShields scored 16 points in the Mustangs’ 83-60 win.
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Laurel Highlands’ Blaise Krizner brings the ball up court against Highlands during Wednesday night’s WPIAL Class AAAA third-place consolation game at Harold “Horse” Taylor Memorial Gymnasium. Krizner scored a career-high 19 points, including four 3-pointers, in the Mustangs’ 83-60 win.
Laurel Highlands' Rodney Gallagher pulls up for a jump shot against Highlands during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class AAAA third-place consolation game at Harold "Horse" Taylor Memorial Gymnasium. Gallagher scored 26 points in the Mustangs' 83-60 win to become the school's career scoring leader.
Laurel Highlands' Patrick Cavanagh hits a jump shot against Highlands for the first points of Wednesday night's WPIAL Class AAAA third-place consolation game at Harold "Horse" Taylor Memorial Gymnasium. The Mustangs led the rest of the way, rolling to a 83-60 win.
Laurel Highlands' Rodney Gallagher takes some time off the clock with the Mustangs enjoying a big lead as the LH cheerleaders look on during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class AAAA third-place consolation game at Harold "Horse" Taylor Memorial Gymnasium. Gallagher scored 26 points in the Mustangs' 83-60 win to become the school's career scoring leader.
Laurel Highlands' Keondre DeShields dribbles the ball as teammates Mason Bolish (middle) and Rodney Gallagher (right) prepare to cross midcourt during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class AAAA third-place consolation game at Harold "Horse" Taylor Memorial Gymnasium. The trio combined for 54 points (DeShields 16, Bolish 12, Gallagher 26) in the Mustangs' 83-60 win.
Laurel Highlands' Rodney Gallagher goes up for two of his 26 points during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class AAAA third-place consolation game at Harold "Horse" Taylor Memorial Gymnasium. The Mustangs won 83-60 as Gallagher became the school's career scoring leader.
Laurel Highlands coach Rick Hauger looks over his team's setup as Blaise Krizner (background) prepares to inbound the ball against Highlands during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class AAAA third-place consolation game at Harold "Horse" Taylor Memorial Gymnasium.
Laurel Highlands senior Rodney Gallagher (right) poses with LH graduate Nick Bosnic after the Mustangs' 83-60 win over Highlands in Wednesday night's WPIAL Class AAAA third-place consolation game as the two display the basketball noting Bosnic's achievement in 1993 of becoming the school's all-time points leader. Gallagher scored a game-high 26 points in the victory to surpass Bosnic's mark of 1,936.
Laurel Highlands' Rodney Gallagher autographs a shirt for a young fan following the Mustangs' 83-60 win over Highlands on Wednesday night. Gallagher scored 26 points to become the school's career scoring leader.
Laurel Highlands' Rodney Gallagher poses for photos with a couple young fans following the Mustangs' 83-60 win over Highlands on Wednesday night. Gallagher scored 26 points to become the school's career scoring leader.
Everyone wanted a couple moments with Rodney Gallagher on Wednesday night.
The Laurel Highlands senior superstar was posing with kids and adults alike for photos and signing autographs, accepting congratulations from everyone, smiling the whole time while turning no one away after breaking the school scoring record in the Mustangs’ 83-60 win over visiting Highlands.
“Makes me feel great,” Gallagher said. “That was my last game ever here so just everybody coming out and all the kids and all the parents, it’s definitely special.
“It’s a memory that’s going to last forever.”
The WPIAL Class AAAA consolation game victory sends Laurel Highlands (22-3) into the PIAA tournament as the third-place team from the district. The state playoffs begin on March 10 when the Mustangs will play the District 9 champion (Clearfield or St. Mary’s, who were set to play Thursday night) at a site and time to be determined.
Gallagher needed 15 points to surpass Nick Bosnic’s total of 1,936 and become Laurel Highlands’ all-time leading scorer. He got that and more, coming close to a triple-double with a stellar all-around performance, totaling a game-high 26 points on 12-of-18 shooting along with eight rebounds and eight assists.
Gallagher’s career total now sits at 1,948, leaving him 52 points shy of 2,000.
“What more can you say about Rodney? All-time leading scorer in Laurel Highlands history,” said LH coach Rick Hauger, who hit a milestone of his own last week when he recorded his 600th coaching victory.
“What Rodney has done … that covers a lot of good players. It’s quite an accomplishment. Nobody is more deserving that Rodney. He’s done what he’s needed to do and more for four years. And certainly his teammates are all happy for him also.”
Gallagher got a big boost from his teammates on this night, and not just from Keondre DeShields, who scored 16 points with a pair of 3-pointers and one dunk that lit up the home crowd.
Blaise Krizner and Mason Bolish were both sizzling from 3-point range as each made four of six attempts from beyond the arc. Krizner finished with a career-high 19 points and Bolish, who sank one trey in each quarter, had 12 points.
“Blaise Krizner, what a game,” Hauger said. “He’s been right on the verge. He started the year off strong then lost his confidence a little bit for awhile but, man, what a time for him to have a breakout game. He was outstanding.”
Patrick Cavanagh got in the act as well, hitting one 3-pointer in scoring eight points, as Laurel Highlands was 12 of 21 on 3-point attempts. Gallagher made one of three from long range.
The Mustangs shot 61.1% (33 of 54) from the field two nights after losing to North Catholic, 74-59, in the WPIAL semifinals.
“When you makes shots it makes the game a lot easier,” Hauger said.
“I think we’ll be a very tough team to beat in the state playoff run if the guys continue to play like that,” Gallagher said.
Another positive on the night, according to Hauger, was the maneuverability DeShields showed as he continues to recover from an ankle injury.
“Keondre is beginning to show the movement he had before he hurt his ankle,” Hauger said.
The Golden Rams (21-5), who will enter the state playoffs as the WPIAL’s fourth-place team, put three players in double figures. Jimmy Kunst led the way with 18 points, Bradyn Foster had 16 and Cameron Reigard followed with 14.
The Mustangs erupted for 32 points in the first quarter, including six 3-pointers, to take a 32-18 lead.
Highlands scored the first 10 points of the second quarter with seven straight from Reigard, including a four-point play, to cut the lead to four before Gallagher made a jump shot which left him one point short of the scoring record.
Gallagher tied Bosnic by making one of two free throws with 4:15 left in the quarter and then scored on one of his signature acrobatic drives to the basket with 2:43 remaining to propel himself to No. 1.
Although the announcement wasn’t made until halftime, the home crowd was clearly aware of the moment and exploded with the milestone basket, which put LH up 40-34.
Shane Layton’s bucket right before the half gave the Mustangs a 45-40 halftime lead and they pulled away in the third quarter, out-scoring Highlands 18-6, for a 63-46 advantage. Laurel Highlands took its biggest lead of 25 points on Cavanagh’s 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter.
“The second half I thought our defense stepped it up a little bit,” Hauger said. “The first half was definitely a tempo game. The ball was getting up and down the court.”
Gallagher pointed to his team’s practice as a key to the victory.
“We really went super hard in practice yesterday,” Gallagher said. “We all got together. Everybody was serious.
“That’s a huge win. We wanted this win very bad. We just had to come out here with confidence. We know last game was a rough game. Shout out to North Catholic. They played their butts off. But we knew we had to get a bounce back and we wanted a pretty good seed for the state run. I think we did a very good job tonight.
“They guys were ready to play.”
After the game, Gallagher posed with Bosnic for photos as the two held up a banner noting the scoring feat.
“Super special,” Gallagher said of the moment. “A great player, special career, a guy you just looked up to since when he went through Laurel Highlands. It’s a blessing for me to break his record.”
Bosnic broke the previous record set by current Uniontown head coach Rob Kezmarsky who finished with 1,522 points at LH in 1990. Bryce Laskey moved ahead of Kezmarsky and behind Bosnic when he ended his career with 1,667 points in 2018. Kezmarsky still holds the school’s single-season record with 823 points.
Bosnic, who, as Gallagher did last year, led the Mustangs to an undefeated regular season in 1993, was thrilled to be back at his home court.
“It stirs up the emotions to be able to come back into this gym and have this feeling again, like we did 30 years ago,” Bosnic said. “You see all the excitement. This team has been so successful. I’m so proud of this group from Laurel Highlands. It means a lot to the youth in the area and even my son looks up to these guys.
“Rodney has had an amazing career. He’s a great player. I’m proud of him passing me up and I hope he keeps on going to set a high standard.”
Perhaps Hauger summed up the night best.
“It was a good night for the Mustangs all the way around,” he said with a smile.