Red Raiders reign supreme: Uniontown蘑菇视频 Braxton, Kezmarsy top All-Area Boys Basketball Team
Expectations were extremely high for Uniontown蘑菇视频 boys basketball team this past season and with that came a certain amount of pressure.
After all, Red Raiders basketball has very lofty standards compared to many others in the WPIAL or even the PIAA.
There was a huge obstacle in the way for coach Rob Kezmarsky蘑菇视频 team, however.
And though they couldn鈥檛 quite get over the huge hump that was Lincoln Park, the team with two NCAA Division-I recruits that went on to repeat as WPIAL and PIAA Class AAAA champions, Uniontown had an outstanding season nonetheless.
You could make the case that the Red Raiders were the second best team in the state.
Lincoln Park蘑菇视频 two closest games throughout its run through the postseason were both against Uniontown, an 11-point win, which was a deceiving score of a much closer contest, in the WPIAL semifinals and a four-point win in the PIAA second round.
As it was, the Red Raiders claimed their 51st section championship and went as far as they could in the playoffs, winding up in the WPIAL Final Four and the PiAA round of 16. In a different year, a WPIAL title and at least a trip to Hershey would鈥檝e been very realistic possibilities.
The Red Raiders finished the season with a 23-5 overall record that included a late-January lull partially due to injuries.
Leading the way for Uniontown was senior 1000-point scorer Jamire Braxton, who is the 蘑菇视频 All-Area Boys Basketball Team Player of the Year.
Braxton had a remarkable all-around season and seemed to play his best in big games.
The 6-foot-2 guard-forward led the Red Raiders with 516 points, 18.4 points per game and a 3-point shooting percentage of 40%, and was second on the team in rebounding (6.3 per game) and assists (3.8) and third in steals (2.0) and blocked shots (0.4) and field goal percentage (51%). Braxton was a solid defensive player as well.
The Coach of the Year for the second season in a row is Kezmarsky. Dealing with the pressure that surrounds Uniontown basketball isn鈥檛 easy but Kezmarsky handled his team brilliantly and got the most out of his squad.
Other coaches who guided teams to section titles, along with at least one playoff win, were Dan Bosnic of Monessen, who got the Greyhounds into the PIAA tournament, and Jim Nesser of Yough. West Greene coach Jim Romanus guided the senior-less Pioneers to a split with Monessen and only their second playoff win in program history in their first home playoff game.
Also guiding their teams into the postseason were Belle Vernon蘑菇视频 Joe Salvino, Southmoreland蘑菇视频 Frank Muccino, Frazier蘑菇视频 Zach Keefer, Jefferson-Morgan蘑菇视频 Brandon Lawless, California蘑菇视频 Cabe Powell, Mount Pleasant蘑菇视频 Annie Malkowiak and Elizabeth Forward蘑菇视频 Nolan Larry.
Braxton is one of five players on the All-Area First Team.
He蘑菇视频 joined by another key member of the Red Raiders, junior Notorious Grooms, along with Belle Vernon junior Zion Moore, who won the WPIAL regular-season scoring title, Yough senior Terek Crosby, who went over the 2,000-point mark for his career this year, and Monessen蘑菇视频 Lorenzo Gardner, whose 64-point effort against California matched the second-best single-game output in WPIAL history and the most by a Westmoreland County player.
Second Team members are Uniontown蘑菇视频 Calvin Winfrey III, who had his season partially derailed by an ankle injury, and K鈥橝drian McLee, Yough蘑菇视频 Austin Matthews, the area蘑菇视频 best true center, Southmoreland蘑菇视频 Ty Keffer, Belle Vernon蘑菇视频 Alonzo Wade, Albert Gallatin蘑菇视频 Blake White, Jefferson-Morgan蘑菇视频 Dayten Marion, Carmichaels鈥� Dominic Colarusso, Elizabeth Forward蘑菇视频 Isaiah Turner and West Greene蘑菇视频 Lane Allison.
The area蘑菇视频 top 10 regular-season scorers, according to statistics from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, were Moore (26.3), Crosby (25.8), Gardner (25.2), Keffer (19.7), Allison (19.1), Braxton (18.4), Turner (18.0), White (16.9), Frazier蘑菇视频 Dailan McManus (16.8) and Bentworth蘑菇视频 Ben Hays (16.8).
The complete 蘑菇视频 All-Area Boys Basketball team is listed below:
Player of the Year: Jamire Braxton, Uniontown
Coach of the Year: Rob Kezmarsky, Uniontown
First Team
Jamire Braxton, Uniontown
Zion Moore, Belle Vernon
Terek Crosby, Yough
Notorious Grooms, Uniontown
Lorenzo Gardner, Monessen
Second Team
Calvin Winfrey III and K鈥橝drian McLee, Uniontown; Austin Matthews, Yough; Ty Keffer, Southmoreland; Blake White, Albert Gallatin; Alonzo Wade, Belle Vernon; Dominic Colarusso, Carmichaels; Dayten Marion, Jefferson-Morgan; Isaiah Turner, Elizabeth Forward; Lane Allison, West Greene.
Honorable Mention
Jeremiah Hager, Kelan Milsom, Uniontown; Trent Wible, Harlan Davis, Brownsville; Aidan Black, Ethan Hoffer, Laurel Highlands; Noah Felentzer, Southmoreland; Mykel Belt, Shymere Wilson, Albert Gallatin; Dalian McManus, Brock Alekson, Brennen Stewart, Frazier; Daryl Tolliver, Ringgold; Tommy Davis, Belle Vernon; Dante Giallonardo, Mount Pleasant; Parker Burns, Patrick Durbin, West Greene; Vincent Manzella, California; Jase Bedilion, Jefferson-Morgan; Tommy Kolencik, Gary Tarbuk, Geibel Catholic; AJ Vanata, Mapletown; Anthony Piasecki, Bruce Giles, Connellsville; Brody Tharp, Beth-Center; Ben Hays, Bentworth; Cole Headlee, Dane Woods, Waynesburg Central.