Red Raiders top Scotties for third win in a row
Uniontown began its boys basketball season with four straight losses but coach Rob Kezmarsky feels that stretch of games against high-level competition wound up having a positive effect on his team.
The suddenly hot Red Raiders outscored host Southmoreland 20-5 in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 66-44 Section 3-AAAA win, their third in a row, Tuesday night.
鈥淲e feel those games are helping us now,鈥� Kezmarsky said of the opening defeats to Belle Vernon, Thomas Jefferson, Elizabeth Forward and Albert Gallatin, who have a combined record of 22-7.
鈥淲hen you play teams like that you try to learn from those games and I think our kids have. You pick up some things, see what you have to work on and try to make improvements.鈥�
Bakari Wallace scored a game-high 22 points for Uniontown (3-2, 3-4) and Damarr Lewis added 15. Tanner Uphold, who hit a pair of 3-pointers, and Brian Sykes both had eight points and Christian Perkins, who battled foul trouble all night, added six points.
Perkins, Sykes and Josh Curry Jones, who had four points, each ended the game with four fouls.
鈥淒amarr was close to a triple-double last game (23 points, 17 rebounds, 6 assists in a win over Yough) and he might鈥檝e been close to one tonight, too,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淏akari had some nice baskets and Tanner made a couple big threes when we needed them. We got some good play off the bench early from Nate Moody, who also hit a three.
鈥淚t was a good team win. I like the way we took care of the ball in the second half, I think that was important.鈥�
The Scotties (0-4, 1-6) played well in the first quarter as seven points by Calvin Lin and three by Zach Cernuto gave the hosts a 10-4 lead.
Southmoreland still led by six, 14-8, with two minutes left in the opening frame but a 3-pointer by Uphold, a steal and layup by Sykes and a three-point play by Lewis put Uniontown ahead 16-14 and it never trailed again.
Lewis and Wallace scored six points apiece in the second quarter to help the Red Raiders move out to a 35-27 halftime lead.
Wyatt Richter and Ronnie Collins both made 3-pointers as the Scotties out-scored Uniontown 12-11 in the third quarter to stay within range at 46-39.
The Red Raiders increased the gap to nine early in the fourth quarter before a 3-pointer by Uphold made it 54-42 and the visitors scored 12 of the last 14 points to win going away.
Collins and Ty Keffer paced Southmoreland with nine points apiece, Lin and Cernuto each tallied eight points and Isaac Trout had six points.
鈥淭he final score is deceiving,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淥ur kids had to work for that win. Southmoreland is one of the better defensive teams in the section. They play so hard and they鈥檙e all over the ball. Coach (Frank) Muccino always does a good job with them.
鈥淥ur kids know they could鈥檝e played better, but when we win a game we鈥檙e going to be happy despite that. They鈥檙e gaining confidence every game.鈥�