Red Raiders roll past TJ, 73-57; Kezmarsky notches win No. 301 at Uniontown
Notorious Grooms scored a game-high 25 points and Uniontown steadily pulled away for a 73-57 victory over visiting Thomas Jefferson in a non-section boys basketball clash on Friday night.
The Class 4A Red Raiders also got 19 points from Calvin Winfrey III and 11 from Jamire Braxton in improving to 3-1.
Ryan Lawry led the Class 5A Jaguars (2-2) with 17 points and Noah Prosser added 14. Evan Berger, who poured in 42 points against Belle Vernon in TJ蘑菇视频 opener a week ago, was limited to nine points.
鈥淛amire Braxton and Tanner Uphold deserve a lot of credit for the way they played defense against Berger,鈥� Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky said. 鈥淭J蘑菇视频 a really good basketball team. That was a quality win for us.鈥�
It was win No. 301 for Kezmarsky at Uniontown, his 300th coming in a 90-31 home victory over Connellsville on Tuesday.
鈥淚t means a lot to me to get the official 300th win at Uniontown,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淚t蘑菇视频 a tribute to all of the players and assistant coaches I have had. And all of the relationships I have made over the years means so much to me and my family.鈥�
The Red Raiders built a 12-9 lead in the first quarter and outscored the Jaguars 25-21 in the second for a 37-30 halftime lead even though Kezmarsky was forced to substitute liberally.
鈥淲e got in early foul trouble but I thought our kids off the bench did a good job,鈥� Kezmarsky said.
Grooms and Winfrey, both sophomores, accounted for 14 of Uniontown蘑菇视频 16 points in the third quarter as the Red Raiders extended their advantage to 53-41. Uniontown led by as much as 20 in the fourth quarter.
鈥淚t never seemed like it was that much of a lead because TJ kept battling and battling,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 shoot the ball as well as we鈥檇 like but our kids really played hard. Bakari Wallace played a tremendous defensive game and a great floor game for us.鈥�
Wallace added six points and K鈥橝drian McLee chipped in with five for Uniontown.
鈥淭he best we thing we did was in the fourth quarter we ran not a delay but we were patient, moved the ball around well and were very selective with our shots,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淚 was pleased with that.鈥�
Kezmarsky is encouraged by his team蘑菇视频 play in the early part of the season.
鈥淭here蘑菇视频 still a lot of things to work on,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淏ut even in the game we lost (to undefeated Class 6A Norwin), I think we learned a lot.鈥�
The Red Raiders will be back in action Tuesday in a non-section game at Fayette County rival Brownsville.