Red Raiders gain early edge in section with 79-64 win at BV
Bill Hughes
Uniontown head coach Rob Kezmarsky talks to his players, including Levi Garner (11) and Notorious Grooms (00), as assistant coach Warare Gladman (right) looks on during a timeout in Friday night蘑菇视频 game at Belle Vernon. Grooms scored 21 points in the Red Raiders鈥� 79-64 victory.
Bill Hughes
Uniontown蘑菇视频 Jamire Braxton (left) and Calvin Winfrey III (2) discus the situation as Levi Garner (middle) and Tanner Uphold (23) look on during the Red Raiders game at Belle Vernon Friday night. Winfrey scored a game-high 23 points and Braxton added 10 as Uniontown defeated the Leopards, 79-64.
Bill Hughes
Belle Vernon coach Joe Salvino (kneeling) talks to his players during a timeout in Friday night蘑菇视频 game against visiting Uniontown.
ROSTRAVER TWP. 鈥� Section 3-AAAA was supposed to be a three-team race between Uniontown, Laurel Highlands and Belle Vernon.
The Red Raiders traveled to Belle Vernon Friday night and returned home with a 79-64 victory to gain an early edge in the run to the section title.
鈥淚t蘑菇视频 a quality section win in a tough environment. They鈥檙e a really good team, and this is a big win for us,鈥� said Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky whose team ran its winning streak to 10 games. 鈥淲e did a great job and kept scoring.
鈥淭hey are such a physical basketball team, and they make you play their style of game. We made some open shots in the first quarter and did a good job with that.鈥�
Belle Vernon coach Joe Salvino has never been known to mince words, and he didn鈥檛 after the game.
鈥淯niontown wanted it more and they put forth the effort,鈥� said Salvino. 鈥淭hey had more confidence in their shooting and in their defense, and they played more as a team.鈥�
The Red Raiders (2-0, 11-1) placed four players in double figures with Calvin Winfrey III leading all scorers with 23 points. Notorious Grooms (21), Bakari Wallace (11), and Jamire Braxton (10) combined for 42 points.
Grooms also had seven assists, six rebounds and three steals, while Braxton grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
Zion Moore paced Belle Vernon with 22 points. Alonzo Wade scored 20, and Quinton Martin had a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 16 rebounds.
Both teams used pressure defense for most of the game, and this caused plenty of turnovers as Uniontown had 22 and Belle Vernon gave the ball away 19 times.
There were four ties in the first half and Uniontown led 17-14 after the first quarter.
Belle Vernon (1-1, 5-5) tied the game at 24 three minutes into the second quarter, but Uniontown used an eight-point run to take control of the game and the Leopards never led again.
Uniontown took a 40-32 lead into halftime and with a 20-9 advantage in the third quarter, the Red Raiders were up 60-41 heading into the fourth.
Belle Vernon used a 14-4 run early in the fourth quarter to trim Uniontown蘑菇视频 lead to 64-55 with under three minutes to go, and the Leopards cut the deficit to 70-64 with 1:20 left on a pair of free throws by Moore.
Grooms, a sophomore, made 7-of-8 foul shots in the last minute to put the game away for Uniontown as it scored the last 10 points of the game.
鈥淣otorious, he did so well, as did our guards,鈥� Kezmarsky said before pointing out foul trouble that caused Uniontown to get solid contributions from the bench. 鈥淎ctually, all nine of our guys who played, they all played well.鈥�
A key difference was from the 3-point line with Uniontown making seven. Winfrey finished with a trio of 3-pointers, while Belle Vernon was limited to one apiece by Wade, Moore and Trevor Kovatch.
Salvino commented on how his team was watching Moore try to do too much early and how it dug the Leopards a hole.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 run an offense early and I told our guys beforehand that their defense would stop our penetration,鈥� said Salvino. 鈥淥nce we started to run our offense, it was way too late.
鈥淭his group is going to have to understand this is a team sport with five guys working towards one goal.鈥�
Kezmarsky said the Red Raiders have to keep improving and that they would see the Leopards again.
鈥淲hile this is a great win, we have to get ready for our next game,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have a long way to go before they come to our court (on Jan. 31).鈥�
Both teams return to action Tuesday with section games as Uniontown hosts Southmoreland and Belle Vernon travels to Laurel Highlands for another tough game.
鈥淲e know how good they are,鈥� Salvino said. 鈥淲e are going to have to learn from this game real fast and prepare for a tough one on the road Tuesday.鈥�