Local roundup: Quips halt Red Raiders’ winning streak at 14
Westley Burchianti
Uniontown蘑菇视频 Notorious Grooms hangs in the air as he puts up a shot against Aliquippa during the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Hall of Fame Classic at Montour on Sunday.
Westley Burchianti
Uniontown蘑菇视频 Jamire Braxton attempts to drive to the basket against Aliquippa during the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Hall of Fame Classic at Montour on Sunday.
Westley Burchianti
Uniontown蘑菇视频 Calvin Winfrey III (2) is defended by Aliquippa蘑菇视频 Quintin Goode (5) during the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Hall of Fame Classic at Montour on Sunday.
Westley Burchianti
Uniontown蘑菇视频 K鈥橝drian McLee puts up a shot inside againat Aliquippa at the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Hall of Fame Classic at Montour on Sunday. McLee scored 16 points but the Quips won, 54-48.
Uniontown fell to Aliquippa in a matchup of storied boys basketball programs on Sunday, 54-48, at the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Hall of Fame Classic at Montour.
Cameron Lindsey scored a game-high 17 points for the Class 2A Quips while K鈥橝drian McLee paced the Class 4A Red Raiders with 16 points. Both teams are highly ranked in their respective classifications.
Aliquippa led 45-40 with 3:10 left when McLee scored two baskets sandwiched around one made free throw by Lindsey to cut the lead to two.
After Quintin Goode made two free throws McLee came up with a steal and passed to Notorious Grooms for a layup that cut the gap to two once more with 44.1 seconds remaining.
The Red Raiders could get no closer as the Quips made six of their last eight free throws to secure the victory.
Uniontonwn coach Rob Kezmarsky was upbeat afterwards even though the loss halted his team蘑菇视频 winning streak at 14 games.
鈥淎liquippa is a quality team. They went to the state championship game last year,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淭hey lost 55-50 to (Class AAAAAA) New Castle the other night. They鈥檙e very physical and athletic. I thought we played well.
鈥淚 told the kids a lot of good teams have lost a game here. A game like this is a showcase game. it蘑菇视频 good for us to play in this kind of atmosphere. There are a lot of college coaches here. This is a great event. Some of the top teams in the WPIAL are here. It蘑菇视频 nice that we got invited.鈥�
Uniontown (15-2) jumped out to a 17-10 lead in the first quarter but Aliquippa stormed back in the second quarter to take a 30-28 halftime advantage and led 41-40 after three.
Donovan Walker scored 12 points for the Quips (11-5).
Jamire Braxton and Bakari Wallace each scored nine points for the Red Raiders who also got seven points from Grooms and six from Calvin Winfrey III. McLee and Winfrey both fouled out.
鈥淪ome of our shots didn鈥檛 go but we played hard and we had a chance at the end,鈥� said Kezmarsky who was asked about several calls that went against the Red Raiders down the stretch. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to worry about that. Sometimes close call may not go your way.
鈥淥ur main focus now has to be getting ready for Tuesday at Belle Vernon. Our seeding will depend on how we finish in the section.鈥�
Uniontown still sits atop the Section 3-AAAA standings and has already clinched a playoff spot for a WPIAL-record 72nd time.
Aliquippa is in first place in Section 1-AA and also has secured a spot in the postseason.
North Hills 84, Belle Vernon 82 鈥� Royce Parham scored a game-high 35 points to help the Indians defeat the Leopards in overtime at the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Hall of Fame Classic at Montour.
Zach Bollaro, who sank five 3-pointers, had 21 points and Jake Bollaro followed with 14 points for Class 5A North Hills (14-4).
Zion Moore poured in 32 points and Quinton Martin rang up 25 points and 13 rebounds for the Class 4A Leopards (9-7).
Belle Vernon also got 11 points from Trevor Kovatch and eight from Alonzo Wade whose clutch 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter forced overtime.
The Indians held leads of 24-11 after the first quarter and 39-25 at halftime but Belle Vernon got back in the game with a 28-15 advantage in the third quarter to pull within 54-53.
North Hills outscored the Leopards 9-7 in overtime.