Pioneers fall to Falcons in opener at Falcon Fest
West Greene鈥檚 Austin Crouse shoots a 3-pointer against Chartiers-Houston during Friday鈥檚 Falcon Fest at Brownsville Area High School. Crouse made a trio of 3-pointers in scoring 17 points but the Pioneers lost, 61-40. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
West Greene鈥檚 Corey Wise dribbles up court against Chartiers-Houston during Friday鈥檚 Falcon Fest at Brownsville Area High School.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
West Greene鈥檚 Benjamin Jackson (34) battles for a rebound against Chartiers-Houston during Friday鈥檚 Falcon Fest at Brownsville Area High School.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
West Greene鈥檚 Chase Blake puts up a 3-poiner against Chartiers-Houston during Friday鈥檚 Falcon Fest at Brownsville Area High School.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
West Greene point guard Austin Crouse sets up the offense against Chartiers-Houston during Friday鈥檚 Falcon Fest at Brownsville Area High School.
West Greene coach Jim Romanus (center) talks to his players during a timeout in Friday鈥檚 game against Chartiers-Houston at Falcon Fest. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Ahlijah Vaden scored a game-high 20 points as Chartiers-Houston built an early lead against West Greene and pulled away over the final 12 minutes for a 61-40 season-opening boys basketball victory last Friday at Brownsville鈥檚 Falcon Fest.
The Pioneers fell to the host Falcons on Saturday, 54-40.
On Friday, the Bucs led 14-7 after the first period but the Pioneers out-scored C-H by one in the second to trail 28-22 at the half.
Chartiers-Houston pushed the lead into double digits early in the second half before West Greene, sparked by a couple quick baskets by Austin Crouse, sliced the gap to 33-27 midway through the third period.
Coach Eugene Briggs鈥� Bucs finally shook loose and took a 43-29 advantage into the fourth period and remained in control down the stretch.
Crouse led the Pioneers with 17 points, including three 3-pointers, and Caleb Rice followed with 10. Corey Wise followed with seven points. Benjamin Jackson, hampered by three first-half fouls, was limited to three points before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
Evan Simpson and Austin Arnold tallied 11 points apiece for C-H.
鈥淐hartiers is athletic and very quick,鈥� West Greene coach Jim Romanus said. 鈥淲e just have trouble duplicating any of that stuff in practice. The things that we do in practice work because it鈥檚 against our speed.
鈥淲e knew who their best kids were and one of the things that we tried to emphasize was not letting up any fastbreaks, leak-outs, but yet we did. The one encouraging thing was I didn鈥檛 think we were playing very well yet we were still able to get back within six in the third quarter.鈥�
Romanus still sees the arrow pointing up for his squad.
鈥淚 do expect us to get better as the year goes on,鈥� he said.