Red Raiders fend off Vikings for first win
Rob Kezmarsky was happy to finally see his Uniontown players smiling after a game on Tuesday night.
The Red Raiders rode the hot shooting of Brian Sykes and a strong defensive effort to their first win of the season, 55-47, over visiting Mount Pleasant in a Section 3-AAAA battle.
鈥淭he kids played so hard,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淭hat was a total team effort. They鈥檝e been practicing and working, it鈥檚 nice to finally see them get rewarded.
鈥淚t鈥檒l be nice now to go to practice after a win.鈥�
Sykes scored a game-high 23 points, including nine in the crucial fourth quarter when Uniontown out-scored the Vikings 18-11 to pull away.
Bakari Wallace followed with 11 points for the Red Raiders (1-2, 1-4) and Damarr Lewis added nine points.
鈥淭he kids were a little bit down going into this game but we tried to explain to them those were all very good teams,鈥� Kezmarsky said in discussing Uniontown鈥檚 0-4 start. 鈥淲e lost at Belle Vernon and Elizabeth Forward but they were picked as the top two teams in our section. We lost to Thomas Jefferson, a 6-1 5A team. We lost at Albert Gallatin, another really good 5A team with a bunch of seniors.
鈥淵ou can tell them that all you want but kids are kids and all they know is we lost all those games. So it was great to see them feeling good about themselves after a win.鈥�
Kezmarsky could sense determination in his players leading into the game against the Vikings.
鈥淭hey did a great job of scouting on their own,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淲hen your players are in a group message talking about the things we have to do to beat Mount Pleasant, that just shows you what kind of kids you have.鈥�
Uniontown jumped out to a 17-9 lead in the first quarter with Sykes scoring 10 points before the Vikings (2-1, 2-3) bounced back in the second to pull within 26-21 at halftime.
鈥淲e had a really nice start to the game,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淒amarr Lewis was playing a real good floor game and we were up about 14 in the second quarter. Then he got his second foul so we sat him down and they cut into our lead.鈥�
Mount Pleasant outscored Uniontown 15-11 in the third quarter to whittle the gap to 37-36. The Red Raiders hung tough and extending their lead, then protected it down the stretch with good ball handling.
鈥淒amarr had a bunch of assists tonight and he got back into it in the fourth quarter, and Brian hit some big shots and free throws,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淥ur kids did a great job with the four corners at the end. We hadn鈥檛 had a chance to do that in a game and they executed it well.鈥�
The Vikings put three players in double figures, led by Nathan Kubasky with 13. Tyler Salvatore and Jonas King followed with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
鈥淢ount Pleasant is a good team,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淭hey start five seniors and they were 2-0 in the section.鈥�
Kezmarsky lauded his defense, especially forward Christian Perkins who went up against the Vikings鈥� 6-foot-5 King and 6-4 Jacob Bungard underneath in only his second game of the season.
鈥淥ur defense played a big role tonight,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淲ithout Christian, we don鈥檛 win that game. He played such a strong game for us inside.
鈥淭anner Uphold did a really good job on their shooter, No. 13 (Kubasky), and Bakari Wallace and Brian Sykes also played great defense tonight.
鈥淚t was a back-and-fourth game. That was a gutsy win.鈥�
The Red Raiders hope to even their section record Friday when they host Yough.
鈥淲e want to use this game as springboard,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淭hose kids have fought hard and hung in there. They deserve so much credit.鈥�