Red Raiders seize control early, charge into elite eight
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Uniontown鈥檚 Notorious Grooms (00) lofts a shot over Littlestown鈥檚 Christopher Meakin (30) during Tuesday night鈥檚 PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School. Grooms scored 12 points in the Red Raiders鈥� 67-46 win.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Uniontown鈥檚 Bakari Wallace (5) bolts past Littlestown鈥檚 Caleb Unger (14) as he dribbles the ball court during Tuesday night鈥檚 PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School. Wallace scored 18 points in the Red Raiders鈥� 67-46 win.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Uniontown鈥檚 Jamire Braxton sinks an off-balance shot against Littlestown during Tuesday night鈥檚 PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School. Braxton scored 11 points in the Red Raiders鈥� 67-46 win.
Littlestown's Cole Riley (right) looks for someone to pass to as Uniontown's Calvin Winfrey III (left), Tanner Uphold (23) and Notorious Grooms (00) play tight man-to-man defense聽during Tuesday night's PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School.
Uniontown's K'Adrian McLee (4) tries to get off a shot in the lane against Littlestown聽during Tuesday night's PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School.
Uniontown's Notorious Grooms (00) flips a pass back to Bakari Wallace (5) for a fast-break layup during Tuesday night's PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School.
Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky has a discussion with an official during Tuesday night's PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game against Littlestown at Bedford High School.
Uniontown's Notorious Grooms tightly defends Littlestown's Zyan Herr (32)聽during Tuesday night's PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School.
Uniontown's Calvin Winfrey III sends a pass to Bakari Wallace for a fast-break layup against Littlestown聽during Tuesday night's PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School.
Bedford's Zyan Herr loses control of the basketball while getting defensive pressure from Uniontown's Notorious Grooms (left) and Jamire Braxton聽during Tuesday night's PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Uniontown鈥檚 Bakari Wallace (5) takes a jump shot against Littlestown during Tuesday night鈥檚 PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School. Wallace scored 18 points in the Red Raiders鈥� 67-46 win.
Uniontown's Levi Garner (11) blocks a Littlestown shot out of bounds during Tuesday night's PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School.
Uniontown's Notorious Grooms makes two free throws against Littlestown聽during the fourth quarter of Tuesday night's PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School.
BEDFORD 鈥� Uniontown seized control from the start and never let go.
Now the Red Raiders are one of just eight Class AAAA boys basketball teams still alive in the state.
Bakari Wallace led a balanced attack with a game-high 18 points as Uniontown advanced to the PIAA quarterfinals for the first time in 21 years thanks to an impressive 67-46 victory over Littlestown at Bedford High School on Tuesday night.
鈥淭his was a team win and a great win for our program,鈥� Red Raiders coach Rob Kezmarsky said. 鈥淭hese kids deserve it.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e in the elite eight of the state because of one thing and that鈥檚 what they鈥檝e done in the offseason. We told them before the game, all their trips to Greensburg, Pitt team camp, all the individual workouts, everything we did in the summer from Woodland Hills to Greensburg Central, all of that prepared them for this.
鈥淭hese are just great kids.鈥�
The Red Raiders will play the winner between North Catholic and Valley View 鈥� who had their second-round game postponed to Wednesday due to inclement weather 鈥� on Friday at a site and time to be determined.
Uniontown, as it has all season, got contributions from a variety of players in improving to 22-5 overall and earning a seventh postseason game this year.
Notorious Grooms followed Wallace with 12 points, Jamire Braxton tallied 11 points in just one half of play due to illness, Calvin Winfrey III had 10 points and Levi Garner chipped in with eight points.
The Red Raiders, coming off an eye-opening 81-69 upset win at Berks Catholic on Friday night, jumped out to a 10-2 lead and never trailed against the Thunderbolts (21-7).
鈥淲e felt confident coming into the game,鈥� Garner said. 鈥淚t feels great to be in the top eight of the state.鈥�
鈥淲e let them get away from us the first four minutes and we were playing catch-up from there,鈥� Littlestown coach John Forster said.
Grooms hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Uniontown a 20-10 lead after one quarter and the Red Raiders led by as much as 16 points in the second quarter before settling on a 32-20 halftime advantage.
Braxton fell ill during the break and would not play again but Uniontown鈥檚 depth helped it maintain a comfortable lead.
鈥淲e had to overcome some adversity tonight,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淲e were rolling in the first half. Jamire鈥檚 not feeling well. He gutted it out and played great in the first half.鈥�
Littlestown whittled the gap to nine late in the third quarter on a 3-pointer by Lucas Denault.
Forster felt that was his team鈥檚 chance to get back into the game.
鈥淲e cut it to nine and had two good looks at 3s, shots that we鈥檝e been hitting all season,鈥� Forster said. 鈥淚 think if we could鈥檝e hit one of those and got it to six it might鈥檝e been a different game.鈥�
Neither shot went down and instead a three-point play by Wallace gave the Red Raiders a 42-30 lead heading into the fourth.
Grooms opened the final frame with another three-point play and a quick Winfrey-to-Grooms-to-Garner fast break made it 47-30.
Christopher Meakin, who led the Thunderbolts with 17 points, made a 3-pointer to cut the margin to 14 but back-to-back buckets by K鈥橝drian McLee and a free throw by Winfrey bumped Uniontown鈥檚 lead to 19. Littlestown wouldn鈥檛 get closer than 16 after that.
鈥淲e maybe should鈥檝e gone to the four corners a little earlier than we did but we kept getting fast-break opportunities and we鈥檙e so good at that I was fine with them pushing the ball in those instances,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淭ori and Calvin are so good at handling the ball at the end of games and they did again tonight.鈥�
Forster agreed with the effectiveness of the Red Raiders鈥� fast break.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 hit shots early and we turned the ball over and let them get out on the break, which is one thing we talked about that we couldn鈥檛 let them do,鈥� Forster said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a testament to their defense. They鈥檙e a great defensive team. They鈥檙e scrappy and they鈥檙e great in transition.鈥�
Kezmarsky pointed to his front court as another key factor in the win against the taller Thunderbolts.
鈥淚 thought Levi and K鈥橝drian controlled the game on the boards,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e a good team. They have two 1,000-point scorers (Meakin and Jake Bosley, who was limited to seven points) and I thought Levi and K鈥橝drian played them pretty well. When Levi had to guard 22 (Bosley) I thought he did a good job.鈥�
Littlestown couldn鈥檛 bottle up the elusive Wallace, who consistently drove through its defense, helped force turnovers and handled the ball well also.
鈥淏akari does everything,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淗e knows how to get to the basket. He does stuff people don鈥檛 even realize, his tip-ins, his defense, the charges he takes. I鈥檝e never had a player take as many charges as him.鈥�
Forster commended his squad, which finished third in District 3.
鈥淚t was a great season,鈥� Forster said. 鈥淭hese guys worked their butts off. This is unprecedented territory for the school.鈥�
Zyan Herr followed Meakin with 12 points for the Thunderbolts.
It was another unselfish effort by the Red Raiders, according to Kezmarsky.
鈥淲ith this team, it doesn鈥檛 matter who scored, who didn鈥檛 score, how many shots anyone got, they just want to do what it takes to win,鈥� Kezmarsky said.
鈥淲hen you have kids like this it makes you proud.鈥�