Fast start: Red Raiders鈥� early run leads to 85-44 victory
Uniontown opened the Section 3-AAAA finale Friday at Laurel Highlands by scoring the first 15 points of the game as the Red Raiders steamrolled to an 85-44 road victory.
Laurel Highlands鈥� first-year coach John Smith called a timeout with the score, 15-2. He called a second timeout with 3:23 left in the quarter after the disadvantage grew to 22-2.
The Red Raiders closed out the first quarter with a 36-12 lead.
Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky knew his guys came ready to play.
鈥淚 got here and maybe for the first time in 23 years, the varsity players were here before me,鈥� said Kezmarsky.
Uniontown kept applying the defensive and offensive pressure in the second quarter, rolling to a 56-22 lead.
鈥淒own at their place, we played a pretty good pace game, and obviously, it helped,鈥� explained Smith. 鈥淚 think on one hand I can count how many shots they missed in the first half. Credit to them.鈥�
鈥淲e tried to junk it up in there in the beginning, but obviously the coaches made some adjustments the last time we played. They were able to execute and get some good looks at the basket, and knocked down some shots.鈥�
Uniontown had balanced scoring in the big first half with six players scoring five points or more. Isaac Ellsworth hit all three of his 3-point shots for a team-high nine points in the first 16 minutes. Notorious Grooms scored eight, K鈥橝drian McLee and Kelan Milsom both finished with seven points. Calvin Winfrey contributed six points and Jeremiah Hager added five.
鈥淲e made good shots because we moved the ball. That鈥檚 all we talk about. Make the extra pass,鈥� explained Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky. 鈥淭he balance was good. They found each other.鈥�
Smith acknowledged the atmosphere and the heightened offensive and defensive pressure made it difficult for his team to respond.
鈥淭he pressure, they were on us. The crowd was into it. We dug ourselves into the hole.
I understand, the boys are looking up at the scoreboard and you鈥檙e down 15, and they鈥檙e thinking we have to score,鈥� said Smith. 鈥淚 know you鈥檙e not going to score 15 points in a possession. We had to slow it down on the offensive end, and we had to get stops on the defensive end.鈥�
The Red Raiders were able to set up their full-court pressure with made field goals, so the offense fed the defense and vice versa.
鈥淲e run (the press) to speed the game up,鈥� said Kezmarsky.
鈥淲e knew they were going to press. My whole philosophy entering the game was to slow the game down. We鈥檙e a 50-, 60-point team. We鈥檙e not going to score 70 or 80 points.We鈥檙e not built for that,鈥� said Smith.
鈥淚 preached the whole week to the boys that it was an 8-game mentality. What I mean by that was we need one-minute possessions and eight minutes a quarter. If we can play that game, we have a chance, which we did down at their place.鈥�
Ellsworth finished with game-scoring honors with 15 points.Jamire Braxton scored 14 points. Hager had 13 points. Grooms contributed 12 points, and Milsom and McLee both scored 10 points.
Luca Suchevits led the Mustangs with nine points. Ethan Koffler scored eight and Brennan Varney added seven.
The game between the two county rivals was the regular season finale for both teams.
Uniontown closes with a 9-1 section record and overall mark of 18-3. The Mustangs finish with a 0-10 section mark and overall record of 2-20.
The Red Raiders now await word Monday about the WPIAL playoffs.
鈥淲e feel we should have a very high seed, especially since we were one game from Hershey last year,鈥� said Kezmarsky.鈥� We had a lot of (solid games) early in the year. I just couldn鈥檛 be more pleased with the intensity.
鈥淚 give Laurel Highlands credit, they played as hard as they could. A good team knows when it鈥檚 time, we鈥檙e here. We worked really hard to get to this point.鈥�
Smith believes the Red Raiders are hitting full stride at the right time of the year.
鈥淭his is the time of the year you want to get hot. Uniontown came out tonight firing on all cylinders,鈥� said Smith.
Smith praised the effort put forth by his squad in what was a difficult season in the standings.
鈥淭hese guys have played behind some all-time greats. These guys lacked varsity experience. I knew it was going to be tough sledding,鈥� said Smith. 鈥淭hese boys fought all year. We had six or seven games we lost by single digits.
鈥淲e had one of the toughest schedules in the WPIAL this year. The section is very tough, too. Our non-conference schedule was a monster, but the boys never gave up.That鈥檚 what I鈥檓 most proud of.
鈥淭he boys have worked hard and never gave up. I鈥檓 proud of that.鈥�