Notorious鈥� turn: Grooms鈥� huge first half sparks Red Raiders in rout of Latrobe
This night it was Notorious Grooms鈥� turn.
Uniontown had ridden a historic performance by Calvin Winfrey III, who rang up a school-record 47 points, to a win over Penn-Trafford on Monday and faced visiting Latrobe in Wednesday鈥檚 WPIAL Class 5A fifth-place consolation game.
Winfrey wasn鈥檛 quite as hot as he was two nights prior but no matter, Grooms was the one sizzling against the Wildcats in the Red Raiders鈥� 69-38 win.
The senior guard erupted for 20 of his game-high 25 points in the first half and hit four 3-pointers as Uniontown rolled to a 42-19 halftime lead and cruised in the second half.
Next up for the Red Raiders is the first round of the PIAA tournament on Friday, March 7, with the opponent and site to be determined.
The Red Raiders (22-4) still have a bad taste in their mouths from their WPIAL quarterfinal loss to Peters Township, who will be playing at the Petersen Events Center after knocking off Mars Tuesday, but Grooms said they are trying to look ahead now.
鈥淲e鈥檙e just getting ready for the states,鈥� Grooms said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been talking about hey, we鈥檝e still got a chance to make a run and do something. So let鈥檚 go do it.鈥�
While the Red Raiders had to rally after being seven points down in the third quarter against the Warriors for an 86-73 win, there was no such drama against Latrobe as Grooms鈥� 3-pointer kicked in the mercy rule at 55-25 midway through the third quarter.
Grooms did more than just score against the Wildcats, also putting on a display of passing, ball handling, rebounding and defense.
鈥淭ori picked it up tonight,鈥� Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky said. 鈥淧eople don鈥檛 realize how much he does for this team, all the different things he contributes to us winning besides scoring. He鈥檚 such an unselfish player.鈥�
While Winfrey now holds the Uniontown single-game scoring record, Grooms upped his career points total to 1,674, leaving him 47 shy of Terrence Vaughns鈥� school record of 1,721. Even so, Grooms, as always, passed up several opportunities of open shots to pass off to a teammate instead.
鈥淢y favorite player is LeBron (James) and that鈥檚 all I see from him,鈥� Grooms said. 鈥淗e can score anytime he wants but he always gets his teammates involved and makes them better. That鈥檚 what I try to do.鈥�
Uniontown took control of the game early.
Latrobe grabbed a 5-2 lead on a 3-pointer by Kyle McNeil but baskets by Winfrey and Ayden Kiefer, who blocked a shot at the other end, put the Red Raiders up 6-5. Ian Decerb鈥檚 bucket put the Wildcats ahead one last time before Uniontown answered with a flurry of 13 points in its next four possessions.
Winfrey sank a long 3-pointer to put the Red Raiders ahead to stay and Isaac Ellsworth followed with a four-point play as he was fouled while swishing a 3-pointer and made the free throw. Cam Dugan then hit a 3-pointer on an assist from Grooms and then Dugan came up with a steal and assisted on another trey by Grooms.
Suddenly down 19-7, Latrobe coach Brad Wetzel called a timeout but his team would never recover.
Grooms ended the quarter with 13 points as Uniontown took a 24-13 lead.
The Red Raiders opened the second quarter with a basket by Winfrey, two in a row from Kelan Milsom and a reverse by Grooms for a 32-13 advantage and the rout was on. Grooms hit yet another 3-pointer just before the buzzer to give Uniontown a 42-19 lead at intermission.
The Red Raiders led 61-32 after three quarters and Kezmarsky emptied his bench midway through the fourth.
Max Butler scored 11 points to lead Latrobe, which fell to 20-6 with half their losses coming at the hands of Uniontown. Dom Scarton chipped in with seven points.
Ellsworth followed Grooms with 13 points and two 3-pointers, Winfrey finished with 12 and Milsom added 10.
鈥淚t was a nice win for us. We were able to play a lot of kids,鈥� said Kezmarsky, thanking the throng of Uniontown fans on hand. 鈥淭hese kids are now 31-3 at home (the past three years). I think our fans are unreal, for this kind of game and the way they cheered on our kids, that鈥檚 so wonderful to see. I鈥檝e had a lot of opposing coaches come in here and say how they love our environment.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not done. This is three years in a row we鈥檙e playing basketball in March, so we鈥檙e used to the state tournament. We learned two years ago (when Uniontown reached the PIAA Western final) you never know what can happen.鈥�
Kezmarsky welcomes the break before PIAA play begins.
鈥淲e need a couple days off,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 need a couple days off and (assistant coaches) Warare (Gladman), Calvin (Winfrey Jr.) and Ray (Robinson) need a couple days off. Playoff basketball is very stressful plus our kids have been fighting a little bit of colds and injuries.
鈥淏ut we鈥檒l be ready to go next Friday.鈥�