Laurel Highlands jumps out early; cruises to non-section win
True to form of the school鈥檚 mascot, the Mustangs of Laurel Highlands came out of the gate running and went wire-to-wire in a 78-44 victory over Waynesburg Central in non-section play Tuesday night at Harold 鈥淗orse鈥� Taylor Memorial Gymnasium.
The Mustangs scored their first basket in transition on Aiden Black鈥檚 layup and had a 22-4 lead after the first quarter. Laurel Highlands benefited from multiple second-chance opportunities and Black scored 11 of his game-high 18 points in the opening period.
鈥淭he game plan was to get out and try and get as many easy buckets as we could in transition,鈥� Laurel Highlands coach John Smith said. 鈥淚 thought we could match up with them pretty well in the man-to-man defense.鈥�
The Raiders鈥� offense started to come around in the second quarter, as Waynesburg (0-4) put up 17 points, but the Mustangs (2-2) countered with 20 and had a 42-21 halftime advantage.
鈥淲e have had some flat starts that have affected us this year,鈥� Waynesburg coach Mike Juliano said. 鈥淭urnovers killed us, and it didn鈥檛 matter whether it was early or late in the game.鈥�
Laurel Highlands鈥� Luke Martin scored 12 of his 17 points in the second quarter. He made three 3-pointers.
鈥淟uke came off the bench for us last year, and he is going to be a big contributor for us this year for sure,鈥� Smith said.
The Mustangs had a 24-14 edge in the third quarter and outscored the visitors, 16-9, in the fourth.
Smith was impressive with his post players, Brennen Varney and Sevi Vecchiolla.
鈥淚 thought the guys did a good job underneath,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淏rennen and Sevi getting some rebounds and second-chance opportunities, so that was big.
鈥淏rennen came off the bench last year, but we are working on building his confidence, and getting him to realize what his capabilities could be.鈥�
Kayden Smith scored 12 points off the bench. Teammate Tyrone Burton added six points as a reserve.
鈥淭yrone is coming off the bench, and he is only a sophomore,鈥� coach Smith said. 鈥淭hey are not afraid to bang around in there for some rebounds. I thought Kayden played well today. He had a few good assists. I don鈥檛 know how many points he had, but he scored a few buckets.鈥�
Jackson Dean led the Raiders in scoring with 10 points. Alex Eck had nine points and 17 rebounds. Alex VanSickle and Dane Woods added nine points apiece.
Laurel Highlands opens Class 5A Section 1 play Friday at McKeesport (1-4).
鈥淲e have a heck of a section this year,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淭hey are all going to be tough games for us. They are big schools, and they always have good, well-coached basketball programs.鈥�
Waynesburg has three non-section games left before it opens Class 3A Section 4 action on Dec. 20 against Brownsville (1-4).
鈥淲e put our schedule together knowing it was going to be a challenging schedule,鈥� Juliano said. 鈥淲e did that with the hope and intention that it was going to make us better for section play, and I think what we got out of tonight was just that. The things we learned from tonight, and the things that we are going to take out of this will only make us better.鈥�