Bombs away
Red Raiders show off long-range shooting in rolling past rebuilding Falcons
BROWNSVILLE 鈥� Everyone knows Isaac Ellsworth is a deadly 3-point shooter.
The Uniontown senior had plenty of teammates joining him in a long-range barrage on Wednesday night.
Ellsworth made four 3-pointers in scoring a game-high 18 points in the Red Raiders鈥� 59-29 non-section boys basketball victory over a rebuilding Brownsville team and five other Uniontown players also sank a trey.
鈥淲e know teams are going to try to deny him but he distributed the basketball and shot well and did a great job overall tonight,鈥� Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky said of Ellsworth. 鈥淲e have other shooters. He鈥檚 not the only one.鈥�
Cam Dugan, Donovan Coffey, Brayden Hinzy, Anthony Sheffey and Nolan Baker also connected from long range for the Red Raiders who improved to 2-1.
Uniontown put 10 players in the scoring column, including Payden Fitzgerald who followed Ellsworth with eight points. Dugan added seven points and Bakers chipped in with six.
鈥淚t was a team effort,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淲e subbed early. We played 13 kids.
鈥淲e distributed the ball well. Our six, seven and eight guys are really good and some of the other kids got in there, played hard and made some shots, too. We got great effort.鈥�
Kezmarsky felt his team played well underneath the basket also.
鈥淥ur inside game was working well. The kids have worked really hard to get to this point. I love this team.鈥�
Falcons coach Joe Hough lauded the Red Raiders.
鈥淲e were a little bit sloppy tonight but that鈥檚 a credit to Robbie鈥檚 team,鈥� said Hough, the longtime coach who is in his first year of guiding his alma mater. 鈥淯niontown鈥檚 pretty athletic and a really good basketball team. We just told the kids two years ago they gave up 100 points to Uniontown and tonight we only gave up 59.
鈥淚鈥檒l say this. We鈥檙e not disappointed about our effort. In fact we鈥檙e really excited about it. We鈥檝e just got to start cleaning the fundamental basketball stuff up.鈥�
Ellsworth made a pair of 3-pointers and Dugan had one in the first quarter when Uniontown opened up a 19-4 lead. Four different Red Raiders swished treys in the second quarter as the visitors bolted to a 39-9 halftime advantage.
鈥淩obbie鈥檚 got good shooters,鈥� Hough said. 鈥淥ur game plan was to try to take Ellsworth away as much as possible, face guard him but we weren鈥檛 communicating well. One thing we have to work on is our basketball IQ. We鈥檙e trying to change things on the fly sometimes during the game and having some problems with that.
鈥淚t鈥檚 slow but it鈥檚 getting there. I told everybody this was not going to be rebuilt in a day.鈥�
To the Falcons鈥� credit, they played Uniontown to a 20-20 standoff in the second half.
Jaiden Praster led Brownsville (0-3) with 12 points and Exzavier Vargas added five points. Seven different players scored for the Falcons.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have a go-to guy right now where when you need a bucket you can get him the ball and he鈥檒l create something for you,鈥� Hough said. 鈥淚 think we have a couple who can develop into that by the end of the year.鈥�
Kezmarsky complimented Hough.
鈥淚 have great respect for Coach Hough,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淚 first started coaching as young guy down at Brownsville with Joe.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a great guy, great coach and you could see they have kids that are hard-working.鈥�
Kezmarsky commended Brownsville鈥檚 gymnasium as well.
鈥淭he facility here is about as nice as I鈥檝e been to,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a beautiful place.鈥�
Uniontown begins Section 1-5A play Friday at another Fayette County rival in Albert Gallatin.
鈥淓very section game is important,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been scouting each other. We鈥檙e excited to go in and play them.鈥�
Hough isn鈥檛 discouraged by his team鈥檚 start to the season.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got a lot of work to do and we know it,鈥� Hough said. 鈥淏ut there were things I saw that I liked tonight and over the weekend effort-wise. We鈥檝e just got to keep at it.鈥�