Jan 23, 2025
01/22/25 Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski / Tyrone’s Trent Adams puts up shot.
By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
TYRONE — Brad Lear didn’t like what he saw out of his Hollidaysburg Area boys basketball team in the first half Wednesday night at Tyrone.
And he let them hear about it in the locker room.
“We gave them a good chewing out at halftime, and I told them — ‘tonight it’s a set kind of game,’ and that we would be running our sets,” Lear said. “We executed the heck out of them in the second half. So proud of them to come back from 15 down and just keep executing.”
Hollidaysburg rallied to lead by as many as seven points in the fourth quarter before hanging on and dodging a half-court heave released after the final horn to win 65-63 over the Golden Eagles.
“It was pretty simple,” Tyrone coach Luke Rhoades said. “They went to the basket with authority. They wanted to get to the basket and get finishes and get fouled, and they did a really good job of that. In that stretch in the third quarter, I think we gave up three or four and-ones because we got lackadaisical on defense. We were trailing and fouling, and they were finishing at the basket. We didn’t.”
Tyrone forced 15 turnovers in the first half and led 29-18 at the break before Lear let his frustration out.
“Their press was not bothering us,” Lear said. “It was slowing us down, but it wasn’t bothering us. It was the iso ball that was getting to us. We drove, wouldn’t have anything and would pull it out and try to do three things that tonight we were not capable of doing and it was just time after time. It was way too much iso ball, and I told them we were our own worst enemy, because when we run sets we’d have people open, but we’re going one-on-one, and that just wasn’t working.”
The Golden Eagles did manage to extend their lead early in the third quarter on a pair of Eli Woomer 3-pointers, the second of which put Tyrone up 37-22, but that’s when Kasen Metzger helped spark a 17-3 Golden Tigers run that made it a one-point game.
“It’s between our ears,” Rhoades said. “It’s a mental aspect. Some of our guys don’t realize it’s a game. We practice for it. We work for it. We have to go out and execute it. We over analyze and overthink and get ourselves in a tizzy.”
Despite losing its big lead, Tyrone seemed to still have the advantage when Metzger picked up his fourth foul with 1:16 to play in the third quarter.
But Hollidaysburg didn’t blink without its leading scorer.
Tyson Delerme hit a jump shot to tie the game at the end of the third quarter, and Hollidaysburg opened the fourth quarter on a 10-3 run highlighted by a pair of Brady Steiner 3-pointers.
“Every kid that comes in for us would not be in if we didn’t think they could score and defend,” Lear said. “They beat us on a couple sets where we wanted to stay connected to (Tyrone’s Sam) Crilly, but when Kasen went out, it’s a cliche, but we always say it is next man up. Any of the guys we play, we have confidence in. Three (of our bench guys) were starters at one point in the season. We have a pretty good mix and a pretty good group.”
Tyrone trailed by five after a Jay Albarano free throw with 38.3 seconds left, but then Crilly was fouled shooting a 3-pointer and made all three foul shots to make it a two-point game with 32.2 seconds left.
Hollidaysburg beat the Tyrone press on a long pass to Metzger, however, and he finished with a layup to make it a two-score game.
Woomer, who along with Crilly led Tyrone with 15 points, made a 3-pointer with two seconds left. Steiner made one free throw, and Trent Adams’ heave at the end was no good and likely after the buzzer.
Hollidaysburg improved to 13-2 despite losing a strong senior class last season. Steiner (18), Metzger (17), Ben Zimmerman (12) and Jay Albarano (10) all scored in double figures for the Golden Tigers.
“This summer, when Brady and Jay were at football stuff, that gave Ben a lot of confidence. Kasen had to lead after deferring last year,” Lear said. “We knew when we moved Vince Albarano up that he was going to be able to be a player and factor in. (Jayden) Wolfe has shot the ball well, Tyson (Delerme) got to the basket early on and Gavin (Bell) came in and got rebounds. They just bought in. They share the ball. They are literally at each other’s houses every night. The camaraderie they have and the team unity we have gives me confidence in them.”
HOLLIDAYSBURG (65): J. Albarano 2 6-7 10, Steiner 6 1-4 18, V. Albarano 2 2-3 6, Metzger 7 3-4 17, Zimmerman 6 0-1 12, Wolfe 0 0-0 0, Delerme 1 0-0 2. Totals — 24 12-19 65.
TYRONE (63): Crilly 5 5-6 15, A. Walk 2 1-2 5, Escala 3 1-2 8, Woomer 5 2-3 15, Lehner 3 1-2 7, Hamer 0 2-2 2, A. Emigh 2 1-2 5, Adams 3 0-2 6, M. Emigh 0 0-0 0. Totals — 23 13-21 63.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Hollidaysburg 12 6 27 20 — 65
Tyrone 12 17 16 18 — 63
3-point goals: Hollidaysburg 5 (Steiner 5); Tyrone 4 (Woomer 3, Escala).
Records: Hollidaysburg (13-2); Tyrone (10-3).
Officials: Bill Pfeffer, Kevin Laird, Todd Parker.
JV: Hollidaysburg, 56-27. High scorers–Carter Gwinn, T, 10; JJ Stultz, H, 14.
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