Dec 14, 2024
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Altoona’s Josh Lowery puts up a shot against CD East on Friday night at the AAHS Fieldhouse.
It’s been a long time since the Altoona high school boys basketball team won a game at the AAHS Fieldhouse, and when Josh Lowery’s 3-pointer swished through the net to give the Mountain Lions the lead with just seconds to play, those in attendance let out a year’s worth of cheers.
It got even louder when Roan Greaser and Parker White combined to make the final defensive stop and the buzzer sounded to give Altoona a 66-65 win over Mid-Penn Commonwealth foe Central Dauphin East Friday night.
“It’s a great program over here,” White said. “We work our tails off everyday. The coaches gave us the plan, and we followed it today. It was great to get a win.”
Lowery scored a game-high 22 points and had 10 rebounds, but the final three points with seven seconds left turned out to be the difference.
“I knew I was going to shoot it,” Lowery said. “It didn’t matter if I missed or shot an airball — I was ready to take the shot. When it went in and everyone was cheering, it felt good. I got to let them know that ever since the Hollidaysburg game, I took it personal. They basically ran us out of our own gym. I had to lock in for the last shot and get us this win.”
Altoona won at home for the first time since Jan. 23, and the Mountain Lions were feeling the love after the game.
“It can show the kids that we’re capable of pulling out victories in this conference,” Altoona coach Doug Pfeffer said. “One win hopefully leads to two. It shows we can be competitive.”
Things didn’t look good for Altoona midway through the third quarter.
Central Dauphin East went on a 10-0 run to go ahead, 41-28, and it looked like the Lions were about to fall to 0-5.
“We told them we couldn’t get it back in one play,” Pfeffer said. “We needed stops, and when we got stops, we needed to make baskets — which we started to do. We calmed down a little after they made their run. They are a good team, but we took advantage of the opportunities we had.”
Lowery started to get Altoona back into it with a three-point play, and Ethan Hicks followed with a 3-pointer.
MJ Harrington made a putback and a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter to bring Altoona within four, and it was back and forth the rest of the way from there.
Ashton Barr’s jumper with five minutes to play gave the Lions their first lead since the first quarter. Just before that shot, CD East gambled by bringing Jalen Byrd back into the game with four fouls, and he fouled out just seven seconds later.
“That hurt us a lot with it being a very close game,” Central Dauphin East coach Ryan Hill said. “Credit to (Altoona). They stayed tough throughout it all. That one was a tough one to lose.”
Despite losing Byrd, the Panthers led 58-55 with just more than two minutes to play when White — who was also in foul trouble — got a rebound, put it back in while being fouled and made the free throw to tie the game.
“It’s a mental game,” White said. “I had to go out there and play solid defense. With already having four fouls, I knew I couldn’t get that fifth. The team needed me. I got that big rebound and putback with an and-one to shift momentum, and the other kids took it from there.”
Once again, however, CD East seemed to put the game away when Drew Washington made two free throws with 37.7 seconds left to put the Panthers up four. Chris Wagner was fouled on the Lions’ next possession and made his first free throw before missing the second, which Gavin Dunkle put back in to make it a one-point game.
Alijah Cooper, who had 21 points for CD East, made one of two free throws with 18.2 seconds left before Lowery’s 3-pointer.
“It was huge,” Pfeffer said. “The play we called in the huddle got broken down by their pressure. Josh just made a basketball play and nailed a big shot for us.”
It capped off a huge night for Lowery, who was taking advantage of screens to get open looks inside.
“Josh thought he had an advantage and told us he wanted to ball inside,” Pfeffer said. “Our guys did a great job of setting screens for him, and our guards did a great job of finding him. He finished, and that was key.”
Altoona will try to start a winning streak when it travels to Carlisle on Tuesday.
“Since we already got our first win of the season,” Lowery said. “We are about to win plenty more.”
CENTRAL DAUPHIN EAST (65): Washington 1 2-2 4, Byrd 2 7-8 11, Cooper 8 4-6 21, Coleman-Cobb 0 0-2 0, Grates 6 0-2 12, Chase 3 3-4 12, McGraw 0 0-0 0, Willarson 0 0-0 0, Kinara 2 0-0 5, Hernandez 0 0-0 0, Moore 0 0-0 0. Totals — 22 16-24 65.
ALTOONA (66): Dunkle 4 3-4 12, Greaser 0 1-2 1, Simendinger 1 0-0 2, White 2 1-2 5, Lowery 9 3-9 22, Wagner 1 4-6 6, Hicks 1 0-0 3, Harrington 2 0-1 5, Barr 3 0-0 8, Herr 1 0-0 2, Pezzi 0 0-0 0. Totals — 24 12-23 66.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Central Dauphin East 15 14 16 20 — 65
Altoona 13 11 14 28 — 66
3-point goals: Central Dauphin East 5 (Chase 3, Kinara, Cooper); Altoona 6 (Barr 2, Dunkle, Lowery, Hicks, Harrington).
Records: Central Dauphin East (1-4); Altoona (1-4).
Officials: Derrick Soellner, Brandon Hoover, Damon Rickens.
JV: Central Dauphin East, 56-54. High scorers–E. McCloskey, A, 15; A. Miller, CDE, 15.
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