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Eagle boys rally for win over Jays
UNIONTOWN -- Trailing 33-24 at halftime, and 37-26 early in the third quarter, the Uniontown High School boys' basketball team rallied for a 63-59 victory over Pleasanton in the nightcap of a non-league doubleheader here Friday night.
Pleasanton closed out the girls' game on a 10-3 run, defeating Uniontown, 48-47.
Late in the fourth quarter of the boys' game, Uniontown forward Joe Duffey sank a pair of free throws to tie the score 54-54. On Uniontown's next offensive possession, Duffey hit a clutch 15-foot jump shot near the right baseline to give Uniontown the lead.
"Joe has worked on that shot, he's probably shot hundreds of them this summer" Uniontown head boys' coach Jeremy Neville said. "Once it got in the air, I saw it leave his hands, I felt good like it was going in."
After extending the lead to 61-56 with under a minute to play, missed free throws and an unforced turnover allowed Plesanton (0-5) back in the game, as the Blu-Jays cut the lead to 61-59. The Blu-Jays had an opportunity to tie or take the lead with under 20 seconds remaining in the game, however, a turnover on the inbounds play led to a pair of Chase Gleason free throws that sealed the victory for Uniontown (3-3).
"We talked about it after the game, what kind of adversity we were facing -- and the biggest thing is, I just think our kids had the toughness, and stepped up their effort-level and made some good things happen," Neville said. "To face that kind of adversity and come back and win is a credit to our toughness."
Uniontown senior point guard Skyler Riley used his quickness and ball-handling skills to control the game's tempo for much of the second half, finishing with 17 points, while junior Jacob Duffey also added 17 points.
"Skyler played really well for us tonight," Neville said. "(Chase) Gleason's defense and senio leadership was invaluable to us. Joseph Duffey hit clutch shots for us and made some clutch plays. Jacob Duffey was real solid and Devonte Robinson did a great job coming off the bench, giving us a lot of effort."
Pleasanton girls 48, Uniontown 47.
The Eagles (2-4) led 44-38 with 2:52 remaining in the fourth quarter. Later in the quarter, clinging to a 44-43 lead, Uniontown senior guard Britney Stokes was fouled on a drive to the basket and scored, giving the Eagles a 46-43 lead with 1:10 remaining in the game. Stokes missed the free throw. At the other end of the floor, Pleasanton point guard Autumn Seacrest drained a critical 3-pointer from the right wing, in the process tying the score 46-46 with :50 seconds remaining.
After a costly Uniontown turnover on the ensuing possession, Pleasanton forward Sydney Dent hit a 12-foot jumper from just in front of the free throw line with :16 seconds left to play, putting the Blu-Jays (2-3) on top 48-46.
Coming out of a time out, Uniontown center DaNisha Robinson was fouled underneath the basket with 4.4 seconds remaining. Robinson missed the first free throw, and converted the second, cutting the lead to one.
After a pair of missed Pleasanton free throws on the other end, Uniontown attempted to move the ball the length of the floor. However, with only 1.1 seconds remaining, they were unable to get off a desperation heave.
After the game, Uniontown girls' head basketball coach Dustin Miller, said he did not instruct Robinson to intentionally miss the second free throw.
"I told the girls at halftime we were just getting out-hustled," Miller said after the game. "I thought we matched up well with this team, and so I just challenged them, that they're really going to have to dig deep coming back the second half, and really hustle and go after those loose balls and play really good defense."
Down 28-17 at halftime, Uniontown came out on fire in the third quarter, keyed by freshman guard Shalina Harper, who hit two clutch 3-pointers in the quarter, and three on the night. Robinson was also a major factor in Uniontown's comeback, thoroughly dominating the interior, torching the Pleasanton defense for 22 points while cleaning up the offensive and defensive glass, en route to a 16 rebound performance. Harper finished with 10 points. For the Blu-Jays, a tough to defend Dent finished with 19 points, and Seacrest went for 13 points on the night.
"We made some adjustments to their screens that they were using to come across the paint and we talked about that and how to defend that better," Miller said. "We had some good moments out of each one of our girls. I'm senior heavy, so I have a lot of senior girls, and I look for them to really lead this team, and I hope we can grow from this and be better next time."
Uniontown's teams are idle until January 7 when they will host Jayhawk-Linn in a non-league doubleheader.
The league games against Pleasanton will be played February 14 at Pleasanton. The school's teams might also meet during Pleasanton's tournament in January.
Girls
PLEASANTON: Dent 7 4-4 19, Secrest 4 4-7 13, Howell 2 3-8 7, Lowe 0 0-2 0, Ellis 2 0-0 4, Mattingley 0 0-0 0, Sowards 1 0-0 2, Marshall 1 1-1 3. TOTALS: 17 12-23 48.
UNIONTOWN: E.Shinn 2 0-0 4, Travis 0 2-2 2, Harper 3 1-2 10, Stokes 1 2-2 4, Coyan 0 3-6 3, Wilkinson 0 0-0 0, Hathaway 0 0-0 0, Robinson 10 2-4 22, Ridge 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 27 10-16 47.
Pleasanton.............. 15 12 9 12 -- 48
Uniontown.............. 10 8 20 9 -- 47
Three-point field goals: Pleasanton 2 (Dent, Secrest), Uniontown 3 (Harper 3).
Total fouls: Pleasanton 17, Uniontown 24. Fouled out: None.
Boys
PLEASANTON: Bauer 7 1-4 16, Laver 0 1-2 1, Baker 2 2-3 6, Co.Campbell 6 1-2 13, Oberlechner 5 1-2 11, Ca.Campbell 3 0-0 6, Lowe 2 0-0 6, Epps 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 26 6-13 59.
UNIONTOWN: Gleason 1 3-4 5, Riley 6 2-5 17, Jo.Duffey 4 2-4 10, Ja.Duffey 8 1-4 17, Robinson 1 0-2 2, Miller 5 0-1 10, Johns 0 0-0 0, Wood 0 2-2 2. TOTALS: 25 10-22 63.
Pleasanton............. 12 21 10 16 -- 59
Uniontown............. 14 10 19 20 -- 63
Three-point field goals: Pleasanton 1 (Bauer), Uniontown 3 (Riley 3).
Total fouls: Pleasanton 21, Uniontown 13. Fouled out: Oberlechner, Lowe.