Rising up

HOLLIDAYSBURG - This one couldn't have been scripted better.

Playing their first game in their new gym, against their neighboring rival, the Hollidaysburg Golden Tigers ran past the Altoona Mountain Lions, 63-41, Friday night.

The victory moved the Tigers into the championship game of the ninth annual Golden Tiger Roundball Classic tonight. The hosts will face St. John's of Washington, D.C., a 65-37 winner over Washington, W.Va. in the title game.

"We like being in the finals," Tiger coach Mick Pentoney said. "You can't win a championship unless you're there."

The Tigers used a balanced offense and stingy defense to dominate the Lions. Mike Appleman led the way with 13 points, Joel Redfoot tallied 12 and Jordan Swauger 11. Using both man and zone defenses, the Tigers forced Altoona into 23 turnovers and limited the Lions to 16 field goals.

Pentoney was pleased with the win, but he was just as pleased with the atmosphere.

"What a crowd," Pentoney said smiling. "That's what's really neat - the bigger picture. We have a great student body, our kids were excited, we're playing the town rival, and we win in the new gym.

"Overall, you can't ask for anything better."

Altoona jumped out to an 8-4 lead, but the Tigers responded by scoring 14 consecutive points - seven by Swauger - to take control.

"We kind of expected that they'd come out with an underdog mentality," Pentoney said. "We were very concerned with that.

"Their kids showed a lot of heart," he said. "[Xavier] Pierce and [Joe] Mooney really play heard, and I respect that. They punched us first, then we stepped back and got our thing going."

Swauger and Appleman both scored seven points in the first quarter as the Tigers bolted to a 20-12 lead. Redfoot hit three baskets in the second quarter as the hosts built their advantage to 32-19 at the intermission.

"We were hoping to do this," Appleman said of the fast start. "We've been playing them for a long time and knew what we wanted to do.

"First game in the new gym we wanted to come out hard, come out strong. It was very exciting."

Obviously, Altoona was hoping for a differnt start.

"We got off to a bad start," Altoona coach Paul Hasson said. "They're so balanced, they're a really nice team.

"For us to give up 20 points in the first quarter made it difficult to battle back from that deficit."

Altoona, which got 10 points apiece from Pierce and Bert Johnson, will face Washington in the consolation game this afternoon.

St. John's got 18 points from Julian DeBose in its win over Washington, which was led by 16 from Charles Haigler.

"It's going to be a tremendous challenge because of [St. John's] speed," Pentoney said of the title matchup.

Game notes: Pierce and Swauger were hit with technical fouls in the fourth quarter. Pierce was ejected and will not be able to play in today's consolation game. ... Swauger fouled out on the play, but was not ejected, and, therefore, not suspended from tonight's title game.

ALTOONA (41): Johnson 4 2-4 10, Pierce 3 1-3 10, Lee 2 0-2 4, Mooney 3 0-1 6, Barnes 1 0-0 2, Gingrich 1 0-0 2, Colledge 0 0-0 0, Lingaflet 0 0-0 0, Moyer 2 1-4 6, Adams 0 0-1 0, Skelley 0 1-2 1, Price 0 0-0 0, Mignogna 0 0-0 0, Yon 0 0-0 0. Totals -16 5-17 41 .

HOLLIDAYSBURG (63): Cassidy 3 0-0 6, Swauger 4 2-2 11, Redfoot 5 2-6 12, Appleman 4 4-4 13, Rhodes 3 0-0 6, Shannon 2 0-0 5, Keefer 2 2-3 6, Ellis 0 0-0 0, Foreman 1 0-0 2, Ford 1 0-0 2, Baum 0 0-0 0, Yeager 0 0-0 0. Totals - 25 10-15 63.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Altoona12 7 8 14 - 41

Hollidaysburg20 12 12 19 - 63

3-point goals: Altoona 4 (Pierce 3, Moyer); Hollidaysburg 3 (Shannon, Swauger, Appleman).

Records: Altoona (2-2); Hollidaysburg (2-2).

Officials: Kevin Lewis, Don Hosterman, Jeff Fisher.