ALEXANDRIA - The Huntingdon boys basketball team beat Juniata Valley by 20 when the teams met around a month ago in the Huntingdon Lions Holiday Tournament at Juniata College.
Valley was a big hurdle on its home court Saturday night.
In a jammed pack gymnasium the Bearcats survivde the Green Hornets' stingy defense, 65-55.
Huntingdon coach Nick Payne, a JV grad, was impressed with the Hornets' improvement.
"This is a better team from what we saw at Juniata College," Payne said. "That is a good team out there, and I think, in [District 6 Class A], they are going to make some noise."
Huntingdon came out strong and took a 19-10 lead at the end of one quarter.
However, the Hornets heated up from beyond the arc in the second quarter, as John Pilch and Mason Varner each hit from long distance to pull within 31-27.
"We played four quarters of basketball instead of three and one half in the tournament," Juniata Valley coach Ron Anders said.
Varner finished with 15 points and hit three 3-pointers. Pilch finished with a team-high 20 points.
"Down there we tried to play them man, and they are a great group of athletes," Varner said. "We love playing in front of a big crowd, and tonight there was a lot of people here and that got us motivated."
Varner's 3 with a little more than four minutes left in the third quarter tied the game at 40, but Huntingdon carried a 51-47 lead into the fourth, where it outscored Juniata Valley, 15-8.
Jeremy Posey and Houston Riley led the Bearcats with 22 and 19 points, respectively, while Sean Houck scored 16.
"We practiced coming off the screens tonight, and my teammates were able to help me get free on those screens," Riley said.
HUNTINGDON (65): Gibboney 0 1-2 1, Coffman 0 0-2 0, Bennett 2 1-2 5, Ritchey 0 0-0 0, Keating 0 0-0 0, Plantt 0 0-0 0, Mitchell 1 0-0 2, Houck 8 0-0 16, Riley 7 5-6 19, Zoerner 0 0-0 0, Posey 7 8-9 22. Totals: 25 15-17 65.
JUNIATA VALLEY (55): Borst 1 2-4 4, Grissinger 0 0-0 0, Taylor 0 0-2 0, Gildea 4 1-2 9, Varner 6 0-2 15, Pilch 7 3-3 20, Rojik 2 0-1 4, Carper 1 0-0 3. Totals: 21 6-14 55.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Huntingdon19 12 19 15 - 65
Juniata Valley10 17 20 8 - 55
3-point goals: Huntingdon - none. Juniata Valley 7 (Pilch 3, Varner 3, Carper).
Records: Huntingdon (16-1). Juniata Valley (11-5).
JV: Huntingdon, 58-45. High scorers, Zoerner, H, 17; Taylor, JV, 13.
