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Lions not able to keep pace with State

TYRONE — Doug West knew his Altoona Area High School boys basketball team was going to have its hands full in the District 6 Class 6A boys championship game with State College as soon as the brackets came out.

When he found out the morning of the game that starting two guard Max Crownover probably was out for the playoffs with a case of mono, he realized his backcourt’s challenge to handle State’s lengths and trapping defense just got a lot tougher.

When Mountain Lion senior point guard Shawn Gibson picked up his second foul less than 6 minutes into the title contest … well, you get the picture.

Altoona was up to the task for 8 minutes, actually leading the top-seeded Little Lions, 21-20, after the first quarter. However, as the game progressed, State’s depth, defense and fastbreaking took its toll, enabling the Little Lions to pull away for a 73-47 victory over the Mountain Lions on Friday night at Tyrone Area High School.

“We were playing strong. We were going hard,” said Gibson, who fronted Altoona with 16 points despite fouling out on a charge near midcourt with 34.1 seconds left in the third quarter and State up 15. “As the game goes on, though, we get fatigued, and everyone just slowly stops talking on defense, and everyone stops playing so hard and we make lazy plays.”

After having eight field goals in the first quarter, Altoona made just six the rest of the way, including none in the second period, which State College carried, 20-8, to take a 40-29 halftime lead. A big reason was that Altoona, short on guards, committed 26 of its 29 turnovers in the final 24 minutes and only got 30 shots off in that span.

Jayvion Queen finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Mountain Lions, who slipped to 11-12 and now must play District 8 representative Allderdice either March 3 or 4 for a spot in the PIAA tournament.

“One of the things we talked about was taking care of the ball. They got their hands on some balls. We turned the ball over a few times. Even when we were able to get it back down to six points (late in the first half), I think we had three straight turnovers,” West said. “We wanted to take care of the ball and make sure we had opportunities to do something.”

With four starters at least 6-foot-3, though, State College’s length made that hard to do. The Little Lions won their third straight D6 title and sixth in seven years and now will get two weeks to rest before opening the state playoffs.

“We wanted to pressure them. We knew that Gibson is very good with the ball, but we wanted to maintain pressure for 32 minutes,” State College coach Joe Walker said after his team improved to 20-4. “They hurt us in the lane in the first quarter, but we went to a zone, and we give teams trouble with our length. We make it tough for them to penetrate, tough for them to make passes.”

The Little Lions also gave Altoona fits with their bench: State College’s reserves outscored the Mountain Lions’, 37-8. Sub Ryan McNulty led the Little Lions in scoring with 13 points, while fellow reserve Keaton Ellis added 10, joining starter Drew Friberg (10) in double figures.

“It was a big night, indeed. However, our bench has no trouble coming in and producing,” said McNulty, who scored seven in the last 4 minutes of the first quarter and had tossed in 11 by halftime. “The guys coming off the bench can contribute just like the starters.”

Altoona definitely missed Crownover, a junior who shoots the 3 well and averages in double figures. West expects to have a little help when the Mountain Lions play Allderdice with the return of guard Kurt VonColln, who has been out most of the season.

“I had to handle the ball a lot more on the press-break (without Crownover). He’s a confident ballhandler, and he can take the ball up the court, too,” Gibson said. “It’s kind of hard (against State College) when you don’t have a lot of people who can dribble the ball up the court.”

Gibson scored nine and Queen five in the first quarter, when Altoona led by as many as eight.

“They’re a well-oiled machine,” West said of State. “I believe if we came in here and executed, we would give them a game. The first quarter showed. We moved the ball and were able to do things. They made an adjustment, and we just didn’t take care of the ball.”

Still, the Mountain Lions will have another chance to punch a ticket to states. That game will be at a site to be announced.

“I told everybody, ‘We didn’t win District 6, but don’t get lazy,'” Gibson said. “We still have a chance to do what we could have done tonight.”

ALTOONA (47): Gibson 4 6-6 16, Scharf 1 2-2 4, Zerbee 2 0-0 6, Petucci 0 2-4 2, Queen 4 3-10 11, Barr 0 0-0 0, Barry 0 0-0 0, Day 0 0-0 0, Ajay 1 0-0 2, Cherry 0 0-0 0, Robinson 0 0-0 0. Totals — 14 15-24 47.

STATE COLLEGE (73): Bokunowicz 2 0-0 5, T. Friberg 4 0-0 8, D. Friberg 3 3-4 10, Clark 1 0-0 2, Sekunda 4 0-0 9, Ellis 4 2-3 10, McNulty 5 2-4 13, Scanlon 1 2-2 4, Benner 2 0-0 4, Koudela 1 1-1 3, Huff 0 0-0 0, Shaffer 1 1-1 3, Schaefer-Hood 0 0-0 0. Totals — 28 11-15 73.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Altoona 21 8 12 6 — 47

State College 20 20 14 19 — 73

3-point goals: Altoona 4 (Gibson 2, Zerbee 2); State College 4 (McNulty, D. Friberg, Bokunowicz, Sekunda).

Records: Altoona (11-12); State College (20-4).

Officials: Dave Reimer, Cliff Kitner, Jason Moschgat.

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