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Devils reach championship as Holsinger tosses in 24

Central Cambria will face Conemaugh Township as Penn Cambria falls

EBENSBURG–The Central Cambria boys basketball team got their season off to a strong start last night in the Ron Davidson Roundball Classic.

The Red Devils got strong post play from Matt Holsinger, made seven 3-pointers, and played strong defense en route to an 82-46 victory over Penns Manor.

“We wanted to come out, right from the start, and get to them early and put some pressure on them,” Central Cambria coach Adam Stephan said. “I think we were able to do that. I thought we played some very unselfish basketball tonight. They tried to press us a little bit, and I thought we were able to break their press. When they went to the zone I thought we had some good ball movement. We were able to get the ball in to Matt. He was able to get some good passes inside out, and we were able to knock down some shots from the outside. That kind of opened things up for us.”

Holsinger proved to be a force from the start of the game. He scored nine of his game-high 24 points in the opening quarter. He capped his strong quarter with a three pointer that gave the Red Devils a 21-12 lead late in the opening quarter. Central Cambria held a seven-point lead after eight minutes.

With Penns Manor having to use help defense on Holsinger, the outside opened up in the second frame. The Red Devils hit four 3-pointers in the second quarter, led by Justin Bezek’s three treys. Alex Persio added another 3-pointer. The strong shooting from Central Cambria allowed it to take a 47-28 lead at intermission.

The Red Devils clamped down on defense in the second half with a large lead. They only allowed the Comets to make six baskets and score 18 points in the second half. Offensively, Central Cambria continued to run their offense through Holsinger, which also set up other players to score. In addition to Holsinger, Luke Bennett (17 points) and Bezek (11 points) netted double figures.

Penns Manor only put one player in double figures, Brandon Baird with 10 points.

The Red Devils will face an unexpected team in the title game — Conemaugh Township.

The Indians closed out the first half with a 10-0 run and ended the game on a 6-0 spurt to defeat Penn Cambria and earn a title game battle with Central Cambria.

Early on, it looked like the Panthers had things going their way. They jumped out to an early 18-9 lead early in the second quarter. However, they went cold shooting from the field. Conemaugh Township rode the hot shooting of guard Jordan Poznanski to get back into the game. Poznanski had 15 points in the second quarter, as Conemaugh Township turned a nine point deficit into a 32-22 halftime lead.

“Poznanski did a lot,” Penn Cambria coach Jim Ronan said. “We were trying to take the ball out of his hands, but we did a bad job with that. We were tired, and had foul trouble, and were not able to be as aggressive as we would like to with him.”

Penn Cambria chipped away at the lead in the second half. The Panthers made a third quarter run that trimmed the lead to 41-38 going into the final frame. The Panthers finally got their outside shooting game going in the fourth quarter. Braedon O’Donnell, Richard Perrone, and Jake Tsikalas hit back to back to back three pointers to tie the game at 55-55. However, Penn Cambria could not grab game the lead. Conemaugh Township scored the final six points of the game to earn a hard fought 61-56 victory.

Penn Cambria will face Penns Manor in the consolation game at 6 p.m., followed by Central Cambria against Conemaugh Township in the title game.

“Conemaugh Township plays extremely hard,” Stephan said. “They broke Penn Cambria’s press very well, and they finished around the rim. Poznanski is a really tough player, so we are going to have our hands full with him. They are a very well coached team and play extremely hard, so we are going to have to come ready to play.”

CONEMAUGH TWP 61, PENN CAMBRIA 56

CONEMAUGH TOWNSHIP (61): J. Poznanski 11 10 34, Witkosky 2 2 6, Foster 2 0 4, Leasure 0 3 3, Myers 0 1 1, Stumpf 0 0 0, Brennamen 4 1 9, T. Poznanski 2 0 4. Totals 21 17-26 61.

PENN CAMBRIA (56): O’Donnell 6 0 15, Shuagis 1 0 2, T. Perrone 4 0 9, Ronan 5 8 18, Garrett 0 2 2, R. Perrone 1 1 4, Smith 0 0 0. Totals 30 9-15, 75.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Conemaugh Twp. 9 23 9 20–61

Penn Cambria 12 10 16 18–56

3-point goals: Conemaugh Towhship 2 (J. Poznanski); Penn Cambria 7 (O’Donnell 3, Tsikalas 2, T. Perrone, R. Perrone, ).

Records: Penn Cambria (0-1); Conemaugh Township (1-0).

C. CAMBRIA 82, PENNS MANOR 46

CENTRAL CAMBRIA (82): A. Persio 3 0 8, Bennett 6 4 17, Knopp 2 3 7, Bezek 4 0 11, Holsinger 8 7 24, J. Persio 0 3 3, Melnyk 1 0 2, Young 2 0 4, Walwro 2 0 4, Beecher 1 0 2. Totals 29 17-23 82.

PENNS MANOR (46): Elliot 0 0 0, Hamilton 3 2 9, Horwat 0 0 0, Busovicki 4 9 18, Dumm 5 0 13, Baird 3 4 10, Grimaldi 1 0 2, Lieb 1 0 2, Detwiler 0 0 0, Chiodini 0 1 1, Baum 0 0 0. Totals 17 7-20 46.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Central Cambria 21 26 14 21–82

Penns Manor 14 14 11 7 –46

3-point goals: Central Cambria 7 (Bezek 3, A. Persio 2, Bennett, Holsinger) Penns Manor 5 (Dumm 3, Busovicki, Hamilton).

Records: Central Cambria (1-0); Penns Manor (0-1)

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