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Seniors make win extra special

Queen leads AAHS with 18 points

Photo for the Mirror by Chuck Meyers Altoona’s Tyler Petucci slices through the Mifflin County defense of Ryan Walker (23) and Tanner Hepner (32) on Saturday afternoon.

Altoona boys basketball coach Doug West penciled in a new starting lineup for his team’s game against Mifflin County on Saturday afternoon at the AAHS Fieldhouse.

After sputtering a bit in the early going, the senior starters got things rolling and helped the Mountain Lions pull away for a 64-37 victory over the Huskies on senior day.

Altoona seniors Jayvion Queen, Braeden Burchfield, Tyler Barry, Max Crownover and Tyler Petucci were honored before the game and were a big part of the victory.

“On senior day, it was special to have all five of them on the floor together,” said West, who plans on starting his five seniors the rest of the way. “It was good to get a ‘W.'”

Altoona ended a six-game losing skid and improved its record to 6-12. The Mountain Lions have a three-game week coming up — Monday at Latrobe, Wednesday at home in a rematch against Johnstown, and Friday at Williamsport — to close out the regular season.

“It was a big game for us,” said Queen, Altoona’s senior center, who finished with a team-high 18 points and 11 rebounds. “We started a new five, all seniors. We haven’t had the greatest stretch of games coming in, so we just wanted to have a fresh start and not worry about what happened in the past.”

The beginning of the first quarter didn’t start out smoothly for Altoona or Mifflin County. Both teams went scoreless for the first four minutes of the game. That’s when Altoona’s seniors got going. Barry found Queen for a layup as Altoona scored the first points of the game with a little less than four minutes to play in the opening quarter. The Barry-Queen duo hooked up again for a layup, followed by a Crownover runner and a Burchfield 3-pointer to give Altoona a 9-0 lead with just less than two minutes to play in the quarter.

“At the beginning of the game, in a game situation, it’s probably the first time our five guys have played together,” West said. “We practiced it all week, but there was probably some nervousness there. Then we got going a little bit.”

Tyreen Smalley hit a jumper in the lane at the 1:11 mark to finally put Mifflin County on the board. P.J. Charles converted a layup to close out the first quarter with Altoona up 11-2.

“We definitely didn’t get off the bus very well,” said Mifflin County coach Dave Sheetz of his team’s slow start. “Defensively, I thought we did a pretty good job. They only had 11 points in the first quarter, which we should be right there, but we only scored (two).”

Altoona opened the second quarter with a 13-2 run, as five different players scored, and bolted to a 24-4 lead with 1:55 left in the half. Mifflin County senior standout Ryan Walker, who will play at Division III McDaniel College next season, rattled off eight of his game-high 21 points in the quarter, but Altoona kept cruising and carried a 30-12 lead into halftime.

Queen, who does most of his offensive damage in the paint, popped out beyond the 3-point arc and nailed a trey to start the scoring in the third quarter. He added five more points as Altoona opened the third quarter on an 8-3 run, taking a 38-15 lead with 5:32 left. Queen picked up his fourth foul with 4:45 left in the third quarter but was able to play it smart the rest of the way and not foul out on senior day.

“He got his fourth foul in the third quarter, and I was going to take him out,” West said. “He was able to be the intelligent player and person that he is and stay out of foul trouble.”

Altoona’s Barry, in his first start, had six points and nine rebounds. Burchfield chipped in 13 points, while fellow seniors Petucci (six points) and Crownover (five) also were solid.

“Tyler Barry is a player that can rebound the basketball; he had a very strong season,” West said. “Braeden is a solid young man, a solid player. Max has had a good career playing here, and Tyler (Petucci) is just a workhorse.”

Mifflin County, which fell to 2-19, will close out its season Tuesday at Hollidaysburg.

MIFFLIN COUNTY (37): Wright 1 2-2 4, Collins 0 0-0 0, Smalley 2 2-4 6, Walker 10 0-0 21, Hepner 1 0-0 2, Cherry 0 2-6 2, Westover 0 0-0 0, Weaver 0 2-2 2, Stauffer 0 0-0 0, Scott 0 0-0 0. Totals — 14 8-14 37.

ALTOONA (64): Crownover 1 3-3 5, Burchfield 3 5-6 13, Barry 3 0-0 6, Petucci 2 2-2 6, Queen 7 3-5 18, Futrell 1 0-1 2, Carter 1 0-0 2, VonColln 1 0-2 2, Crockett 1 0-0 2, Charles 2 1-1 5, Becker 1 0-0 3, Robinson 0 0-0 0. Totals — 23 14-20 64.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Mifflin County 2 10 9 16 — 37

Altoona 11 19 15 19 — 64

3-point goals: Mifflin County 1 (Walker); Altoona 4 (Burchfield 2, Queen, Becker).

Records: Mifflin County (2-19); Altoona (6-12).

Officials: Skip Dry, Ray Wotkowski, Tracy Cornelius.

JV: Altoona, 65-26. High scorers–P.J. Charles, A, 16; Adam Sheetz, MC, 11.

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