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Tigers, Hornets focus on big picture

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Neither local team won Saturday in the Hollidaysburg Roundball Classic, but both the Golden Tigers and Juniata Valley are a long way from the teams they’ll be in February when the games mean the most.

Hollidaysburg’s fourth-quarter rally came up short in a 57-47 loss to Fairfax, Va.’s J.W. Robinson in the championship game, and the short-handed Green Hornets fell to Susquehannock, 76-52, in the consolation game.

“I didn’t give one care if we won or lost the game, we just needed to get better,” Hollidaysburg coach Brad Lear said. “We always tell them, they have to get better every day. We have five new starters and a bench with no experience. We’re looking at the first week of January and gauging where we’re at then. We’ve improved and seen positives, we just couldn’t get two finishes in a row.”

The Golden Tigers fell behind 11-0 and didn’t score until Mitch Barton’s free throw with 5:15 to play in the first quarter. Hollidaysburg played even with the Rams from that point on but never really recovered.

“I told the kids at halftime, if you take away that start, we played tough with them,” Lear said. “They are a really good team, but that hole we dug ourselves into, we couldn’t dig ourselves out.”

The fast start was something J.W. Robinson and coach Ben Gildea had planned.

“Last year, we started games slow, so it’s been a point of emphasis to use a lot of energy and start fast,” said Gildea, a Juniata Valley graduate. “We have some good leadership and seniors who compete hard and play with a lot of heart. I’m from here, and I told them it means a lot for us to play in front of my friends and family. They played hard.”

J.W. Robinson’s size and toughness in the paint had an impact on a Golden Tigers’ roster without much varsity experience.

“We had 16 missed paint shots,” Lear said. “You’re not going to win many games when you can’t finish around the rim. They are long, which caused us to do a double-clutch in there and fade away from the basket.”

Sam Servello scored 12 of his 15 points in the first half to keep the Golden Tigers within striking distance, and Josh Holsopple scored all of his 14 points in the second half as they tried to complete a rally.

As Hollidaysburg (3-2) continues to improve as its players get experience, Juniata Valley simply needs its best players back on the court.

Starting point guard Cameron Collins missed Saturday’s game after being ejected in Friday’s first-round game despite never being accessed a technical. Quinn Zinobile, another senior starter, also didn’t play as he continues to rehab a hamstring injury suffered during football season. Both players shot around before the teams took the court.

“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” Juniata Valley coach T.J. Anderson said. “It’s really important that we get everybody acclimated and into their roles and what we want them to do right now. That way, we can get better as the season goes on.”

Other Green Hornets still aren’t in basketball shape after the football team made it all the way to the PIAA Class 1A semifinals.

“Each individual player is different,” Anderson said. “In the past, it takes about six or seven games before we get right, but they went deep this year. This is the first time we’ve experienced this in 30 years, so who knows? We have to just get everybody ready to compete.”

Juniata Valley (0-2) struggled mightily with Susquehannock’s press and turned the ball over frequently. The Warriors held a slim 24-22 lead before going on a 14-0 run to end the second quarter.

Jaxson Rand led the Green Hornets, who did connect on eight 3-pointers, with 15 points. Devin Deihl added 12 points, and Jacob Hensor scored 11.

“We didn’t have a chance to scrimmage at all,” Anderson said. “This is like our second scrimmage, if you really think about it. There’s going to be mistakes. We saw a lot of this in practice, but we’ll get there.”

Game notes: The all-tournament team included Susquehannock’s Jalen Franklin, Juniata Valley’s Deihl, Hollidaysburg’s Servello and J.W. Robinson’s Justin Elkin along MVP Tanner Laplante. … The Juniata Valley-Susquehannock game had to be briefly stopped twice, once for Grant Musser’s bloody nose and again when official Skip Dry was struck in the head by a basketball that knocked his glasses to the floor during a timeout. Both Musser and Dry were able to finish out the game.

SUSQUEHANNOCK 76, JUNIATA VALLEY 52

JUNIATA VALLEY (52): Reihart 0 1-3 1, Hensor 4 0-0 11, Jax. Rand 5 3-3 15, Deihl 5 0-0 12, Leri 1 0-0 2, Musser 1 2-2 5, Chamberlain 0 2-2 2, Rupert 0 0-0 0, Beck 0 0-0 0, Giles 0 0-0 0, Jay. Rand 0 1-2 1, Johnson 1 1-2 3. Totals — 17 10-14 52.

SUSQUEHANNOCK (76): Held 1 1-2 3, Eden 4 1-1 10, Holloway 3 0-0 6, Franklin 8 2-3 20, Staub 3 0-0 7, Ogude 9 1-2 19, Miller 3 0-0 6, Brusse 0 0-0 0, Pecunes 2 0-0 5, Ghant 0 0-0 0. Totals — 33 5-8 76.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Juniata Valley 16 6 17 13 — 52

Susquehannock 24 14 24 14 — 76

3-point goals: Juniata Valley 8 (Hensor 3, Jax. Rand 2, Deihl 2, Musser); Susquehannock 5 (Franklin 2, Eden, Pecunes, Staub).

Officials: Clark Adelman, Skip Dry, Jack McDougal.

Records: Juniata Valley (0-2); Susquehannock (2-4).

J.W. ROBINSON 57, HOLLIAYSBURG 47

J.W. ROBINSON (57): Elken 4 1-1 9, Laplante 3 4-4 12, Rowson 2 0-0 5, Powell 5 4-4 15, Pitter 2 1-1 5, Schnizer 1 1-2 3, Lajoie 3 0-1 6, Rothstein 0 0-0 0, Winchell 0 0-0 0, Ballenger 1 0-0 2. Totals — 21 11-13 57.

HOLLIDAYSBURG (47): Batzel 3 0-0 7, Delerme 2 0-0 4, Barton 1 3-4 5, Servello 4 3-4 15, Holsopple 4 2-2 14, Stevenson 0 0-0 0, Gildea 0 0-0 0, Chaney 0 0-0 0, Yeager 1 0-0 2. Totals — 15 8-10 47.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

J.W. Robinson 19 7 19 12 — 57

Hollidaysburg 7 8 11 21 — 47

3-point goals: J.W. Robinson 4 (Laplante 2, Powell, Rowson); Hollidaysburg 9 (Servello 4, Holsopple 4, Batzel).

Officials: Scott Johnson, Joe Hanna, Jordan Forster.

Records: J.W. Robinson (6-2); Hollidaysburg (3-2).

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