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Mtn. Lions come up short

Kurt VonColln gets to the basket for a layup in between Tommy Fryberg (2) and Brenden Franks (20)

HOLLIDAYSBURG — With only two teams, State College and Altoona, entered in this year’s District 6 Class 6A boys basketball tournament, it turned out to be a matter of quality over quantity in the field.

Thursday night’s championship game between the schools was a barnburner at the Hollidaysburg Area Senior High School gymnasium, and State College coach Brian Scholly expected that it would be.

“That’s our goal every year, to win District 6,” Scholly said after watching his squad carry the fourth quarter, 14-11, to win the district gold medal with a 56-53 victory. “There’s not a ton of teams, but there’s plenty of competition. You could tell how hard Altoona played. (Altoona) coach (Doug) West had them incredibly well-prepared. We knew that it would be a battle, and we were fortunate to come out on top.”

Altoona coach Doug West has also seen improvement in his team over the past three seasons, with State College as the barometer.

“I think the last two games with State College have been very competitive, compared to where we had been in the previous four against them,” said West, the Mountain Lions’ third-year coach. “Tonight was a competitive game, but I thought that in the second half, for the most part, they manhandled us on the boards, and the 50-50 balls went in their favor.”

Junior forward P.J. Charles, who scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, concurred with West.

“I think (State College had too many offensive rebounds and too many possessions,” Charles said. “I think we got outworked on the 50-50 balls, and I take some of the blame for that.”

State College fashioned a 25-13 edge in rebounds, with senior forward Brenden Franks grabbing 12.

“Everybody just played so well for us, and everybody played so hard,” said Franks, who scored 16 points. “We were ready to bring it to them and throw our punches the whole game, no matter how many they threw.”

With the score tied, 42-42 after three quarters, State College (13-9) threw enough punches in the fourth quarter to win.

After senior guard Tommy Friberg, who scored 14 points, hit a driving bucket to give the Little Lions a 49-47 lead, he was fouled and completed the 3-point play with a free throw to put State College ahead, 50-47.

Charles drove inside for a field goal to pull Altoona to within 50-49, before Franks cashed in a putback to give State College a 52-49 advantage.

A floater from outside the key by Altoona senior Nate Cherry pulled the Mountain Lions to within 52-51 with 1:50 left, and after senior Cam Villarouel — who led State College with 18 points — missed a jumper from the key, Charles grabbed the rebound.

Cherry’s 20-footer from the left side rimmed in and out with 1:11 left, Franks pulled down the rebound, and State College brought the ball up the court.

Villarouel missed a shot, Charles grabbed the rebound, but Friberg came up with a big steal with 42 seconds left.

“I just saw the opportunity and I went for it,” Friberg said. “It helped give us momentum and pumped our guys up.”

Friberg was fouled, and with 35 seconds left, he made both free throws to put State College ahead, 54-51.

Altoona called a timeout, and when play resumed, Mountain Lions’ senior Aaron Foose, who scored 13 points, tried a 3-pointer from the right side that missed badly.

Junior guard Johnny Friberg grabbed the rebound, was fouled with 19 seconds left, and made one of two to give State a 55-51 lead.

Foose drove inside for a bucket to pull Altoona to within 55-53 with six seconds left, but State College broke the Altoona press and junior guard Cole Friberg was fouled. He made one of two free throws to set the final score at 56-53.

“I thought our defense picked it up in the second half,” Scholly said. “In the second half, we defended with a little more intensity.”

Altoona came out strong early, building a 21-11 second-quarter lead on Charles’ driving bucket and a 38-30 advantage on senior guard Kurt VonColln’s driving field goal in the third quarter.

State College closed the third quarter with a 12-4 run capped off by Tommy Friberg’s 3-pointer to pull into the 42-42 tie after three quarters.

Altoona played Thursday’s championship game without the services of two top players — starting junior guard K.J. Futrell and junior reserve Caleb Pierce — who both sat out due to a violation of team rules.

“We were short two but I thought the rest of the guys did a great job stepping up,” West said.

State College advances into the District 6-8-10 subregional tournament next week. Altoona (8-14) must play a play-in game to the subregional on Saturday afternoon against Erie High School at Central Cambria High School.

The Mountain Lions must win that game, and another subregional game next week, to qualify for the PIAA playoffs.

“We have to win two games to get to states,” West said. “We’ve got to rebound. We’ve got young guys who worked for this (district championship) and are devastated.”

STATE COLLEGE (56): J. Friberg 2 1-2 6, T. Friberg 5 3-4 14, Villarouel 7 1-2 18, Kile 0 1-2 1, Franks 6 3-5 16, Lusk 0 0-0 0, Standridge 0 0-0 0, C. Friberg 0 1-2 1. Totals — 20 10-17 56.

ALTOONA (53): Cherry 3 0-0 8, Robinson 1 0-0 3, Charles 9 1-1 19, Foose 5 0-0 13, VonColln 3 2-2 8, Crockett 1 0-0 2, Becker 0 0-0 0. Totals — 22 3-3 53.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

State College 11 15 16 14 — 56

Altoona 16 15 11 11 — 53

3-point goals: State College 6 (Villarouel 3, J. Friberg, T. Friberg, Franks); Altoona 6 (Foose 3, Cherry 2, Robinson).

Records: State College (13-9); Altoona (8-14).

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