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Richland ousts Highlanders

JOHNSTOWN — After falling behind by 11 points at the half against Richland, Cambria Heights used a third quarter run to get back into the game.

It appeared that the lead would be cut to at least five points when Liam Wholaver hit a basket midway through the third quarter and a foul was called on the play. However, instead of having a free throw attempt to trim the lead to four points, Wholaver was called for a charging foul, negating the basket. The Rams grabbed the momentum from the play to quickly pushed the lead back to double digits, ending the Highlanders season with a 62-45 loss in the District 6 3A quarterfinals.

“It was definitely a momentum swing,” Cambria Heights coach Eric Nagel said. “The basket would have cut it to five, and if he makes the foul shot he cuts it to four, but you have to respond and defend. We just had way too many turnovers tonight, especially to start the game. That kind of hurt us.”

Despite being down the whole first half, the Highlanders came out of the locker room for the second half with energy. Wholaver opened the half with a 3-pointer from the corner to cut the lead to single digits. After a Caleb Burke trey for Richland, Damon Maul made two baskets and a free throw for a quick 5-0 spurt to further cut into the lead. However, Wholaver’s charge followed.

Cambria Heights was not able to respond after the call. Richland rolled off a 15-6 run over the ending stages of the third quarter and early in the final frame to push the lead back to double digits, 51-38. The Rams hit 10-of-15 free throws in the final quarter to maintain their lead, as they ended the Highlanders’ season.

“They have a couple of guys who can stand outside the arc and shoot,” Richland coach Greg Burke said. “I talked to our guys all season long that we need to take charges, and that charge was key. We got the ball back, and it was a turnover for the other team. After that we got our hands on a couple of basketballs. They were a little lazy with the ball, which we converted into transition basketball.”

Turnovers were also problem for the Highlanders early in the game. Richland jumped out to a quick 9-2 lead and held a 20-11 advantage after eight minutes. Cambria Heights had nine turnovers in the opening frame, with three of those turnovers resulting in Richland layups. The deficit would have been larger, but Wholaver hit a 3-pointer from just inside half court at the buzzer with Richland guard Caleb Burke in his face.

“We started out tight,” Nagel said. “We talked all week that coming in this is a playoff atmosphere. We had seen them twice, and knew that we could not turn over the basketball. We did that at the start and just dug ourselves too big of a hole. We didn’t do that in the second half.”

Wholaver took the momentum from the buzzer beater into the second frame, netting two more treys and eight points in the second quarter. His second 3-pointer trimmed the Rams lead to 30-21 with 3:05 left in the half. Unfortunately for the Highlanders, they went scoreless the rest of the period. Richland struggled offensively as well late in the half. They made only one basket during that stretch — a baseline jumper by Joe Hauser with :55 left in the half, that sent Richland to intermission with a 32-21 lead.

Wholaver (22 points) and Preston Lamb (10) were the only Highlanders players in double digits. Richland was led by Burke (19), Hauser (18) and Collin Instone (14).

The loss ends the Highlanders season, and the careers for seven seniors. Three of those seniors, Wholaver, Nathan Lamb and Damon Maul, are starters who will have to be replaced next year.

“This senior group, we just said in there, is a great group of kids,” Nagel said. “They came every day to practice and wanted to work and wanted to get better. We made the playoffs and were the seventh seed. Obviously we are going to miss those guys in there, but it’s time that those other guys are going to have to step up.”

CAMBRIA HEIGHTS (45): Wholaver 7 3-5 22, N. Lamb 1 1-2 3, Maul 4 1-1 9 9, Farabaugh 0 0-0 0, P. Lamb 4 1-2 10, Yeckley 0 1-2 1, Coover 0 0-0 0, Weakland 0 0-0 0, McCombie 0 0-0 0, Bearer 0 0-0 0, Lieb 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 7-12 45.

RICHLAND (62): Instone 5 4-8 14, Hauser 8 1-2 18, Felton 1 0-0 3, Burke 7 4-9 19, Bailey 2 4-4 8, Ford 0 0-0 0, Stahl 0 0-0 0, Sloan 0 0-0 0, Maldet 0 0-0 0, Batche 0 0-0 0, Wolf 0 0-0 0. Totals – 23 13-23 62.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Cambria Heights 11 10 11 12 — 45

Richland 20 12 10 20 — 62

3-point goals: Cambria Heights 6 (Wholaver 5, P. Lamb); Richland 3 (Hauser, Felton, Burke).

Records: Cambria Heights (12-11); Richland (18-6).

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