HOLLIDAYSBURG — The Altoona Area High School boys basketball team hasn’t done a lot of winning the last two seasons with just three varsity victories, so building any type of confidence has been a challenge.

This summer, playing against some of the better local teams, the Mountain Lions may finally have found their building block.

Altoona capped off an outstanding run in the Blair Regional YMCA boys summer league with a 53-51 win over Huntingdon in the championship game on Wednesday.

“We have had a really nice summer,” Altoona coach Doug Pfeffer said. “Now we hope it carries on into the offseason, preseason and the season. These kids needed to see success. The last two years have not been good for Altoona basketball. Seeing kids win and being happy after games, knowing going into the games we have a chance to win — that’s been a big change. Seeing success on the court has helped us develop as a team. Hopefully it carries over to the season.”

Altoona’s Seth Simendinger drives to the basket against Huntingdon’s Javion Morris. Photo for the Mirror by Chuck Meyers

Altoona finished 10-1 in league play.

“It feels amazing after the season we had last year,” Altoona’s Parker White said. “I’m glad to see the guys bounce back, and it’s been that way all summer. It’s been great playing with these guys.”

Altoona trailed for most of Wednesday’s game and fell behind by as many as eight after a 10-0 run by the Bearcats midway through the second quarter but cut the deficit to four at halftime.

Elliott McCloskey, who led Altoona with 16 points, scored on a layup to begin the fourth quarter to tie the game. Huntingdon regained the lead by scoring six of the next eight points, but McCloskey used his size inside to score the next four and tie the game with 5:40 to play.

McCloskey missed a free throw after being fouled on his second basket, a theme for Altoona on a night the Mountain Lions went 0-for-10 from the line.

“Tomorrow morning at 6:15, we are holding foul-shooting practice, for sure,” said Pfeffer with a laugh.

Elliott Guisler, who led all scorers with 22 points, put Huntingdon back on top. The teams traded baskets before Malaki Shields tied the game on a layup with 2:40 to play.

Both teams missed opportunities to take the lead before Shields stole the ball and made a breakaway layup with 1:00 left to make it 53-51.

“Malaki has had an unbelievable summer for us,” Pfeffer said. “Our defense wasn’t the best tonight, but in a crucial point where we needed a stop, we got one. We’re capable of doing it. It’s just a matter of doing it consistently. That was a huge play for us.”

Altoona forced a five-second call turnover with 30.8 seconds left, and Javion Morris missed what would have been a go-ahead 3-pointer with 11 seconds left.

Guisler drove to the basket to try and tie the game but White drew a charge with 1.3 seconds left to seal the game.

“Parker, he’ll never slow down,” Pfeffer said. “He goes 100 percent the whole game. We’re going to be counting on him. We’re not very big, but he goes in and battles with the best of them. His contributions, any time he can score on putbacks or layups, that’s going to be key for us.”

Huntingdon finished the YMCA season at 8-3 after losing to Central in last year’s District 6 Class 4A championship game.

“I feel really good after this summer,” Huntingdon coach Jordan Fortson said. “Obviously it was a tough loss tonight, but we lost in the district championship game last year and lost six seniors last year. To turn around this summer and see a lot of success here and in the Nittany Valley, we have had a good summer. We have competed in just about every game we have played, and we feel good.”

Kobe Carthen added 13 points for the Bearcats.

“We just didn’t execute some things that we needed to execute down the stretch,” Fortson said. “That comes from these guys getting experience. We have open gyms, but we haven’t had practices to fix those little mistakes. I think once we’re able to have guys in those situations more and have them work through those things, I think we’ll be OK. We didn’t execute well enough at the end, and they did.”

Which is a tribute to an Altoona team that missed some opportunities to do so in its closer games last year.

“I believe some people don’t realize how hard the Mid-Penn is,” White said. “They have great teams around there. Nothing against the teams from around here, but there’s just a lot of talent there.”

White finished with 14 points, and Seth Simendinger had seven points — including Altoona’s lone 3-pointer.

“Mid-Penn is brutal,” Pfeffer said. “It’s tough having success. The last two years, we have not had success. We’ve had a really nice summer with some wins, but the summer isn’t about winning. It’s about getting better and more consistent, but winning sure adds to the growth of the team. These wins in January and December, hopefully they help us win close games in the Mid-Penn.”

ALTOONA (53): Greaser 2 0-0 4, Barr 1 0-0 2, White 7 0-2 14, Shields 3 0-0 6, McCloskey 8 0-3 16, D. Hicks 0 0-0 0, Pfeffer 1 0-2 2, Simendinger 3 0-3 7, Helsel 0 0-0 0, Chathams 0 0-0 0, Coldwell 1 0-0 2. Totals — 26 0-10 53.

HUNTINGDON (51): Guisler 8 5-7 22, Carthen 6 0-0 13, Morris 2 0-0 5, Sullivan 1 0-0 2, Cane 3 0-0 6, Zauzig 1 0-0 3, Nance 0 0-0 0, Nathurs 0 0-0 0. Totals — 21 5-7 51.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Altoona 12 13 14 14 — 53

Huntingdon 13 16 12 10 — 51

3-point goals: Altoona 1 (Simendinger); Huntingdon 4 (Guisler, Carthen, Morris, Zauzig).

Records: Altoona (10-1); Huntingdon (8-3).

Officials: Kevin Laird, Cliff Kitner, Jason Moschgat.