HOLLIDAYSBURG – Mercy rule in basketball? You don’t see it often, but it happened here Tuesday night.

Hollidaysburg’s Golden Tigers ran over and around Huntingdon en route to an 86-39 thrashing of the Bearcats at the HAHS gym.

“It’s always good when you can have your guys who work hard in practice come in and play a whole quarter,” Hollidaysburg coach Brad Lear said. “That’s a pretty good feeling.

“It’s good to be able to get them in there because they work as hard as everyone else in practice.”

The Tigers bolted to a 20-3 lead in the first quarter as senior guards Max Sheetz (10) and Ryan Adams (six) combined for 16 points. Adams tallied eight more in the second and David Snyder hit for seven as the Tigers built a 38-3 advantage and prevailed 49-16 at the half.

Huntingdon brought a 3-3 record into the game and had scored 84 points in a loss at Tyrone.

“We saw them a couple times and knew their offensive patterns,” Lear noted. “They’ve had some games where they made 15 3-pointers.

“We’re giving up 44 points a game,” he continued, “so something had to give. We worked hard, had a good defensive plan, and the kids executed.”

The 40-point mercy rule took effect on a Jake Holsopple dunk that made it 58-18 at 3:17 of the third quarter. Holsopple scored 10 points in the third and finished with 16. Adams led the way with 19 and Sheetz added 12.

Lear cleared the Hollidaysburg bench and 12 of 14 players scored as the Tigers bounced back from their first loss of the season to Stafford, Va. in the finals of the Golden Tiger Classic.

“We scouted them and knew they were good, but we felt confident and thought we could beat them, ” Snyder said. “We’ve moved past the Stafford loss and have our sights on the district title.”

The Tigers lost to Somerset in the District 6 Class AAA championship game last season.

“That was very disappointing and motivated us over the summer,” said Snyder, a senior guard. “We’d like another shot at Somerset.”

Huntingdon coach Nick Payne was impressed with the Tigers.

“They’re a really, really good team,” Payne said. “They didn’t miss many shots tonight and we don’t have anyone to match up (inside) with Holsopple.

“This was an old-fashioned butt-whuppin’.”

Payne said he was disappointed with his team’s turnovers, but noted: “Hollidaysburg is a really solid team and is on a mission this year. They lost a heartbreaker last year in the district championship and they’ll be tough to beat this year.”

The Tigers are idle until the Tyrone Tournament on Dec. 28-29.

HUNTINGDON (39): Speck 1 0-0 2, Mitchell 3 1-1 7, Shetrom 2 2-2 8, Sellers 0 0-0 0, Price 1 0-0 3, Stratton 1 0-0 2, Rigby 3 1-1 7, Kyper 1 0-0 3, Holesa 1 1-2 3, Werner 0 0-0 0, Anderson 2 0-0 5, Sulesky 0 0-0 0. Totals – 15 5-6 39.

HOLLIDAYSBURG (86): Sheetz 4 2-2 12, Adams 7 2-2 19, Holsopple 8 0-1 16, Snyder 3 0-0 7, Viduya 2 2-2 7, Gildea 2 1-1 5, Frucella 3 0-0 6, Edgell 0 0-0 0, Haupt 2 0-0 5, Day 0 0-0 0, Miller 2 0-0 5, Clair 1 0-0 2, Ottaway 1 0-0 2. Totals – 35 7-8 86.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Huntingdon3 13 7 16 – 39

Hollidaysburg20 29 22 15 – 86

3-point goals: Huntingdon 5 (Shetrom 2, Kyper, Anderson, Price); Hollidaysburg 9 (Adams 3, Sheetz 2, Snyder, Viduya, Miller, Haupt).

Officials: Mike Andrews, Clark Adelman, Jack McDougal.

Records: Huntingdon (3-4); Hollidaysburg (7-1).

JV: Hollidaysburg, 53-33. High scorers-Sam Servello, H, 19.