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Altoona falls to Carlisle

In league play, it’s important to win your home games.

The Altoona Mountain Lions made their Mid-Penn Conference debut Tuesday night and dropped a 51-41 decision to Carlisle at the AAHS Fieldhouse.

“We let one get away, that’s for sure,” Altoona coach Doug West said.

The Lions jumped out to an early 14-3 lead, dominated most of the first half and led 30-22 at intermission.

Then came the third quarter — the disastrous third quarter — when the Lions scored only 2 points. Carlisle caught up and grabbed a 33-32 lead on Quentin Myers’ 3-pointer.

Except for a 6-point spurt in a span of 20 seconds, Altoona’s woes continued in the fourth quarter. The Lions didn’t score the last two minutes of the game and the Thundering Herd tallied the final 10 points to notch the victory.

“If you would have told me this group would score 2 points in a quarter and 11 in a half, I would have been shocked,” West said, shaking his head. “But, we did it today… just bad basketball.

“The shots were there. Everything was there. We just didn’t make anything.”

Carlisle got a brilliant performance from guard Howie Rankine, who poured in 35 points — 18 in the first half and 17 in the second.

“Rankine was big time,” Carlisle coach Andre Anderson said. “He did it all — all night. Our big guys — 6-foot-8 Trevor Hamilton and 6-6 James Barlow — didn’t score much, but did the dirty work under the boards.”

Carlisle held a 41-35 lead with less than three minutes left when the Lions scored six points in a 20-second span to tie the game at 41-all.

After Nate Cherry, who led the Lions with 19 points, scored on a layup, Tyler Becker stole a pass and fed Cherry for another bucket. Then Becker made another steal and scored, tying it at 41-all, with 2:08 remaining.

“Energy. Momentum for us,” West offered. “But, we didn’t score again.”

Carlisle called a timeout and regrouped. The Herd broke the Altoona press and got the ball to Rankine, whose layup put the visitors back on top.

“That was the play of the game,” Anderson said. “We broke the press and scored.”

It also broke the Lions’ backs.

The Lions couldn’t score but Rankine hit a short jumper and two free throws and Quentin Myers added four more free throws down the stretch to seal it for Carlisle.

“We’re the first to make the 2 1/2-hour trip here and get the victory,” a happy Anderson noted of the Herd’s Mid-Penn opening win.

Now 1-2 overall, the Lions travel to Harrisburg for another Mid-Penn test Friday.

“We just didn’t shoot the ball well and to see everything short … short, short, short,” West said, shaking his head. “I don’t think we made a jump shot the second half. For some reason, we were really stagnant tonight.

“This definitely shocked me. I didn’t see this coming.”

CARLISLE (51): Rankine 14 6-8 35, Nix 0 0-0 0, Ravenel 1 0-2 3, Barlow 1 1-3 3, Hamilton 0 0-0 0, Myers 1 4-4 7, Carothers 0 0-0 0, Young 0 0-0 0, Sulich 0 0-0 0, Burkett 1 0-0 3. Totals — 18 11-17 51.

ALTOONA (41): Cherry 8 0-2 19, Charles 4 2-3 10, Becker 2 0-0 5, Futrell 0 0-0 0, Von Colln 1 0-2 2, Crockett 2 0-0 5, Robinson 0 0-0 0, Pierce 0 0-0 0. Totals — 17 2-7 41.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Carlisle 4 18 11 18 — 51

Altoona 14 16 2 9 — 41

3-point goals: Carlisle 4 (Rankine, Ravenel, Myers, Burkett); Altoona 5 (Cherry 3, Becker, Crockett).

Officials: Randy Burket, Rich Gergely, Brandon Hoover.

Records: Carlisle (2-1); Altoona (1-2).

JV: Altoona, 51-42. High scorer–Ben Warren, A, 18.

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