Tigers suffer first setback
By John Hartsock
jhartsock@altoonamirror.com
HOLLIDAYSBURG — Hollidaysburg boys basketball coach Brad Lear refers to Forest Hills’ imposing scoring tandem of junior center/forward Brandon Gregovich, sophomore forward Dylan Stohon and junior guard Koy McGough as being “a three-headed monster” for the Rangers.
They certainly proved to be just that Friday night, as Forest Hills led from start to finish and overpowered the Golden Tigers, 67-51, in a battle of unbeaten Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference teams that provided the front end of a boys-girls doubleheader between the two schools at the Hollidaysburg Area Senior High School.
The 6-foot-3 Gregovich scored 18 points, the 6-foot-5 Stohon added 17, and the 6-foot-1 McGough chipped in 10 for a quick, athletic Forest Hills team that improved to 10-0 overall and 7-0 in the conference, while showing every indication that it possesses the ability to simply wear opponents down.
“It was a combination of them playing really well and us not playing so well tonight,” Lear said. “We ran into a buzz-saw tonight. They have that three-headed monster of Stohon, Gregovich and McGough, and they’re a good basketball team that pretty much had an answer for everything that we did.
“It was a pretty frustrating night,” Lear added.
Forest Hills won every quarter, leading 15-10 after one stop, 32-23 at halftime, and 53-40 after three periods.
Forest Hills put together a 17-5 run at the start of the third quarter to build its biggest lead of the night, 21 points at 49-28, and put the game out of reach. Hollidaysburg could get no closer than to within 11 points, 54-43, early in the fourth quarter.
Three field goals by Stohon — who also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds — along with a 3-pointer and field goal from McGough, two buckets from Gregovich, and a field goal by sophomore forward/center Nathan Gabany, comprised the big third-quarter run for Forest Hills.
“Brandon Gregovich does a real good job inside for us, Dylan Stohon is our playmaker on the wing, and Koy McGough is a prototypical guard who is a shooter and playmaker for us,” Forest Hills coach Dominic Vescovi said.
“Hollidaysburg is a really good team that is very well-coached,” Vescovi added. “As a team, we’ve showed balance and toughness, and we’ve matured as a team.”
The Rangers showcased their agility and quickness in running their fast break to perfection and moving the ball skillfully down the court all night long.
“We have a lot of three-sport athletes and a couple of other guys who are mostly basketball players, but who are very good in this sport,” Vescovi said. “Tonight was a fairly typical performance for our three big scorers, but we have eight guys on our roster who possess the potential to reach double figures for us in every game.”
Junior Kasen Metzger led all scorers with 26 points for Hollidaysburg (7-1, 5-1), and he also grabbed a team-high six rebounds. Forest Hills fashioned a 34-27 overall advantage in rebounds, and the Rangers converted 28 of their 53 floor shots in the game for a 52.8 percent clip, while Hollidaysburg made 20 of its 54 shots for 37 percent.
“Our effort was there — I loved the effort that our players showed in cutting into their lead,” Lear said. “But we were just a step slow at times tonight.”
FOREST HILLS (67): Stohon 8 1-2 17, McGough 4 0-0 10, Gremling 2 4-5 8, Gregovich 9 0-0 18, Richardson 2 0-0 4, Gabany 1 2-2 4, Williamson 1 1-1 3, Edmundson 1 1-2 3, Middleton 0 0-0 0, Tokarsky 0 0-0 0, Myers 0 0-0 0. Totals – 28 9-12 67.
HOLLIDAYSBURG (51): Metzger 11 2-2 26, Steiner 3 1-2 7, Bell 0 0-0 0, Delerme 2 4-4 9, Wolfe 1 0-0 2, J. Albarano 0 1-4 1, V. Albarano 1 0-0 2, Stultz 0 0-0 0, Zimmerman 2 0-0 4. Totals – 20 8-12 51.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Forest Hills 15 17 21 14–67
Hollidaysburg 10 13 17 11–51
3-point goals: Forest Hills 2 (McGough 2); Hollidaysburg 3 (Metzger 2, Delerme).
Records: Forest Hills (10-0, 7-0); Hollidaysburg (7-1, 5-1).
Officials: Wally Reimer, Sarah Fye, Dave Wright.