Basketball

Penn Cambria makes a statement in 4A

TYRONE -- Tonight, the calendar will flip to 2022 and with that the district playoff races will really begin to heat up.

The Class 4A boys field so far has had one of the tightest races with teams like Penn Cambria, Tyrone and Central racking up a combined record of 21-3.

"Quad-A is insane," Penn Cambria coach Jim Ronan said. "Throw Bedford in there. It's going to be tough. We knew that this was a statement game. It's important for seeding. You want the first-round home playoff game. If you can get that first seed, I think that it's really critical.

"(Tyrone) and Central, you don't want to play them in the semifinals. It's a gauntlet. You'd rather face them in the finals. Every game's critical."

Thursday night in the Northern Blair Kiwanis-Reliance Bank Holiday Tournament, it was the Panthers and Golden Eagles meeting in a potential preview for the postseason. Penn Cambria made a strong opening statement with a 57-39 win in the event's championship game.

Central earlier this week came up with a sweep of its games at Hollidaysburg's Restore the Roar Classic where they defeated the host the Golden Tigers and Altoona.

"It's loaded (Class) 4A, just tough teams, multi-sport athletes, Bedford, Central, Tyrone," Tournament MVP Mason McCarthy said. "It was a great team win; Zach Grove did a heck of a job from the start playing defense on (Landen) DeHaas."

Grove kept the Golden Eagle sharpshooter to just eight points for the night as the home team had just one player in double figures for the evening.

The Panthers started off fast as Garrett Harrold's turnaround jumper with 5:15 in the opening frame to spark a 15-5 run which stretched into the second.

The Golden Eagles did cut the deficit down to five thanks to a layup and a foul shot from Ross Gampe to make it 21-16 Panthers at the half. Gampe led Tyrone with 10 points.

"We know we're going to see those guys again," Tyrone coach George Gripp said. "It's just unfortunate that we picked a bad time to play our worst game of the year. All credit to Penn Cambria. They made it tough on us. They didn't give us anything.

"We missed layups, we couldn't rebound, we were a step slow on defense. All of that stuff is a recipe for disaster."

During the third quarter, Vinny Chirdon nailed three triples to help stretch the Panther lead to 41-28. Chirdon finished the night with 12 points -- all coming from beyond the arc.

McCarthy put the game away for good in the fourth as he drew the bonus on his way to scoring a game-high 15 points and the tournament's MVP award.

"Mason kept us in it in the first half," Ronan said. "He had some really big plays. He's a tremendous leader for us. He does a little of everything, and he does it well. He put us on his back the first half.

McCarthy credits his teammates who helped him grab the MVP honor.

"They do such a good job getting me the ball, setting screens for me, doing everything that I need to do to put the ball in the hoop," he said. "They do whatever it takes to win."

Garrett Harrold also ended up in double figures for the Panthers with 14.

"Harrold and McCarthy were a handful for us," Gripp said. "They were unstoppable at times under the basket. Their guards hit timely 3s. They're a good squad, their record is for real."

Making the All-Tournament team were Ethan Weber (Bedford), Dawson Miller (Bellwood-Antis), DeHaas and Ross Gampe (Tyrone), Garrett Harrold and Kyle Reese (Penn Cambria).

B-A crushed

Kevin Ressler scored 20 points, and Mercury Swaim added 14 points as Bedford dominated Bellwood-Antis, 69-35, in the consolation game.

Dawson Miller and Kyler Sweigert led the Blue Devils, who didn't shoot a free throw in the game, with 11 points.

CHAMPIONSHIP

PENN CAMBRIA (57): Semelsberger 1 2-4 5, Gar. Harrold 5 4-15 14, McCarthy 6 2-4 15, Reese 3 1-2 9, Chirdon 4 0-1 12, Shuagis 0 0-0 0, Murphy 1 0-0 2, Laetterner 0 0-0 0. Totals--20 9-16 57.

TYRONE (39): Rhoades 2 3-6 8, Gampe 3 4-5 10, Lang 1 0-0 3, DeHaas 2 4-4 8, Gwynn 4 0-0 9, Legars 0 1-2 1, Ronan 0 0-0 0, Johnson 0 0-0 0. Totals--12 10-14 39.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Penn Cambria 12 9 20 16 -- 57

Tyrone 5 11 12 11 -- 39

3-point goals: Penn Cambria 8 (Semelsberger, McCarthy, Reese 2, Chirdon 4), Tyrone 3 (Rhoades, Lang, Gwynn)

Records: Penn Cambria (8-0); Tyrone (6-2).

Officials: Clark Adelmann, Randy Burkett, Rich Gergely.

CONSOLATION

BELLWOOD-ANTIS (35): Mallon 3 0-0 6, Wagner 0 0-0 0, Beiswenger 2 0-0 5, Shannafelt 1 0-0 2, Miller 5 0-0 11, Sweigert 4 0-0 11, Schreier 0 0-0 0, Buss 0 0-0 0, Pellegrine 0 0-0 0, Cacciotti 0 0-0 0. Totals--15 0-0 35.

BEDFORD (69): Swaim 5 2-4 14, Ressler 7 4-5 20, Vent 1 0-0 2, Weber 6 3-3 15, Washington 1 2-2 4, Arnold 1 0-1 2, Edwards 2 0-0 6, Hylton 2 2-2 6. Totals--25 13-17 69.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Bellwood-Antis 11 4 14 6 -- 35

Bedford 25 16 18 10 -- 69

3-point goals: Bellwood-Antis 5 (Beiswenger, Miller, Sweigert 3); Bedford 6 (Swaim 2, Ressler 2, Edwards 2).