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By John Hartsock
jhartsock@altoonamirror.com
HOLLIDAYSBURG -- High school basketball teams often make the largest strides toward their winter sports seasons because of the work they put in during the offseason.
For that reason, summer league competition is a lot more important than a run-of-the-mill pickup basketball game.
Both the Johnstown and Hollidaysburg boys basketball teams benefited greatly from their participation in the Blair Regional YMCA High School Boys Basketball League this summer, which wrapped up Wednesday night with Johnstown's 66-52 victory over the Golden Tigers in the title game.
Showcasing its outstanding speed, athleticism, and scoring balance, Johnstown rode a 16-2 run that began late in the first half and carried into the early part of the second half to wrap up a perfect 11-0 season in league play.
"We're a quick, athletic basketball team, and we have a lot of very smart players,'' Johnstown coach Ryan Durham said. "We've continued to just get better and better. That's been our focus all during this offseason.''
Johnstown got double-figure scoring from five players, led by a game-high 17-point effort from incoming senior Jahmir Collins. Donte Tisinger added 13 points, and Dion Dixon, Amire Robinson and Raheem Braswell chipped in 10 apiece for the Trojans.
"We have some really good basketball players on our team, with multiple guys being recruited by multiple colleges,'' Durham said. "Any time that you have college recruits on a high school basketball team, you're going to have a lot of different options.''
Hollidaysburg, which got a team-high 13 points from incoming senior Cole Walters and 10 from another incoming senior, Carson Rhodes, closed a 10-point first-half deficit to just one point, 29-28, on a 3-pointer by Walters late in the first half.
But Johnstown took command from that point, staging the 16-2 run that began on successive buckets by Dixon, to take a 33-28 lead at intermission.
Johnstown ballooned the lead to 45-30 by scoring 12 of the first 14 points to begin the second half, with Tisinger scoring two field goals, Robinson hitting a 3-pointer, Brawser and Collins both scoring buckets, and Dixon adding a free throw.
"We're young, with only two incoming seniors, and we're still learning. We play in spurts,'' Durham said. "We didn't play a complete game tonight, but when we turned it on during our spurts, it looked like Johnstown basketball.''
Hollidaysburg whittled its deficit to six points, 50-44, on a 3-pointer by Leyton Weimert with 8:35 remaining in the game, before Johnstown closed strong to cement the victory.
"Their coach does a nice job with them, and they have some really good players, but we have some really good players, too,'' said Hollidaysburg coach Brad Lear, whose team finished league play with a 10-1 record.
"We played them earlier in the summer, and they destroyed us, but our kids have made a lot of progress since then,'' Lear added. "We've been playing all over this summer, in three different leagues, and they're the best team that we've seen.
"But our team never quits, and that's a testament to our kids,'' Lear added. "I'm really excited about where we're headed going into next season.''
Game notes: Incoming Hollidaysburg senior Jake Hileman earned the league's Sportsmanship Award, which was voted on by the league officials. The award is sponsored by the Sheetz company.
JOHNSTOWN (66): Tisinger 6 0-1 13, Collins 7 3-3 17, Dixon 4 2-4 10, Alberter 1 0-0 3, Am. Robinson 3 2-3 10, Braswell 5 0-3 10, Ashcom 1 0-0 3. Totals -- 27 7-14 66.
HOLLIDAYSBURG (52): Weimert 3 1-2 8, Metzger 2 2-2 6, Walters 4 2-2 13, Hileman 3 0-2 6, Rhodes 5 0-0 10, Holsopple 2 0-0 4, Steiner 1 2-2 5, Albarano 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 20 7-11 52.
SCORE BY HALVES
Johnstown 33 33 -- 66
Hollidaysburg 28 24 -- 52
3-point goals: Johnstown 5 (Am. Robinson 2, Tisinger, Alberter, Ashcom); Hollidaysburg 5 (Walters 3, Steiner, Weimert).
Officials: Jim Racchini, Cliff Kitner, Sam Zambanini.
League records: Johnstown (11-0); Hollidaysburg (10-1).