Eagles do just enough to get win
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By Matt Michelone
sports@altoonamirror.com
TYRONE -- Friday night's Reliance Bank Kiwanis Club Boys' Basketball Tournament championship had the perfect mix of everything for Tyrone and Penn Cambria.
Extended runs, huge turnovers, and huge points that helped swing the game for much of the evening.
The Golden Eagles, though, survived this matchup of Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference foes with a 77-67 triumph over the Panthers.
"Early on this year we lost two games that we had leads at halftime," Tyrone coach Lucas Rhoades said." You don't know what's going to happen in the third quarter, and these guys came out and they played with so much heart and desire against a great team.
"Penn Cambria plays so hard and they're always in the right spots. For our guys to come out and be able to execute and make things happen, I'm real proud of that."
Tyrone started off strong as Sam Crilly drove to the bucket with about four minutes in the first to give the home team the early 12-7 lead. He was one of four Eagles to finish the evening in double figures as he scored 15 points.
Ashton Walk created problems defensively as he set up Kendall Lehner - the tournament MVP - off a steal for a layup which helped extend that advantage to 23-14. Lehner led all scorers with 22 points.
"(Walk)'s playing really unselfish basketball; he's seeing the floor," Rhoades said. "He's performing his role to perfection and he's making us a lot better. I'm really excited with where his game is going."
Penn Cambria started to chip away at what ended up being an 11-point lead for Tyrone powered by three three-pointers from Brandon Rabish in the second quarter as the Panthers went on a 19-2 run.
Rabish finished with 15 points - 12 of them off of the long ball - as Penn Cambria took a 38-32 lead into the locker room.
"I thought we did a good job first half rebounding, second half, they got a few more on some of our misses and they leaked out," Penn Cambria coach Jim Ronan said. "They got a ton of those hustle balls that led to easy points."
That is when Tyrone's fortune changed as Ashton Walk drew the and-1, and later found Lehner following a take way to give the Golden Eagles a 42-41 lead midway through the third quarter.
Later in the third Crilly drive to the bucket helped extend the Golden Eagle lead to 54-49 after the third.
"That's the toughness we want to play with," he said. "He went down with a little bit of a cramp, but he got it worked out and got back in there. He guarded their top scorer and did a great job. Offensively and defensively, he's coming to where we need him to be."
Dravyn Crowell would help put the game away in the fourth as he scored 13 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter.
"We had a nice run going in the second quarter and then we let it go," Ashton Walk said. "We had a nice speech at halftime, and we came out and played our hearts out the rest of the game. It was a big third quarter to get back into the lead."
These two teams will have a rematch next Friday in Cresson.
McDermott and Easton Semelsberger were named to the all-star team along with Crilly, and Ashton Walk and Anthony Caracciolo from Bellwood-Antis.
PENN CAMBRIA (67): McDermott 5 3-5 13, E. Semelsberger 5 1-4 13, Harrold 5 0-0 12, Rabish 5 1-2 15, Gibbons 5 0-0 12, Farabaugh 1 0-0 2, Lilly 0 0-0 0, Plunkett 0 0-0 0, L .Semelsberger 0 0-0 0. Tremel 0 0-0 0. Totals: 26 5-11 67.
TYRONE (77): Crilly 5 5-6 15, A. Walk 5 4-6 14, Lehner 9 4-5 22, Crowell 7 1-2 15, Woomer 1 0-2 3, Ronan 2 0-0 5, M. Emigh 0 0-0 0, A. Emigh 1 1-2 3. Totals: 30 15-21 77.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Penn Cambria 14 24 11 18 - 67
Tyrone 21 11 22 23 - 77
3-point field goals: Penn Cambria 10 (McDermott 2, Harrold 2, Farabuagh 2, Rabish 4), Tyrone 2 (Ronan, Woomer)
Records: Penn Cambria (4-5), Tyrone (6-2).
Officials: Randy Burkett, Rich Gergley, Ethan Vipond.