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By Nate Ritchey
nritchey@altoonamirror.com
EBENSBURG -- Hollidaysburg began its game with Central Cambria in complete control and with everything going its way.
The Red Devils quickly regrouped and made a game of it all the way to the end.
The game went into overtime and the Golden Tigers were able to knock down enough free throws and get enough defensive stops to escape with a 71-66 victory.
"We kind of thought they (Central Cambria) were going to come out and press us full court which is what we wanted," Hollidaysburg coach Brad Lear said. "They didn't and I think we were a little surprised because at first we were licking our chops. Then we got really slowed down. But Coach (Adam Stephan) had them ready."
In the fourth, the Tigers got their lead up to as many as six (52-46 and 54-48) before the Red Devils slowly climbed all the way back.
Down four at 58-54, CC's Joseph Iacono knocked down a 3-pointer for his only points of the night with just over four minutes to play.
Hollidaysburg's Cole Walters, who finished with 14 points, made a driving layup on the ensuing possession.
The Golden Tigers turned the ball over on four straight possessions with three of them being unforced.
The Red Devils took advantage and knotted the contest on a free throw from Braydon Swope, who had a game-high 23 points, and two more by Grady Snyder.
Walters got all the way to the rack on a drive to put his team back up 62-60 with 1:01 showing on the clock.
After a missed chance by Central Cambria on offense, Connor Serenko came up with a steal on defense and a finish out the other end to tie the game at 62-62 with 33.6 left.
With no timeouts left, the Golden Tigers were forced to play it out with an offensive call coming from the sidelines.
Jake Hileman, who tallied 11 points, brought the ball up court and spread his teammates out while working down the clock.
Hileman made his move into the lane, spun to the left side of the hoop as CC defenders collapsed to help and Hileman's shot his off the left side of the rim to send the game into OT.
In the extra session, Hollidaysburg had Leyton Weimert and Hileman both go 1-for-2 from the line before Snyder, who finished with 21 points, hit two to tie things back up at 64-64 with 1:56 to go.
Goodman, who led the Tigers with 16 points, knocked down two from the line to give his team a lead they wouldn't relinquish the rest of the OT.
"We had two bad possessions in overtime that led to turnovers," Central Cambria coach Adam Stephan said. "Give them (Hollidaysburg) credit, they were able to hit enough foul shots down the stretch to extend their lead. We had two good looks late and we just didn't knock down the shots. But, I'm very happy with the effort my boys gave tonight -- I'm very proud of the way they battled."
In the extra period, Hollidaysburg went 9-for-14 from the free throw line while Central Cambria got four points from Snyder as it was unable to capitalize on several chances.
Hollidaysburg improved to 15-4 while Central Cambria fell to 8-10.
"Central Cambria came ready to play," Hollidaysburg coach Brad Lear said. "We did too but we just had some lapses -- missed a lot of easy shots and a lot of free throws."
In the opening quarter, Hollidaysburg used balanced scoring from four different players to sprint out to a 13-3 edge when Hileman knocked down a pair of free throws at 5:11.
"We got to our spots on a lot of the plays, set some good screens, got out in transition and I really don't think they (Central Cambria) we're ready for that," Lear said. "Then for whatever reason, we just got real tired."
Central Cambria snapped out of the onslaught with 10 unanswered -- all of which came on layups -- to knot the contest at 13-13 when Jack Muldoon registered his seventh and eighth points on a driving layup.
Walters broke the run for the Golden Tigers with a baseline floater at 2:20 to put his team back on top.
The lead would be short lived as Snyder converted a three-point opportunity to spark a 7-2 run that had the Red Devils up 20-17 after the opening stanza.
"We knew that they (Hollidaysburg) were going to come ready to play," Stephan said. "They had the size advantage on us, they are a very physical, well-coached team. We really weren't ready to play because we were kind of like feeling out what was going on. Then we got a couple of turnovers there and a couple of buckets and calmed down a bit. Then it was a grind from there on out."
The second quarter featured three ties and six lead changes with Hollidaysburg getting ahead at the half when Weimert picked off a pass at the top of the arch and went the distance for an uncontested layup.
George Dill made the first of two free throws with 16.8 to go to make the score 32-31 Tigers at the half.
A little over 30 seconds into the third, Swope gave Central Cambria a 34-32 lead with a 3-pointer before a free throw from Hileman and putback by Goodman gave the Tigers a 35-34 edge.
Hollidaysburg held the lead the entire third and have a 50-46 advantage at the end.
HOLLIDAYSBURG (71): Goodman 6 2-4 16, Rhodes 3 1-2 7, Hileman 3 5-8 11, Walters 5 4-4 14, Holsopple 6 1-1 13, Steiner 0 1-2 1, Weimert 1 5-6 7, Albarano 0 0-0 0, Metzger 0 2-2 2, Snyder 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24 21-29 71.
CENTRAL CAMBRIA (66): Swope 7 5-6 23, Iacono 1 0-0 3, Snyder 8 5-6 21, Serenko 1 3-4 5, Dill 0 1-4 1, Muldoon 5 0-0 10, Ray 0 1-2 1, Bradley 1 0-0 2. Totals: 23 15-22 66.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Hollidaysburg 17 15 18 12 9 -- 71
Central Cambria 20 11 15 16 4 -- 66
3-point field goals: Hollidaysburg 2 (Goodman 2); Central Cambria 5 (Swope 4, Iacono).
Records: Hollidaysburg (15-4); Central Cambria (8-10).
JV: Hollidaysburg , 55-40. High scorers — Ben Zimmerman, H, 23; Isaac Bradley, CC, 15.