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By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
TYRONE -- Penns Valley didn't make it easy on Tyrone Friday night in the District 6 Class 3A quarterfinals, but the Golden Eagles shined brightest at the start of both the second and fourth quarters to down the Rams, 68-48, and advance to the semifinals.
Tyrone scored the first nine points of the second quarter and the first 14 points of the fourth quarter.
"We're just trying to believe in ourselves and trust in the system," Tyrone coach Luke Rhoades said. "I told them they had to win one more quarter and go out there and win and not be afraid to lose. I thought we did that."
Tyrone has been doing a lot of winning lately. The Golden Eagles entered the postseason on an eight-game winning streak and earned a semifinal date at second-seeded Forest Hills on Tuesday for the right to play in the District 6 championship.
"We're excited about the opportunity to play on, but we want to make sure we go into the next game prepared and ready to execute," Rhoades said. "We need to be ready to play a really good Forest Hills team and compete with them and see what happens."
Friday it was Penns Valley that started hot. The Rams went 5-for-7 from beyond the 3-point line in the first quarter and carried a 20-19 lead into the second quarter, but they didn't score again until Spencer Althouse made two free throws four seconds before halftime.
"In the second quarter, we switched to a zone and held them to two points," Rhoades said. "We were really active in the zone and did a good job of recognizing where their shooters were."
The Rams got back into the game in the third quarter with seven points from Jackson Romig and a pair of 3-pointers by Carson Webster, who led Penns Valley with 12 points. But those two 3-pointers were the last the Rams made. After starting hot, they finished the game 2-for-13 from deep.
"We have had our moments," Penns Valley coach Rob Irwin said. "I was happy to see our guys rise up to the moment. It wasn't too big for us early on. I thought we were prepared, and we executed what we wanted to do. I was happy to see that, and I'm proud of their effort."
Sam Crilly scored seven of his 19 points during Tyrone's 14-0 run to start the fourth quarter, and Andrew Escala punctuated his 19-point effort with a dunk that made it 59-43.
"(Escala) was our way of attacking that one-three-one," Rhoades said. "We wanted to get him diving and get the ball inside to him to finish around the hoop. I thought he accepted that and did a great job around the rim."
Kendall Lehner added 16 points for the Golden Eagles, and Ashton Walk had 10 rebounds.
"They rebound really well," Irwin said. "They shoot really well too. They have some really tough players, and at the end of the day, they made a couple more plays than we did."
PENNS VALLEY (48): F. Ironside 3 2-2 9, C. Ironside 3 0-0 8, Webster 4 0-0 12, Romig 5 1-1 11, Althouse 1 6-9 8, Niewinski 0 0-0 0, Patel 0 0-0 0, Shawley 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 16 9-12 48.
TYRONE (68): Crilly 5 6-9 19, Escala 9 0-0 19, Walk 1 1-2 3, Lehner 7 2-2 16, Crowell 1 0-0 2, Woomer 2 0-0 6, Ronan 0 0-0 0, Harpster 1 0-0 3. Totals -- 26 9-13 68.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Penns Valley 20 2 15 11 -- 48
Tyrone 19 9 13 27 -- 68
3-point goals: Penns Valley 7 (Webster 4, C. Ironside 2, F. Ironside); Tyrone 7 (Crilly 3, Woomer 2, Escala, Harpster).
Records: Penns Valley (11-12); Tyrone (17-6).
Officials: Steve Searer, Dave Pray, John Thompson.