Trending
By Nate Ritchey
nritchey@altoonamirror.com
PORTAGE -- Portage knew it dodged a bullet in the first half of its season-finale against Central Cambria as the Red Devils made just 5-of-31 shots from the field.
CC came storming back to get within five after the break, but the Mustangs buckled down, got the lead back to 15, and then hit enough free throws down the stretch to pull out a 60-51 victory on Wednesday night at Len Chappell Gymnasium.
"In the first half, I think we played pretty solid -- especially defensively -- holding them (Central Cambria) to 13 points," Portage coach Travis Kargo said. "But the other side of that, and this is what I told the kids at halftime, (is that) they were not shooting the ball very well in the first half. The second half, they came out hit a couple of shots, and once you hit a couple of shots, that opens things up for them on the offensive end."
"That makes us start to say, 'Well, we were up 15, now we're up 10, now we're only up eight or whatever,'" Coach Kargo added. "But, I thought our kids responded down the stretch and we fought to get it back to 15. We'll take it against a quality opponent from the Laurel Highlands."
Leading by 15 (28-13) at the half, the Mustangs got a free throw from Bode Layo, who led his team with 16 points, to give them the largest lead of the night at 16 less than a minute into the third.
"You only score 13 points in the first half, and I told the guys that we're going to have to be perfect from here-on-out," Central Cambria coach Adam Stephan said. "We didn't shoot the ball very well tonight. We had a little run and got to them with our pressure a little and got back into it. But, every time it seemed like we'd get it down, they would hit a shot. When you give that big of a hole you have to be perfect. We weren't perfect but the effort was there in whole second half."
Central Cambria immediately took control, as a 3-pointer from Joseph Iacono at 6:58 kick-started a 12-1 run by the visitors.
In addition to several missed shots -- both free throws and from the field -- Portage coughed up the ball on a few CC steals.
The Mustangs managed a single foul shot from Owen Gouse in the stretch as Central Cambria's Grady Snyder, who led all scorers with 24 points, made a driving layup at 3:32 to pull his team within five at 30-25.
The two teams traded baskets with layups by Portage's Brennan Kunko and Jacob McCoy, and four points from CC's Jack Muldoon -- the last of which was the last time the Red Devils would get as close as five at 34-29 with 2:01 left.
The Mustangs closed the third by scoring six of the final seven points to hold a 10-point edge (40-30).
A trey from Gouse, who finished with 15 points, and a layup from Kunko to open the fourth gave Portage another 15-point advantage at 45-30.
The teams went back-and-forth as CC was able to get within seven (53-46) on a Snyder trifecta with 1:25 remaining before they were forced to foul.
Another Snyder 3-pointer allowed his team to close the gap to six (57-51) with a half minute to go before Trae Kargo, who rallied 11 points, made 3-of-4 from the line to set the final.
With the win, Portage finishes the regular season at 14-8, and more importantly, locks up the fourth seed, and a home playoff game, in next week's District 6 Class 1A tournament.
"That was obviously a goal that we wanted to have a home game or two would have been nice," Coach Kargo said. "But when we knew two was out of the equation, we set a goal to try and get one more home game. The kids played well enough tonight to achieve that goal."
On the flip side, Central Cambria closes the books on an 8-15 campaign.
"I thought these guys made a step from where we were last year at this time to where we are now," Stephan said. ". ... That's what we were just talking about in the locker room that we've got to continue to build on that in the offseason."
Snyder answered Layo's opening bucket with a putback off his own miss to tie the contest at 2-2.
Trae Kargo put the Mustangs ahead for good at 6:17 of the first quarter with a layup.
The hoop helped Portage reel off a 12-3 run to claim a 14-5 edge when Gouse hit a floater at 3:23.
Snyder, who had all seven CC points in the opening stanza, made a driving layup to stop the run.
The Mustangs immediately began another as McCoy's putback sparked the 6-0 run to end the quarter with Portage up 20-7.
The second quarter was more even as the Mustangs held a slight 8-7 scoring edge, including three separate leads of 15 points (22-7, 26-11 and 28-13).
"We've been very balanced all year, and you can see that guys have found their roles," Coach Kargo said. "I feel like guys are playing their roles much better than they did in December and early January."
CENTRAL CAMBRIA (51): Serenko 3 1-1 7, Snyder 9 4-6 24, Swope 1 0-0 2, Dill 0 0-2 0, Iacono 2 0-0 5, Muldoon 4 0-0 8, Ray 1 2-2 5. Totals: 20 7-11 51.
PORTAGE (60): Kargo 2 7-10 11, Kunko 2 2-2 6, Layo 6 3-8 16, Z. Hodge 2 0-0 4, Gouse 5 4-6 15, E. Hodge 0 2-2 2, McCoy 3 0-1 6. Totals: 20 18-29 60.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Central Cambria 7 6 17 21 -- 51
Portage 20 8 12 20 -- 60
3-point field goals: Central Cambria 4 (Snyder 2, Iacono, Ray); Portage 2 (Layo, Gouse).
Records: Central Cambria (8-14); Portage (14-8).
JV: Central Cambria won 51-33. High scorers — Isaac Bradley, CC, 13; Braylin Walker, P, 17.