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Mattas reaches 1,000
By Matt Michelone
sports@altoonamirror.com
HUNTINGDON -- Tuesday night's District 6 Class 1A boys basketball quarterfinal between No. 2 Juniata Valley and No. 7 Bishop McCort Catholic started off as a back-and-forth affair at the Bearcat Gymnasium at Huntingdon Area High School.
The bad news for the Green Hornets, though, is that they ended up digging a hole too big to overcome.
The Crimson Crushers jumped out to a double-digit lead and hung on just long enough defensively in the third before pulling away for the 72-56 victory over the Hornets.
"The second and third chance opportunities -- just like all year -- killed us," Juniata Valley coach Bill Lightner said. "We go through these spurts of getting a body on somebody, getting a couple of good boards, but then it was three or four possessions where they're getting two or three opportunities at the ball."
Mike Preuss helped set the tempo for the Crimson Crushers as his turnaround jumper put McCort up 11-6 with just over four minutes to play in the first quarter. He finished the evening with 14 points and McCort took an 18-14 lead after the opening stanza.
"I thought we shared the ball really well tonight," McCort coach Chris Pfeil said. "They don't care who scores, it doesn't matter. They just wanted to come here, win and advance.''
Angelo Gallucci remained a force off the bench for the Crushers as he recorded a layup with just over 2¢ minutes to go before the half, giving his team a 30-19 lead. He powered McCort's bench production with 18 points and scored a buzzer-beater, putting the Crushers in front 36-24 at the break.
"We told our guys at halftime that they're an experienced team, they've won a lot of games, and they're going to come out throw their best punch, and they did," Pfeil said. "Our guys took it. We got a little bit of foul trouble, and I thought we kept our composure tremendously. That's a team that's averaging over 70 points per game, and we made every bucket hard on them."
The Hornets made things difficult, however, in the third as Charlie Mattas took a pass and drained the lay-in for two of his team-high 19 points. Jett Rand later added a runner to trim the deficit down to two at 37-35 with around four minutes in the third quarter, but that's as close as Valley got.
"Once we started pressuring them, they started making some mistakes. I thought we had them," Lightner said. "It was just the same thing all year (after that)."
Mattas, in his final game, scored his 1,000th point in the second quarter.
Juniata Valley loses four seniors to graduation.
"It was a good season, though. I can't complain -- 16-7, great group of seniors," Lightner said. "Worst part about competition is that somebody has to lose. But coming from a team that won six games two years ago to a team that's won 30 over the last two, it's a big turnaround. It's a testament to their hard work."
McCort will make another trip into ICC territory as it heads to Williamsburg for a Friday night semifinal tip-off at 7 p.m.
BISHOP McCORT (72): Ferguson 4 1-2 11, Beppler 0 1-2 1, Dressick 7 4-6 21, Pfeil 2 1-3 6, M. Preuss 7 0-0 14, Dudinak 0 0-0 0, Gallucci 5 8-10 18, Zasadini 0 1-2 1, Laughard 0 0-0 0, N. Preuss 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 25 16-25 72.
JUNIATA VALLEY (56): Deihl 4 3-5 11, Robinson 3 8-12 15, Chavez 0 1-2 1, Rand 4 1-2 10, Mattas 7 3-3 19, Beck 0 0-0 0, Cook 0 1-2 1. Totals -- 18 16-24 56.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Bishop McCort 18 18 12 24 - 72
Juniata Valley 14 10 16 16 - 56
3-point field goals: Bishop McCort 7 (Ferguson 2, Dressick 4, Pfeil), Juniata Valley 3 (Rand, Mattas 2).
Records: Bishop McCort (11-12), Juniata Valley (16-7).
Officials: Joe Hanna, Tyler Fink, Ethan Vipond.