Basketball

Senior-laden Tigers come up just short

CRESSON -- When 90 percent of a basketball game is played and the teams are within one possession of each other, there are always plenty of things to look back on after the game and wonder what could have gone differently.

For Hollidaysburg boys basketball coach Brad Lear and his eight talented seniors, the process of going over Saturday's 54-52 loss to Selinsgrove in the District 4-6 Class 5A championship game at Mount Aloysius College will likely be put on hold.

"I won't watch this film for a while," Lear said. "I'll clear my head and put opinions to the side, but the relationship that we have built, that will last forever."

Though most of the game was back-and-forth, Cole Walters' 3-pointer toward the end of the third quarter that put Hollidaysburg ahead, 41-38, proved to be the final time the Golden Tigers held the lead.

Luke Piecuch and Gavin Bastian made baskets to end the third quarter to put Selinsgrove up by one going into the fourth quarter, and Hollidaysburg never quite caught up.

"When you have been with a group of kids for this long, it's a hard pill for me to swallow, definitely a hard pill for them to swallow," Lear said. "I'm sad to see all of them go. I love each and every one of them, and I told them all that too. We all shared individual embrace in there, and when a staff and a group of kids every year have a common goal and for that group for it not to work out, it means a lot to us. Usually, I say the sun will come up tomorrow, but I didn't really have that in me to say tonight."

All five of Hollidaysburg's starters on Saturday -- Mason Goodman, Carson Rhodes, Jake Hileman, Leyton Weimert and Cole Walters -- were seniors. Jon Holsopple saw plenty of minutes off the bench, and junior Brady Steiner was the only underclassman to make it on the court for the Golden Tigers.

Trailing by four late in the game, it was Goodman that hit a 3-pointer to set up an exciting finish with 2:35 to play.

The game remained within one point when Hollidaysburg got a steal and had a player running wide open for a layup, but before the pass could be made, Bastain stole the ball back for the Seals with 1:10 remaining.

Hollidaysburg got the ball back shortly after when Selinsgrove star senior Ries Naugle missed two free throws, but Naugle made a play on Goodman's shot at the basket, collected the ball and made a layup to put Selinsgrove up three with 35.4 seconds left.

"We set up a play under the basket," Lear said. "Leyton set a great screen for Mason. He came down the lane. We sent Cole to the corner, and he took two players with him. Mason was wide open, but (Naugle) was guarding the ball and reacted so well that he changed the shot. I guess there wasn't enough contact."

Hileman responded with a basket while being fouled and had a chance to tie the game with 26.7 seconds left but missed the free throw and then fouled out trying to get the rebound.

Bastain missed both free throws to give the Golden Tigers another chance, but Rhodes had the ball stripped from him with eight seconds left.

"Carson went in there and made a great spin move," Lear said. "I guess there wasn't enough contact for it to be a foul call. Sometimes they got your way, and sometimes they don't go your way. We will look at it on film and see."

Bastain made one free throw, and Steiner missed a deep fadeaway 3-pointer at the buzzer.

"The finality of the 5A playoff where only one team goes in District 6 is tough," Lear said. "It's a shame. These are two really good teams. If we would have won, I would have felt the same way. (Naugle) is a really good player, and he deserved to go, but we have really good players too, and they deserved to go too."

Hollidaysburg went ahead 10-2 early, but Naugle had three dunks while scoring some of his game-high 25 points to get the Seals back into it.

"Our guys have a lot of heart and never gave up," Selinsgrove coach Justin Keiser said. "We started out slow in the first quarter. We clearly had some nerves, but we stayed together, battled through that and it paid off for us in the end. I couldn't be prouder of them."

The senior Golden Tigers weren't the only seniors trying to punch their first ticket to the state playoffs.

"My whole high school career, we had not won a district game at all," Naugle said. "This was the most important game for me and the other seniors' career. I knew I had to do it for my family, the other seniors and for myself."

Bastain added 10 points, and senior Piecuch scored eight points and had 12 rebounds for Selinsgrove.

Selinsgrove will play in the PIAA tournament on Friday, March 8 against the seventh seeded team out of District 3.

"This feels amazing," Keiser said. "This was one of our goals this year. So, to achieve this, is a great feeling. We'll enjoy this. We're not done yet. We'll move on and see who we have next."

SELINSGROVE (54): Jackson 2 0-0 5, Piecuch 4 0-0 8, Naugle 12 0-2 25, Diehl 2 0-0 6, Bastian 4 2-5 10, Parker 0 0-0 0, Walter 0 0-0 0. Totals--24 2-7 54.

HOLLIDAYSBURG (52): Goodman 6 0-0 15, Rhodes 1 4-4 6, Hileman 4 2-3 10, Weimert 1 0-0 2, Walters 4 2-3 13, Steiner 2 0-0 6, Holsopple 0 0-0 0. Totals--18 8-10 52.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Selinsgrove 14 14 14 12 -- 54

Hollidaysburg 14 15 12 11 -- 52

3-point goals: Selinsgrove 4 (Diehl 2, Naugle, Jackson); Hollidaysburg 8 (Goodman 3, Walters 3, Steiner 2)

Records: Selinsgrove (17-7); Hollidaysburg (19-5)

Officials: Cliff Kitner, Jason Moschgat, Dan Amrhein