Trending
By Ron Musselman
For The Mirror
HOLLIDAYSBURG -- The seniors on the Hollidaysburg boys basketball team cleared a major hurdle Wednesday night.
For the first time in four years, that class finally won a District 4-6 Class 5A semifinal playoff game, beating Shikellamy 72-57.
"To get past this mentally, I think it's big for all of the seniors and for all of us coaches," Hollidaysburg coach Brad Lear said.
The top-seeded Golden Tigers advanced to their first championship game since 2018, which is when they captured their last of seven district titles.
They will play second-seeded Selinsgrove, a 58-37 winner over Central Mountain in the other semi, at 6 p.m. Saturday at Mount Aloysius College. The Hollidaysburg girls play in the first game of the playoff doubleheader.
"We've worked so hard the last four years to get to the district championship game and we've finally made it," senior guard Jake Hileman said. "It feels good. We're all really pumped."
Hollidaysburg, playing for the first time in nine days, missed its first eight 3-point shots against the Braves.
The Tigers trailed 12-9 after one quarter but battled back to regain a 32-29 avantage at the half as Hileman scored eight of his team-high 15 points in the period.
He was one of four Tigers to score in double figures. Joining him were senior forward Leyton Weimert (13), senior guard Mason Goodman (10) and sophomore forward Kasen Metzger (11), who connected on a team-leading three 3-pointers.
"We started off slow, but we finally got going," Metzger said. "Once we got going, we were able to pull away."
The second half belonged to Hollidaysburg, which has won 10 consecutive games to improve to 19-4.
The Tigers outscored Shikellamy (12-11) in the final 16 minutes, 40-28, and hit 6 of their 9 3-pointers to pull away in what turned out to be a foul-fest, with 40 being called against the two teams.
Hollidaysburg converted 13 of 16 foul shots and Shikellamy 9 of 13.
"We've been really balanced all year, and it showed again tonight," Lear said. "We have four guys averaging 10 points or more. For them to play zone and us to put up 72 points, we were really happy about that.
"A lot of teams use that zone to try and slow us down and I don't think it slowed us down at all. We fouled almost 30 times, but we shot really well at the foul line, which was a big help.
"I think the second half was a big difference. We really played well and played together."
Two Shikellamy players combined for 44 of the team's 57 points.
Senior shooting guard Cameron Lenner scored a game-high 28 points and junior forward Asher Moyer added 16.
"We knew coming in that (Lenner) was a good player," Lear said. "He pretty much kept them in the game. He averages 21 a night and we gave him seven points about his average. But it's the playoffs, and player's like that step up in big games.
"We knew they had a one-man wrecking crew, but we weren't expecting (Moyer) to do what he did. We need to tighten up our defense a little before Saturday."
SHIKELLAMY (57): Bruno 0 0-0 0, Williams 1 1-2 3, Lenner 9 6-9 28, Fashaw 1 0-0 3, A. Moyer 7 2-2 16, M. Moyer 0 0-0 0, McAllister 2 0-0 4, Fisher o 0-0 0, Beyer 1 0-0 3, Wetzel 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 9-13 57.
HOLLIDAYSBURG (72): Goodman 2 4-4 10, Albarano 0 0-0 0, Rhodes 1 2-2 5, Steiner 2 0-0 6, Hileman 6 3-4 15, Weimert 6 1-3 13, Metzger 5 0-0 11, Walters 3 3-3 10, Holsopple 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 24 13-16 72.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Shikellamy 12 17 13 15 - 57
Hollidaysburg 9 23 22 18 - 72
3-point field goals: Shikellamy 6 (Lenner 4, Fashaw, Beyer), Hollidaysburg 9 (Metzger 3, Goodman 2, Steiner 2, Walters, Rhodes).
Records: Shikellamy (12-11), Hollidaysburg (19-4).
Officials: Frank Garritano, Doug Steve, Charles Glasser.