Basketball

Slow start in third sinks Pirates

By Michael Boytim

mboytim@altoonamirror.com

Despite being on the top of Cameron County's scouting report, Williamsburg senior Rowan Gorsuch still managed to put the Blue Pirates on his back and carry his squad to a four-point halftime lead Friday in the first round of the PIAA Class 1A tournament at the Altoona Area High School Fieldhouse.

But Raiders coach Marcus Brown reminded his own upperclassmen what was at stake at the half.

"I have four seniors, two of them starters, another my sixth man," Brown said. "I told them you have 16 minutes for the rest of your career. You have to leave it all out there, and you have to start fast. We couldn't let that four-point lead get to six, seven or eight. That's when it starts to get scary."

Because of that effort, Cameron County's seniors extended their careers with a 62-47 victory in which the Raiders pulled away in the fourth quarter.

Gorsuch finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds but had just eight points and one rebound in the second half.

"He's getting 22 and 11 a night," Williamsburg coach Jeff Detwiler said. "He had a huge season for us. It's going to be tough to replace. These underclassmen, they really need to lock in and step up. I have high expectations for them for next year."

Gorsuch scored 12 points, did most of his damage on the boards and pushed the pace in the second quarter. Williamsburg outscored Cameron County, 17-8, and led by as many as six before settling for a 28-24 halftime advantage.

"All week in our scouting report, we concentrated on taking (Gorsuch) out of the offense and getting him off the boards," Brown said. "I can't really explain the second quarter. It was a mental lapse. We stopped rebounding and boxing out and we let them get transition against us, which is something we don't let anyone do."

Ryan Shaffer, who finished with a game-high 24 points, started the second half with a layup, and Josh Smith, who scored 18 points and had 13 rebounds, added another to tie the game for Cameron County.

Preston Isenberg hit a 3-pointer to give the Blue Pirates their last lead before the Raiders scored the next eight points to take control of the game.

"We were sluggish in the second quarter," Brown said. "It was a really bad second quarter. I'm not sure what happened. We came out strong and were able to take a nice lead, and then we gave it all away before we had probably our best third quarter of the year."

Williamsburg entered the fourth quarter down by only seven, and Gorsuch had a three-point play to make it 41-37 with 7:36 to play, but Cameron County once again scored the next eight points to put the game away.

The Raiders finished with a 45-23 advantage on the boards.

"They continued to outrebound us," Detwiler said. "Usually we rebound better, but there was a lot of one-and-done. If you're making your shots, it doesn't look that bad, but it was one of those nights where our shots weren't falling, and if you only get one shot per trip, that's not a good recipe."

Cameron County will play District 10 champion Farrell on Tuesday in the second round. Williamsburg finished 17-9 and as the District 6 Class 1A runner-up after a huge comeback victory over Bishop McCort in the semifinals.

"That was one of the craziest games I have ever been part of," Detwiler said. "We went on a 27-2 run. It was definitely a highlight, but when you make the state playoffs, you either win the state championship or you lose your last game. That's just the way it is, but all in all, from where we started, we have grown a lot. We'll continue this path and keep getting better."

CAMERON COUNTY (62): Shaffer 9 5-9 24, Smith 8 1-2 18, Beer 5 0-4 10, Farren 4 1-2 9, Narby 0 0-0 0, Shepard 0 0-0 0, Baughman 0 1-2 1, Goss 0 0-0 0, Nichols 0 0-0 0, Bure 0 0-0 0, Brown 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 26 8-19 62.

WILLIAMSBURG (47): Gorsuch 5 11-18 22, Brumbaugh 3 0-0 7, Brantner 2 0-0 4, Parks 1 0-0 3, Isenberg 1 2-2 5, Zehner 1 0-0 2, Reffner 1 2-2 4, Uplinger 0 0-0 0, Ranalli 0 0-0 0, Mock 0 0-0 0, O 0 0-0 0, Corl 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 14 15-22 47.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Cameron County 16 8 17 21 -- 62

Williamsburg 11 17 6 13 -- 47

3-point goals: Cameron County 2 (Shaffer, Smith); Williamsburg 4 (Gorsuch, Brumbaugh, Parks, Isenberg).

Records: Cameron County (23-5); Williamsburg (17-9).

Officials: Frank Garritano, Chuck Glasser, Tony Sottile.