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By Andy Stine
astine@altoonamirror.com
It's been a rough stretch for the Altoona boys basketball team after dropping five of their last six, the latest coming in a 71-43 loss to Carlisle on Tuesday evening at the Altoona Fieldhouse.
"We're struggling," Altoona coach Doug Pfeffer said. "Losing sucks. It sucks for me and I'm 53 years old. I can imagine what it feels like for these kids. They really come every day ready to work, and we don't see any results right now. It's a difficult stretch of the season for us.
"Teams that we're playing are hitting shots and taking care of the basketball, and right now we're the opposite of that."
The Thundering Herd made life hard for the Mountain Lions from the start after putting up 21 points in the first quarter to take a 21-11 advantage.
It was a perfect mix for Carlisle with point guard Carter Smith exploding for 27 points, while 6-foot-8 forward Tyler Royal cleaned up many missed shots for putbacks.
Smith had 27 points to lead Carlisle, including making four 3-pointers in the game.
"It's an everyday thing for us," Carlisle coach Andre Anderson said of Smith's scoring ability. "I think he's leading the entire Mid-Penn in scoring. It's something that comes really easy to him. He did that for us last year too. We have him more on the ball this year in a point guard role, but he's embraced that. I feel like he's done a wonderful job with that, and he's still getting his buckets while getting everyone else involved."
"Coming this far, it always feels like a different kind of game after two hours on a bus," Smith said. "I feel like we started a little slow. I kind of started the energy and I feel like I caught fire pretty quick."
Carlisle extended the lead to 18 at one point in the second quarter, but a Roan Greaser trey and a Parker White free throw at the end of the first half trimmed the Altoona deficit to 14 at 39-25 at halftime.
Josh Lowery hit a 3 coming out of the half for Altoona, but that accounted for half of the Mountain Lions' points in the third quarter as the Thundering Herd extended the lead to 57-31 going to the fourth quarter.
Carlisle got the 30-point running clock in effect in the first minute of the fourth quarter.
"The second half defensively was a lot more to our liking," Anderson said. "I felt like the kids responded to our game plan coming out of halftime. We were happy about that. We didn't start off the best. We're nitpicking as coaches. We want perfection, but it's not easily obtained and it's probably not able to be obtained. This group really responded to us."
Lowery had 10 points to lead the Mountain Lions.
Altoona (3-11) is back in action Friday on the road at Chambersburg.
CARLISLE (71): Smith 9 5-8 27, Fischer 5 0-0 12, Ream 1 1-2 3, McMeekin 1 0-3 3, Royal 5 0-0 10, Knight 2 0-0 5, Mastrangelo 0 2-2 2, Robinson 1 2-2 4, Debraux 0 0-0 0, Lyons 0 0-0 0, Johnson 0 2-2 2, Birchett 1 0-0 3, Witman 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 25 12-19 71.
ALTONA (43): Greaser 2 2-3 7, E. Hicks 1 0-0 3, White 4 1-2 9, Harrington 3 0-0 7, Lowery 3 2-2 10, Wagner 0 0-0 0, Simendinger 1 0-0 2, Barr 0 0-0 0, Herr 0 0-0 0, D. Hicks 1 0-0 2, Pezzi 0 0-0 0, DiVentura 0 0-0 0, McCloskey 1 0-0 2, Chathams 0 1-2 1, Pfeffer 0 0-0 0, Helsel 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 16 6-9 43.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Carlisle 21 18 18 14 -- 71
Altoona 11 14 6 12 -- 43
3-point goals: Carlisle 9 (Smith 4, Fischer 2, McMeekin, Knight, Birchett); Altoona 5 (Greaser, E. Hicks, Harrington, Lowery 2).
Records: Carlisle (9-5); Altoona (3-11).
Officials: Mike Andrews, Curtis Miller, Brock Kauffman.
JV: Carlisle, 74-34. High scorers -- Debraux, C, 13; McCloskey, A, 8.