Metzger

TYRONE — Hollidaysburg boys basketball coach Brad Lear prides himself on having a team that is in shape and puts forth its best effort every night.

That dedication was evident Monday night against Tyrone.

Even when the Golden Tigers allowed a made basket, they often beat the Golden Eagles down the court for a transition layup. Before long a comfortable lead turned into a mercy-rule game and an 81-46 victory for Hollidaysburg.

“We always say that no one conditions more than we do,” Lear said. “We don’t run just to run. I don’t blow the whistle and put the kids on the line, but everything we do is full court. We do full-court shooting, full-court layups and full-court transition. We do that every night in practice. The kids aren’t taking a shot without running the length of the court.”

One of the leaders of the Golden Tigers, Kasen Metzger, found himself lagging slightly behind early in the season after playing high school football for the first time and being part of Hollidaysburg’s run to the PIAA quarterfinals.

He was certainly in shape playing football, but being in basketball shape is something completely different.

“With this being the first year I played football, it was definitely an adjustment,” Metzger said. “It probably took me four or five games at least. I was tired in those first few games. I am definitely back hitting my peak now.”

Metzger led Hollidaysburg with 22 points, including many off steals and in transition. But he was far from the only threat the Golden Tigers had on the court.

Vince Albarano scored 21 points, J.J. Stultz added 14 points and nine different players scored.

“Everyone kept saying we lost some scorers from last year, but we actually gained two or three,” Metzger said. “We probably go eight deep as far as guys that can score any night. There are five guys that can put up 20 at any time.”

Lear attributed that versatility to the work put in during the offseason.

“Over the summer, J.J. and his dad were in the gym every night,” Lear said. “You know Kasen is going to be in the gym every night, and you know Vince is going to be in the gym every night. The other kids feed off of that. When they say good things become contagious on a team, they really do.”

Hollidaysburg began the game on an 8-2 run, but Tyrone fought back to tie it midway through the first quarter. It was just a three-point game with under a minute to play in the quarter before Albarano made a runner, Wyatt Frazier hit a 3-pointer and Metzger stole the ball and made a layup in the final 55 seconds.

“Vince kind of gets us going, and when Kasen plays like he did tonight — he’s really hard to stop,” Lear said. “When he can get downhill and get his jump stop and finishing moves, he has really good feet, great pivot and he can shoot the ball too.”

The lead ballooned to 35 as Hollidaysburg scored 54 points in 16 minutes during the second and third quarters.

“They shot the ball very well and ran transition very well,” Tyrone coach Luke Rhoades said. “With our guys, once things started to go bad with us, we had one or two guys on the court hustling. The other guys were just standing around lost. That’s embarrassing to me and the program and something we have to work through. Hollidaysburg is very good and executes things very well, but I don’t think we have a full effort for the full game.”

The Golden Eagles got a team-high 12 points from Ashton Emigh and 11 points from Mason Emigh — who also led all players with nine rebounds.

“For the most part, even tonight, we executed some things well,” Rhoades said. “I thought defensively we played well against their sets, and (Lear) runs a ton of sets. We paid attention to those sets, but the problem was while we were defending the sets, someone was spotting up and hitting a wide open 3-pointer. For us to compete against the really good teams, everything has to mesh perfectly for us.”

Hollidaysburg outrebounded Tyrone 44-24 and improved to 6-2. The Golden Eagles fell to 5-4.

With more than half the regular season remaining, Lear would still like to see improvement from his team.

“We’re giving up 50 points a game defensively,” Lear said. “I tell my kids we should be giving up 37. I’m a believer in karma. If you don’t close out — they should make a 3-pointer. If you don’t box out, they should get a rebound and stick it back in your face. I’m a real believer in basketball karma, and I tell them if they would play the way we teach them every game, we would be giving up 37 points per game.”

HOLLIDAYSBURG (81): Albarano 9 2-4 21, Stultz 5 2-2 14, Delerme 2 0-0 4, K. Metzger 10 1-2 22, Zimmerman 2 0-0 4, Frazier 1 0-0 3, Wolfe 1 1-2 4, McDade 2 1-2 6, Rhodes 0 0-0 0, Padamonsky 0 0-0 0, Miller 1 0-0 3, Steiner 0 0-0 0, Sullivan 0 0-0 0, Wansley 0 0-0 0, Gubantes 0 0-0 0. Totals — 33 7-12 81.

TYRONE (46): Gwinn 2 0-0 4, Woomer 0 5-7 5, A. Emigh 6 0-0 12, M. Emigh 4 3-6 11, Walk 3 0-0 6, Oakes 1 0-0 2, Parsons 1 0-0 3, Rudden 1 0-1 2, Zupon 0 0-0 0, Wilson 0 0-0 0, Stroup 0 0-0 0. Totals — 18 8-14 46.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Hollidaysburg 18 24 30 9 — 81

Tyrone 12 13 12 9 — 46

3-point goals: Hollidaysburg 8 (Stultz 2, Albarano, K. Metzger, Frazier, Wolfe, McDade, Miller); Tyrone 1 (Parsons).

Records: Hollidaysburg (6-2); Tyrone (5-4).

Officials: Brandon Hoover, Bill Pfeffer, Craig Andros.

JV: Hollidaysburg, 59-24. High scorers–Conner Zupon/Jon Stroup, T, 6 each; Wyatt Frazier, H, 17.