Ethan Reffner

ALEXANDRIA — The Williamsburg boys may have bigger fish to fry as the current top seed in the District 6 Class 1A standings, but the Pirates are now in the driver’s seat for a spot in the ICC playoffs.

Williamsburg forced Juniata Valley into 30 turnovers for the night, coming away with a 65-47 road victory over the Hornets.

Williamsburg (15-3) only led 40-35 midway through the third quarter, but things started to turn around from there with a 13-3 run to finish the period to go up 15.

“The guys just kept playing hard and kept flying around,” said Williamsburg coach Jeff Detwiler, whose team also beat Valley, 66-49, on Jan. 9 at home. “It seemed like towards the end of the game we had more energy than they did. I’m proud of the guys’ effort tonight.”

Juniata Valley (14-5) came off a 62-47 loss at Southern Huntingdon on Wednesday, and turnovers have become a theme for the Hornets over the last two games.

“We started out the first quarter and it looked like the man defense was going to work pretty well,” JV coach Bill Lightner said. “We just got lazy again, and not sticking to the fundamentals.

“You can’t win basketball games with 30 turnovers. We’re just making bad decisions. It’s starting to become a little too common these last couple games. Hopefully we can get that ironed out in practice and finish out the last week of the season strong.”

The Pirates led 53-38 after three quarters, but the minds of many from Williamsburg were on Konner Harker, who left the game after taking a charging foul in the third quarter. Harker’s mouth was visibly bloody when he left the court.

“You talk about a glue guy, he is the definition of a glue guy,” Detwiler said. “He might not score the most points. But he’ll take charges. He’ll dive for loose balls. He’s going to rotate on defense. He always plays his butt off. I’m hoping he’ll bounce back and hopefully we get some good news.”

Most of the damage from Williamsburg came from Ethan Reffner. The junior led the Pirates with 22 points for the evening, and knocked down four of his team’s nine 3-pointers for the night.

“I felt great,” Reffner said. “We were moving the ball great. We played great defense. We really couldn’t miss tonight.”

“He’s been doing it a lot this year,” Detwiler said. “He’s an excellent shooter. He’s really turning into a heck of a player. We’re excited about him, and we’re excited he’s a junior.”

The two teams battled in the first quarter with Juniata Valley taking an early 8-3 lead. The Pirates had 3-pointers for their first three buckets, one each from Preston Isenberg, Dayne Mock and Reffner.

The Hornets’ Ethan Scalia knocked down a trey later in the period to tie the game at 16, but Andrew Clark’s three-point play on the next possession gave the Pirates the lead for good.

Isenberg hit another trey with three seconds remaining in the first quarter to give Williamsburg a 22-16 lead after the first eight minutes.

Williamsburg never led by more than eight in the first half before taking a 34-27 lead at the break.

Evan Zehner also scored in double figures for Williamsburg with 12 points, with all of them coming in the second half. Isenberg added 10 points.

Scalia had 11 points for Juniata Valley, while Kyler Spurlin posted 10 points.

“I’m still proud of my team, no matter what happens,” Lightner said. “We’re going to chug along and correct all the things that need to be corrected.”

Both teams are back in action Monday on their home floors. Williamsburg hosts Glendale, while Juniata Valley entertains Claysburg-Kimmel.

WILLIAMSBURG (65): P. Isenberg 3 2-2 10, Harker 2 0-0 4, Reffner 8 2-3 22, Zehner 4 3-4 12, Uplinger 1 0-0 3, Mock 2 0-0 5, Clark 4 1-1 9, Brumbaugh 0 0-0 0. Totals — 24 8-10 65.

JUNIATA VALLEY (47): Cook 3 0-2 7, Rand 4 1-1 9, LeCrone 1 2-2 4, Scalia 4 1-2 11, Spurlin 4 2-4 10, T. Norris 2 1-4 5, Glenny 0 0-0 0, N. Norris 0 1-2 1, Castaneda 0 0-0 0. Totals — 18 8-15 47.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Williamsburg 22 12 19 12 — 65

Juniata Valley 16 11 11 9 — 47

3-point goals: Williamsburg 9 (P. Isenberg 2, Reffner 4, Zehner, Uplinger, Mock); Juniata Valley 3 (Cook, Scalia 2).

Records: Williamsburg (15-3); Juniata Valley (14-5).

JV: Juniata Valley, 60-53. High scorers–Brumbaugh, W, 16; T. Norris, JV, 27.

Officials: Ed Habbershon, Ray Klinger, Dave Leonard.