NORTHERN CAMBRIA — Juniata Valley basketball coach William Lightner said long-distance travel does not appear to agree with the Green Hornets.

“Historically for some reason, and Ty knows it, long bus rides do us in,” he said, nodding to Huntingdon Daily News reporter Ty States while he discussed the Green Hornets’ 77-51 drubbing by Northern Cambria in a District 6 Class 2A boys’ basketball quarterfinal game on Tuesday at Ted Keenan Memorial Gym.

If the long bus ride did not do in Juniata Valley, the Colts’ brisk pace did.

“It was not the start I was looking for. They played better basketball than us in every facet of the game. You have to give props to them and the coach. They were ready. I thought we were and we weren’t,” Lightner said.

Northern Cambria coach Clinton Gochnour said Juniata Valley is better than what the scoreboard suggested.

“It’s hard on the road,” he said. “When our press gets going, we had a couple of steals and we can frustrate teams.”

Lightner said two of the issues that dogged Juniata Valley at times proved to be evident: defense and rebounding.

“We haven’t been hitting our shots and we’ve been getting out of position on defense, not getting in position on rebounds,” Lightner said.

The Colts raced to a 17-0 lead 3:09 into the game, and amassed a 25-3 lead in the first quarter. The difference never reached mercy rule territory, however.

“We were shooting hot early. We’re a team that is streaky. And when we’re hot, we can go big; and that’s what we did in the first quarter,” Gochnour said.

“We also hustled. We flew around on the press, got a couple of steals, and I think we caught them off-guard with our press.”

“They never quit. Even when it’s tough, they still put out the effort,” Lightner said.

Gochnour said one never expects to jump out to such a large early lead, especially in the playoffs.

“But you hope to bring energy,” he said.

Five players reached double figures for Northern Cambria. Sophomore Dylan Bodek scored 16 points, followed by Parker Shutty (15), Malik Fox (14), junior Daniel Farrell (12), and junior Luke Blickenderfer (11).

The Colts travel to top-seeded United (25-0) in a semifinal-round game at 7 p.m. Friday. The Lions (25-0) are the Heritage Conference champions.

“They played an excellent game, just a solid fundamental game. I wish them luck the rest of the season. I know they have United. United will be tough. But if they play like that, I think they have a chance,” Lightner said.

“They are as good as it comes in Double-A basketball. It’s at their place, so we know they will play well. So we’ll have to play close to a perfect game because they’re very deep, they shoot well and they play hard on defense. So it’s tough match-up,” Gochnour said.

Jett Rand led all players with 17 points. He also ripped down seven rebounds. Laken Cook added 10 points for the Green Hornets. Junior Trenton Norris contributed six rebounds.

Lightner expects to field a younger team next season. Juniata Valley will graduate seven senior players, four of whom started.

“Going from seven seniors to four seniors will be different,” he said.

JUNIATA VALLEY (51): Cook 2 5-6 10, Rand 7 0-0 17, LeCrone 3 0-0 6, Scalia 2 0-0 5, Spurlin 3 1-2 8, T.Norris 2 1-2 5, N.Norris 0 0-0 0, Glenny 0 0-0 0, Casteneda 0 0-0 0, Hoffmaster 0 0-0 0. Totals – 19 7-10 51.

NORTHERN CAMBRIA (77): Farrell 6 0-0 12, Blickenderfer 5 1-2 11, Fox 6 0-0 14, Cavallo 1 0-0 2, Shutty 6 0-0 15, Bodek 6 1-1 16, Buterbaugh 2 1-2 5, Smarsh 1 0-0 2, Brawley 0 0-0 0. Bougher 0 0-0 0, Rajnish 0 0-0 0. Totals – 33 3-5 77.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Juniata Valley 6 20 5 20 — 51

Northern Cambria 28 16 14 19 — 77

3-point field goals: Juniata Valley 6 (Rand 3, Cook, Scalia, Spurlin), Northern Cambria 8 (Bodek 3, Shutty 3, Fox 2).

Officials: Shawn Sinclair, Brock Kaufman, Anthony Brezevec.

Team records: Juniata Valley (14-8), Northern Cambria (15-7).