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By Scott Franco
sfranco@altoonamirror.com
If you told Lancaster Catholic coach Joe Klazas his Crusaders would hold Huntingdon's Jonathan Price scoreless in their boys PIAA 4A playoff opener Friday night, he would have liked his chances for a win. Conversely, Huntingdon coach Nick Payne honestly admitted after the game he would not have worried.
"That's who we are. That's who we are. Anyone can pick up anyone if someone is down and that is what we did," said Payne, whose club got a combined 26 points off the bench from Jackson Ritchey and Nick Gearhart in the Bearcats' 60-58 win at the Altoona Fieldhouse.
Though Price wound up with zero points, Ritchey scored 16 points and Gearhart added 10 as the Bearcats moved on to the next round to play Bishop McDevitt on Tuesday.
"We knew coming in that he was one of the guys we wanted to frustrate," Klazas said. "But that is the mark of a good team. Those other guys stepped up. They had other options come through. I would not have thought coming in those guys would be that effective."
Huntingdon (22-2) trailed 49-42 going into the fourth quarter. That is when the entire team turned it up a notch as six different players combined to score 18 points with no one totaling more than four.
"At the end of the third, I told our kids to listen to the crowd and take this all in," Payne said. "I also thought we started to pressure them some more. We ran a couple of traps, caused some turnovers and we were able to get out and run."
The lead went back and forth for a good portion of the fourth. The Bearcats finally went ahead at the 1:05 mark on a Will Sulesky fall-away layup in the paint. That made it 57-56. Jayton Smith hit two foul shots to make it 59-56 at the 26-second mark.
The Crusaders (24-5) got a bucket from Denzel Kabasele with nine seconds left to cut it to 59-58. Gearhart was quickly fouled and sank one of two free throws with five seconds left to make it 60-58.
"One of our things was that our best offense would be our defense. We wanted to be more patient and get more touches, but we rushed some shots and that gave them the advantage," Klazas said.
The Crusaders brought the ball up the court in those final five seconds but did not get off a shot as Kabasele dribbled the ball off his foot as time expired.
After watching his team celebrate with the student section, Payne reflected on the fact that he had four players finish in double figures, led by Ritchey.
"They are just sophomores but they have been working a long time playing this game," said Payne of Ritchey and Gearhart. "They put the time in. This is the reward they get from that time."
Nick Rigby finished with 13 points, 11 of which came in the second half while Owen Lane added 10 points against the much taller and athletic Crusaders team.
"I feel we've played some tough competition," Payne said. "We played State College in a summer league and competed. We beat Altoona here, and we went to a camp where we played a school from Delaware that had four teams at the camp and we competed."
Dwayne Caine led Lancaster with 17 points, but only four came in the second half.
"They did a better job of taking his dribble drive away from him in the second half," Klazas said of Huntingdon. "They put him on his heels."
LANCASTER CATHOLIC (58): McCaskey 4 2-6 11, Besecker 1 2-4 5, Van Tash 4 0-0 8, Kamwanga 2 1-3 5, Caine 8 1-2 17, Kabassle 1 1-2 3, Engle 3 1-2 7, Miklos 1 0-0 2, Richards 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 24 8-19 58.
HUNTINGDON (60): Price 0 0-2 0, Smith 0 2-3 2, Rigby 6 1-2 13, Lane 5 0-0 10, Sulesky 3 1-2 9, Ritchey 6 4-5 16, Gearhart 4 1-2 10, Miller 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 24 9-16 60.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Lancaster Catholic 11 19 19 9 -- 58
Huntingdon 11 15 16 18 -- 60
3-point goals: Lancaster Catholic 2 (McCaskey, Besecker), Huntingdon 3 (Gearhart, Sulesky 2)
Records: Huntingdon (22-2), Lancaster Catholic (24-4)
Officials: Mike Andrews, Todd Parker, Tom Fountaine