Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022
ALTOONA-MIDWAY HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
UNIONTOWN – The Uniontown Eagles swept both ends of a Three Rivers League matchup with Altoona-Midway High School here Thursday night.
The Eagles defeated AMHS 49-44 in the closely-contested boys’ game. In the earlier game, Uniontown breezed past the Lady Jets 63-22.
Thursday’s twinbill was a make-up of games originally scheduled for Jan. 14. Altoona-Midway was slated to hit the hardwoods again Friday night, hosting Marmaton Valley.
AMHS Boys
Uniontown used an aggressive full-court press and a hot third quarter to pull out the close 49-44 win over Altoona-Midway (4-12 overall, 2-5 in the TRL).
The Jets led 19-16 at halftime, and 25-20 with about six minutes remaining in the third period, but struggled with the Eagles’ press for the rest of the period. Uniontown went on a 16-4 run to go up 36-29 entering the final quarter.
“I was confident that we would keep the game close and pull it out, similar to our game Tuesday night, but Uniontown implemented a full court defense that sped us up and created a gap in the score,” said AMHS head coach Lane Huffman. “We spent the entire fourth quarter trying to catch up.”
AMHS got within three points on two occasions during the final minute – on a basket by Dalton Smith to make it 45-42 at the 0:48 mark, and 47-44 on a steal and layup by William Stackhouse with six seconds remaining – but the Jets could get no closer.
“Dalton Smith really stepped up and played a great game tonight,” Huffman noted. “We don't have official stats yet, but I know he is going to have a high assist number. He scored when he had the chance, but his main weapon was setting up Will (Stackhouse) and Andy (Tiger) with layups.”
Tiger fired in a career-high 17 points to lead the Jets, while Jackson Ashmore finished with nine points and Smith and Stackhouse tallied eight apiece.
“We focused on a lot on screen and role actions and Andy did a great job putting himself in the right spots to score,” Huffman said. “I am very proud of Andy and hope this type of play continues.
“Our guys gave everything they had for sure. I will never question the effort of this group,” Huffman added. “We're going to have short-term memories (AMHS was slated to host Marmaton Valley Friday). Our seniors deserve a win Friday. We'll make the adjustments and be ready to go.”
AMHS Girls
After a disappointing overtime loss just two nights earlier, the Lady Jets (2-13, 1-5) couldn’t get untracked against a talented Uniontown squad, which led to a long evening.
“We got off to a slow start against a very good team, and that did not end well for us,” said AMHS head coach Randy Almond. “The girls again played with a lot of heart, but we did not play with the intensity that we need, as evidenced by the fact we finished the game with only nine fouls.”
The Lady Eagles (15-1) stormed out to a 26-6 first quarter lead, which ballooned to 40-13 at halftime.
Instead of taking their foot off the gas, UHS continued to implement a three-quarters court press most of the third quarter. All 23 of Uniontown’s points in the stanza were scored by their starters, making it 63-17. The Lady Jets scored the final five points of the game to make the final 63-22.
“Uniontown has a very aggressive, athletic team. They have balanced scoring, both inside and out, and they have a strong bench,” Almond said.
Mariah Stackhouse led the Lady Jets with nine points – all in the first half – while Summer Raymond and Emmalynn Pupanek each scored four. Rounding out the scoring were Ava Hufferd with three points and Kyra O’Connor with two.
Danielle Howard fired in 22 points for Uniontown, while Rylee Coulter and Reese Gorman also reached double digits with 11 and 10 points, respectively.