WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1, 2023
ALTOONA-MIDWAY HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
BUFFALO – It was a rough night on the home floor for Altoona-Midway High School as St. Paul invaded Milo Peterson Gymnasium Tuesday evening and rode home with a pair of Three Rivers League victories.
St. Paul pulled away in the second half for a 67-40 win in the boys’ game, following a 51-22 triumph by the Lady Indians in the earlier contest.
The Jets were able to avoid a complete sweep on the evening as the AMHS junior varsity boys captured a 24-19 win in a two-quarter jayvee matchup.
There is little rest for the weary, as the Altoona-Midway squads now have back-to-back home games Thursday and Friday this week against Uniontown and Northeast, respectively. Games will begin at 5 p.m. each night.
AMHS Boys
St. Paul rattled off 15 unanswered points to break open a fairly close game and went on to breeze past AMHS 67-40.
Altoona-Midway (6-7) whittled away at a 12-point halftime deficit to trail just 35-28 with a little over two minutes remaining in the third period. But everything went south at that point for the Jets, as St. Paul scored the last nine points of that stanza and the first six points of the fourth quarter to go up 50-28.
“It was another rough outing,” said AMHS head coach Dave Vance. “We started out playing good, competitive basketball. We were only down seven with 2:35 to go in the third when St. Paul closed out the quarter with that roll and then continued it into the fourth period.
“Once again, we were plagued by foul trouble, with every starter collecting at least three fouls each,” Vance noted. “We must learn to guard without fouling.”
For the night, the Jets went to the charity stripe just four times (hitting only one) while St. Paul was 13-for-24 from the line.
The Jets also turned the ball over 21 times on the night.
“They had a drawing for desserts at halftime, but we kept all of the turnovers for ourselves,” Vance quipped.
“Seriously though, the guys played hard, but it’s tough to overcome 21 turnovers along with the substantial deficit from the free throw line,” Vance added.
William Stackhouse led the Jets with 18 points, but no one else was able to reach double digits for AMHS. Kieran Foster finished with nine points on three treys, Jacob Meigs and Brandon Johnson tallied four points each, Andy Tiger and Harley Lopeman added two apiece and Joey Lamendola swished a free throw.
Stackhouse also pulled down 13 rebounds for the Jets. Meigs grabbed five.
Trey Peters poured in 23 points for St. Paul, while Vincent Smith fired in 13 and Kiser Wiatrak added an even dozen.
Altoona-Midway won the jayvee matchup 24-19. Lopeman paced the Jet jayvee with 12 points.
AMHS Girls
AMHS (3-10) had trouble with St. Paul’s full-court press, falling behind 17-3 in the opening eight minutes. To make matters worse, the Lady Jets’ top two offensive threats, Summer Raymond and Emmalynn Pupanek, were each saddled with two fouls in the opening five minutes of the game.
St Paul increased its lead to 33-11 at halftime and 45-15 after three periods. AMHS did enjoy a 7-6 advantage in the final quarter.
The score may not show it, but we played a good game, other than turning the ball over,” said AMHS head coach Jessica Porter. “We definitely need to take care of the ball a little better, and lower our turnovers.
“But the girls played hard, and I’m proud of the shots they took,” Porter added. “Our free throw percentage has gone up too.”
The Lady Jets connected on 8-of-12 free throws for the night.
Raymond finished with 12 points to pace Altoona-Midway, while Pupanek netted eight. Ava Hufford rounded out the scoring with two points.
Josey Harris racked up 17 points for St. Paul, while Kenna Doherty also reached double digits with 10.