EBENSBURG —
Bishop McCort dominated from the outset, trailing just once in its District 6 Class AA playoff game Monday night against Cambria Heights.
The fourth-seeded Crushers, who are the defending champions, rolled to an impressive 69-49 victory over the Highlanders in the nightcap at Bishop Carroll.
“The key with us is to be unselfish with the ball, both offensively and defensively,” McCort coach Pat Hollern said.
“We talk about that all the time and the little things that you have to do well. Our guys did a great job of getting to the outlets and getting the ball down the floor. We were disciplined on the floor and communicated well.”
McCort (14-7) got 21 points from Billy Hipp, including 14 points of the team’s 21 in the second quarter.
Nemo Trexler added 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Crimson Crushers, who will take on Penn Cambria at a date and time to be named. Penn Cambria defeated Blairsville on Monday night.
See more photos from the game here
Jordan Spangler chipped in nine points and Jerqual Wilson added eight.
“The key for us is movement, not settling for your position on the floor and not settling for a shot that you don’t necessarily want, making sure we get a good look each time we go down the floor,” Hollern said. “Our guys have really done a good job of that.”
Trexler scored the opening basket and the Highlanders took the lead on a 3-pointer by Bearer to open the game. Another Bearer bucket put Heights up 5-2. Christian Leech cut the lead to one for McCort and Hipp’ s first basket put the Crushers ahead 6-5 with 3:55 on the clock and they never looked back, ending the first with a 17-11 lead.
The Highlanders did close the gap to 21-20 at 3:34 in the second quarter, but McCort ended the frame with a 17-2 run and took an imposing 38-22 lead at the intermission.
“They cut it to 21-20 and we were in a little bit of a funk,” Hollern said. “Gap Barbin came off the bench and really inspired us defensively. That’s the way we are. We get inspired defensively and it turns to offense.
“The key for us is really being focused and locked in to what our assignments are.”
Bishop McCort outscored Cambria Heights 13-11 in the third and 18-16 in the fourth.
“They are very athletic and very skilled,” Highlanders coach Eric Nagel said. “If you look at the game, it really came down to one four-minute stretch. We got it down to 21-20 and then they went on a run. We told them at the beginning that we couldn’t turn over the basketball and had to play them close and during that stretch we didn’t do that.”
Cambria Heights (11-12) was led by 18 points and six rebounds from Isaac Vescovi while Bearer finished with 16 points.
McCort forced 21 Heights turnovers.
“This is the first district game and we have four juniors and a senior starting and those coming off the bench are underclassmen so you expect a few mistakes,” Nagel said. “Getting here is an accomplishment and things are positive for the future.”
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