Greater Johnstown and North Star advanced to tonight’s championship game of the 33rd annual Mountain Cat Tournament at the Pitt-Johnstown Sports Center with first-round wins on Friday night.
The defending tournament champion Trojans overcame a sluggish start, rolling to a 67-51 victory over Tussey Mountain while North Star, the defending District 5 Class AA champs, built an early lead against Bishop McCort then withstood a feverish comeback bid by the Crimson Crushers for a 62-55 win.
“North Star shot the basketball well and moved the basketball well,” McCort coach Pat Hollern said. “They did the things they needed to do when they needed to make the plays.”
Senior guard Jacob Fleegle led the way for the Cougars, playing a well-rounded game. Fleegle scored a game-high 22 points, pulled down nine rebounds, dished out six assists and had five steals.
“He’s been a gem,” North Star coach Jack Loya said about his senior guard. “I think he needs a Division II scholarship.”
The Cougars (2-0) led 14-12 after the first quarter, but outscored McCort 23-10 in the second quarter to take a commanding 37-22 halftime lead. But while North Star was building its advantage, the fouls began to pile up with 6-foot-6 Tony Strasiser and 6-4 Wade Walker both receiving three before the half.
“We got in foul trouble,” Loya said. “They have eight guys that are 6-3 and over and we only have three guys. We tried to eat some time up but that’s hard to do. McCort has some pretty fast kids. So you had to play a different game. I thought our kids did well under the pressure.”
The Crushers narrowed the gap in the third quarter, pulling to within six, 45-39, and in the fourth got to within three with 2:02 left before the Cougars iced the game, going 9 of 17 from the free-throw line.
“We’re 0-3,” Hollern said. “That’s what our team deserves so far this year, No matter who we play, that’s who we are. We can’t finish with the basketball inside the paint. We don’t play consistently throughout the entire game. We are who we are. We’re an 0-3 basketball team. We still make too many mental mistakes. I know we’re a young basketball team, but our seniors are still making mistakes that they shouldn’t make.”
Walker finished with 18 points and eight rebounds for North Star. Patrick O’Reilly topped the Crushers with 11 points and Keith Fletcher added 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Johnstown had four players who scored in double figures, led by Mark Watson with 19 points.
Isaiah Haselrig supplied 13 points and eight rebounds for the Trojans, who also got 12 points from Quentin Brandon and 10 from Alkwan Williams.
The Trojans (2-0) never trailed in their contest with Tussey Mountain and were tied just once at 2 in the opening minute of the game. Johnstown led 14-9 after the first and 31-18 at the half.
In the second half, the Trojans never let up, outscoring the Titans 23-16 in the third before being outscored 17-13 in fourth.
“In my opinion, I don’t think we played real well,” Johnstown coach Neil Cobaugh said. “We need to work better on the defensive end and on the defensive glass. We didn’t turn the ball over too much. We made a couple runs where we turned up the defense and I’d like to play a whole game like that.”
McCort and Tussey Mountain will meet in today’s consolation, set for 2 p.m. with the title game to follow.
Sports
Related Photos
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North Star guard/forward Beau Soberdash (left) drives past Bishop McCort’s Nemo Trexler Friday during the opening game of the Mountain Cat Tournament at the UPJ Sports Center. John Rucosky
Discussion
Trojans, Cougars will vie for crown
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