JOHNSTOWN —
Johnstown High was strong inside, phenomenal outside and had an effective defensive effort during the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference championship game on Saturday night.
When all three of those aspects of the Trojans’ game are clicking, Johnstown is extremely tough to beat.
The Section 2 Trojans avenged their lone setback of the season by defeating Section 1 Forest Hills, 74-58, in front of an enthusiastic capacity crowd at the Richland High School Sports Center to win their second straight LHAC title.
“They killed us on the boards,” said Forest Hills coach Lance McGough of the Trojans’ early presence inside that set the tone. “They definitely were motivated. They not only boxed us out, they out-jumped us. They had three or four guys and they were just bodying us up.”
Johnstown (20-1) stormed out to a 12-4 lead early in the first, but Forest Hills (18-5) withstood the barrage to stay within 15-10 after one quarter and 27-22 at halftime.
The Trojans turned up the intensity after the break, as Dwight Andrews scored 11 of his game-high 25 points in the third quarter and Johnstown hit four of its eight 3-point field goals in that span. Coach Neil Cobaugh’s squad took a 14-point advantage into the fourth quarter, a deficit too large for the Rangers to close.
“I was impressed with our intensity when we came out from the tip,” Cobaugh said. “We emphasize playing good defense. You have to rebound the ball on the defensive end. Our kids did real well with that tonight. We gave up a couple offensive rebounds but when you can hold a team like that to one shot on a lot of possessions, it’s big because they’ve got some good shooters.”
Two of those are 1,000-point scorers Luke Gallaher and Tanner Thomas.
Gallaher finished with 22 points, and Thomas had 21 points and eight rebounds. But the Trojans held Gallaher to three first-half points – a
3-pointer he made in the opening seconds of play.
“Luke is a great player,” Cobaugh said. “(Johnstown guard) Philip Madison did a phenomenal job on him all night. He hit 22 points but he earned all 22 of those. We didn’t make any one of his baskets easy.
“Philip doesn’t get credit in the box score. But as a sophomore he played great defense on the best athlete around, bar none.”
Johnstown had balance. Three players scored in double digits, including Andrews, Quentin Brandon (22 points) and Isaiah Haselrig (13). Haselrig had 10 rebounds and ignited the large crowd with a dunk over a Forest Hills defender that resulted in a traditional three-point play 5:45 before the half.
“Our guys love playing together as a team and they don’t care who scores,” Cobaugh said. “Each night it could be a different guy leading the scoring.”
McGough credited Johnstown’s
3-point shooters.
“The difference in the game was the 3s that they shot,” McGough said. “We tried to pack it in to get the rebounds and they hit something like 8 of 10
3-pointers. That forced us to go man-to-man and their athleticism takes over.”
Cobaugh said his players spent extra time on the long-range shot.
“We practice shooting every day and our kids really take pride in that,” Cobaugh said. “Our guys worked behind the arc and it paid off for us tonight. We knew we were going to face a lot of zone. We worked inside out. We went inside early. The kick-outs to those 3-point shots really helped us.”
Forest Hills won the regular-season meeting 67-62 in overtime in Sidman on Jan. 19. McGough hopes the teams meet one more time.
“If we see them again it would be in the District 6 championship,” McGough said of the 6-AAA playoffs.
“That’s what we’re shooting for.”
Sports
Related Photos
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DAVE LLOYD/THE TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT Johnstown’s Isaiah Haselrig (right) drives to the basket while Forest Hills’ Tanner Thomas defends on Saturday during the Laurel Highlands conference boys championship game at Richland High School. Dave Lloyd
Discussion
Trojans win in LHAC
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