On Tuesday at Lewistown only one team came out of the gate ready to go full tilt. That team wasn’t the Tyrone Golden Eagles, who battled Lewistown toe-to-toe over the final two quarters, but couldn’t make up the 31-15 margin the Panthers built up in the opening two periods. In the end, Lewistown improved their record to 2-3 with a 68-48 win.
“Lewistown was sprinting in the transitions in the first half, while we were only jogging,” was how Tyrone coach George Gripp described the early action. “Lewistown was getting two and three shots every time they came down the court in the first half. We can’t give a team the quality of Lewistown that many chances. We need to play a complete game-four quarters. We really haven’t done that in any of our games yet. We have worked so hard in practice, but tonight we were getting beat up and down the floor. We got too far down in the first half and couldn’t make up the difference.”
Matt Brooks scored 15 points and Steve Catich was the Eagles high-scorer with 16, but nobody else was in double figures.
Lewistown showed a 24-19 advantage in field goals, but really had the upper hand in free throws, converting 17 of 22, while Tyrone only went to the line 11 times, sinking six.
Lewistown, with Elliot Searer scoring a game-high 23 points, opened up scoring advantages of 14-9 and 17-6 in the first and second quarters, before the Golden Eagles finally were able to get it going in the second half. Even then, Lewistown matched the Eagles 14-14 in the third quarter, and outscored Tyrone 21-19 in the fourth stanza.
Dan Lauder added 14 points for Lewistown and Wade Fagan had 12 points.
“We were able to get some of our 10th graders in, tonight,” said Gripp. “Hopefully that will pay off down the line. If we don’t compete and hustle, every game is going to be like this one.”
Tyrone (1-2) will travel to Bishop Guilfoyle on Thursday. Junior varsity action will begin at 6 p.m., with the varsity game starting at 7:30 p.m.
Lewistown 68 Tyrone 48
Tyrone – Branstetter 1 0-0 3, Levinson 0 0-0 0, Morrow 2 3-4 7, Brooks 7 1-3 15, Catich 7 0-0 16, Gehret 0 0-0 0, Ingle 0 0-0 0, Peterman 1 0-0 3, Updyke 1 2-2 4, Dane 0 0-2 0. TOTALS 19 6-11 48.
Lewistown – Searer 7 7-7 23, Fink 1 0-0 2, Mckay 0 0-0 0, Muir 0 0-0 0, Lauder 6 1-3 14, Klinger 1 0-0 2, Hilton 3 2-3 8, Zimmerman 2 1-2 5, Fagan 4 4-5 12, Gehrett 0 2-2 2. TOTALS 24 17-22 68.
Tyrone 9 6 14 19 – 48
Lewistown 14 17 14 21 – 68
Three-point goals: Tyrone 4 (Catich 2, Branstetter, Peterman).
Lewistown 3 Searer 2, Lauder).
