Lewistown came into Tyrone seeking revenge after losing on their home floor against Tyrone three games back. Tyrone has lost two straight since the first meeting this season against Bald Eagle Area and Bishop Guilfoyle.
Both teams came into the game with very close conference records, but Tyrone was just 6-9 and 4-5 overall. The Panthers supported an 11-5 record, but just 5-4 in the conference. The game meant a lot to both teams, for Tyrone was struggling to get a win and the Panthers were out for blood.
Tyrone’s key to win the game was to shut down Matt Hilton. With Leonard Wilson, Tyrone’s top defender, guarding him tightly, Tyrone looked to shut down the Panther offense two straight times this season.
Well, Hilton took the ball hard to Wilson early, scoring Lewistown’s first 11 points as they jumped in front, 11-8 with 3:54 to go. Wilson and Johnny Franco kept Tyrone close, as they scored the first eight points, Wilson netting six of his game high 21.
After a quick start from both sides, Tyrone began to turn the ball over slowly but surely at the end of the quarter. The Eagles gave Lewistown three straight fast break lay-ups to end the first quarter as the Panthers jumped out 17-12 to finish the first quarter.
Tyrone was struggling on offense, turning the ball over and Byron Kost was getting trounced by Hilton on defense as he was held to just one shot in the first quarter. Kost had trouble getting open looks and Hilton made sure he didn’t get any opportunities to take out the Panther defense like he did in Lewistown.
The second quarter started out with Franco putting a little move on Hilton as he caught him reaching and took him to the bucket for a sweeping lay-up. The score was just 17-14 with 7:31 to go, but Hilton found a wide-open trey which put the Panthers back up six (20-14, 6:51).
Tyrone had to stop this monster as he already racked up 14 points in just over a quarter. Wilson did just that, but Tyrone’s offensive struggle kept the Panthers on top most of the quarter.
Steve Catich led Tyrone’s offense in the second quarter as he drove baseline scoring two of his 14, cutting the lead to just four. Elliot Searer answered the Eagle bucket with a fast break lay-up, going back up six with 6:02 remaining.
The Panther offense had an answer for every Eagle shot, but turnovers cost both teams easy shots and opportunities to put the game out of reach. Instead, the game was tight the entire way because of the intensity on defense as they both had trouble controlling the ball.
After a Wilson foul shot, Lewistown looked for Hilton in the corner as they pushed the ball up the court quickly. Hilton pumped a shot in the corner, which caught Wilson off-guard. This allowed Hilton to bring another defender toward him as he made an unbelievable “no-look” pass to Mike Baker for an uncontested lay-up. The Panthers went up 24-17 with 4:49 to go, but Tyrone would make a last effort to pull the game closer.
Catich began the comeback by scoring on a back door cut that Tyrone ran the entire first half. After a Hilton turnover, Wilson took the ball coast-to-coast where he would get fouled and make both free throws, cutting the score to 24-21 with 3:28 left.
After a Hilton miss, Wilson ran the transition, picking up two more foul shots, cutting the lead to 24-23. Tyrone was not finished there as Catich streaked down the floor on another Tyrone steal, scoring the go-ahead bucket with 1:36 left in the half (25-24). Tyrone pulled ahead of the Panthers for the moment, but after three straight turnovers from both teams gave Wade Fagan a wide open look with :10 seconds left in the half.
The Panthers led 26-25 after the half. Hilton led the way with 14 points, but Tyrone shut him down in the second quarter to three points. Kost was shut-out in the first half, a rare case for Tyrone’s second leading scorer, but Wilson and Catich carried the Eagles with 21 of their 25 points at the break.
Tyrone struggled early in the third quarter as they were held scoreless for the first four minutes. Lewistown’s Chris Tressler started the slow third quarter with a jumper from the corner. Baker followed the Tyrone miss as he hit one of two from the free throw line.
With the score 29-25, neither team could find a rhythm on offense as Wilson broke the two minute silence and four minute blank for Tyrone with a lay-up, cutting the lead to just two with 3:54 to go in the third.
The Panthers would score the next two buckets from Tressler and Hilton, forcing Tyrone to make something of their offense (33-27).
Josh Clark finally grabbed some action as he stole an awful pass that went directly into his hands and laid in and easy bucket (33-29).
Lewistown answered quickly with a Wade Doebler jumper, putting the Panthers back up six, 35-29. It was back and forth the entire third quarter as Tyrone just couldn’t find any openings in the stubborn defense of the Panthers.
With 1:20 to go in the third, Tyrone scored four straight points (35-33), but Elliot Searer would drain a trey to end the short-lived run of the Eagles (38-33).
Time was running down on Tyrone in the third quarter as Clark took the ball strong and almost converted the “and-one,” but took two foul shots instead, making it 38-35 after three quarters of play.
The game was tight and the defensive intensity from both sides kept the game low in scoring. With Kost still scoreless after three-quarters, Tyrone had a tough road ahead of them if they wanted to make any run in the fourth.
Hilton completely took control and set the tempo in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, scoring the first five points and put the Panthers up eight (43-35). Lewistown quickly called a timeout, looking to shut the Eagles down for good and control the pace of the game.
After the timeout, Clark nailed a jumper from the foul line for the first Tyrone bucket in the fourth, but Doebler took the next two buckets to give the Panthers a 10 point lead, the largest of the night (47-37). Tyrone was looking rough on offense as they turned the ball over several times in the fourth quarter and gave the Panthers opportunities to put the game away.
After two Wilson free throws, Tyrone found themselves down eight points, but Hilton and Casey Zimmerman nailed two shots to extend the lead to 12 points, 51-39 with just 5:23 to go in the game.
The Eagles had to call a timeout to cool down this offensive attack from the Panthers and set-up a plan to comeback in the game.
Tyrone forced a turnover in the paint and pushed the ball forward after the timeout. Kost was open early, passed up his shot, and got the ball back in the corner where he drained his first trey of the night and his only points of the game.
On the ensuing possession, Shane Barr stole a pass and took it up strong where he would get fouled and make one of two (43-51). The Eagles were edging their way back and this was the start of Tyrone’s 8-0 run.
Tyrone called a timeout with 4:23 to go in the game, to set-up a full-court press to force any type of turnover on Hilton and the Panthers. Tyrone did just that as Catich and Franco stole the next two passes from Hilton and Tressler to convert them for four straight Eagles points. Tyrone found themselves down 47-51 with 3:56 to go in the game.
Lewistown began running some clock with a weaving offense until Searer was caught traveling with 2:22 to go in the game. This gave Tyrone an opportunity to cut the score to two points, but Tyrone turned the ball over on their next possession. Tressler was quickly fouled with 1:49 to go as he sunk both free throws to put the Panthers back up six (53-47).
Tyrone had chances at the end of the game to make a comeback, but Wilson and Franco’s six last minute points were matched by six foul shots from Hilton, Searer and Tressler as the Panthers went on to win, 57-53.
“We wanted to rebound well and take good care of the basketball,” Tyrone Mike Harris said. “We just couldn’t figure out how to do that tonight. We rebounded, pressured, and handled the ball half-decent tonight. Our favorite play was giving the ball to the other team tonight. We had several opportunities to get back in the game and we threw them away. Tonight they just weren’t getting the job done.”
After the loss, Tyrone now falls to 6-10 and 4-6 in the conference. Wilson led the Eagles for the second straight game with 21, but Tyrone couldn’t pick up a win in either contest this week.
Lewistown bumps their record to 12-5 and 6-4 in the conference. Hilton led all scorers with 25 points as he left the rest of his team in single figures. Hilton put up 49 points in two games against Tyrone this year (both games he was only player in double-figures for Lewistown.).
Lewistown 57 Tyrone 53
Tyrone: Wilson 6 7-8 21, Clark 2 2-2 6, Catich 5 4-4 14, Kost 1 0-0 3, Barr 0 1-2 1, Brockett 1 0-0 2, Franco 4 0-0 8. Totals 19 14-16 53
Lewistown: Hilton 10 2-2 25, Baker 1 1-4 3, Tressler 3 2-2 8, Doebler 3 0-1 6, Lauder 2 0-2 4, Searer 2 2-2 7, Zimmerman 1 0-1 2, Fagan 1 0-0 2. Totals 23 7-14 57
Score by Quarters
Lew 17 9 12 19 57
Tyr 12 13 10 18 53
3 pt FG: Tyrone-1(Kost) Lewistown-4(Hilton-3, Searer)
Tyrone Jayvees win big at Home against Lewistown
Jamie Levinson led the way in Tyrone’s 52-38 victory Friday night against Lewistown. Levinson knocked down three triples and thirteen points in the win.
After leading by just two points at the break, Tyrone poured the heat on as they completely dominated the second half, outscoring the Panthers, 29-16 and held Lewistown to just three third quarter points.
Tyrone 52 Lewistown 38
Tyrone: Hoover 5 0-0 10, Branstetter 4 0-0 8, Levinson 4 2-3 13, Gehret 1 1-4 3, McCaulley 3 2-2 8, Brooks 2 3-4 7, Etters 2 0-1 4. Totals 19 8-14 52
Lewistown; Searer 3 0-0 9, Fink 5 0-0 11, Klinger 1 1-2 3, Zimmerman 2 1-2 6, Mckay 3 0-0 7, Gehret 0 0-2 0, Fahay 1 0-2 2. Totals 15 2-8 38
Score by Quarters
Lewistown 11 11 3 13 38
Tyrone 11 13 10 19 52
3 pt FG: Tyr-3(Levinson-3) Lew-6(Searer-3, Fink, Mckay)
