The Tyrone Junior High boys basketball team fought off a determined Indian Valley team on the road Friday, and prevailed 43-26. The win, their ninth in a row, gave them a 10-2 season record, as they prepare for a busy week against Central (at home Monday, Jan. 31st), Huntingdon (at home Wednesday, Feb. 2), and Bald Eagle (away Friday, Feb. 4th).
In the first quarter, both teams battled back and forth from the opening tap, but 6 points from Josh Bradley and 4 from Jon Hampton helped to forge a 12-8 Tyrone lead.
Indian valley scored the first bucket of the second period to get within two at 12-10, but a basket off a steal by Ethan Etters and a putback by Jon Harris pushed the lead to 16-10. The Warriors called a timeout to regroup, and no further points were scored until Josh Bradley got a layup off a pass from Ethan Etters with 5 seconds left. The Eagles went into the locker room leading 18-10.
Starting the second half, Indian Valley used a full-court 2-2-1 press to force a couple of Tyrone turnovers and get two baskets to get within four at 18-14. An Etters baseline jumper padded the score to 20-14. After trading scores several times, Josh Bradley finished the 3rd quarter with a bucket inside to put Tyrone up 28-20.
Indian Valley scored first to open the final period, but a three-pointer by Eagle’s Jon Hampton kept the Warriors at bay 31-22. A couple more Tyrone turnovers forced by IV’s press were converted to scores, and the Warriors were within five at 31-26 with two minutes to go. Then, three straight times, the Warriors fouled Jon Harris, who coolly went to the line and sank six straight free throws to push the lead to 37-26 and squash Indian Valley’s hopes. With under a minute to go, Brandon Gehret was fouled three times and sank another four free throws.
In all, the Eagles hit 10 of 12 at the charity stripe down the stretch to put the game out of reach. Josh Bradley added one more putback underneath the Tyrone offensive boards to fmake the final score 43-26.
Josh Bradley had 15 points for the second game in a row to lead the Eagles to victory. Jon Harris, who was out of the lineup for several weeks, showed he was back at 100% with eight points including his six straight game-sealing free throws.
Tyrone 43 Indian Valley 26
Score by quarters
Tyrone 12 6 10 15 – 43
Indian Valley 8 2 10 6 – 26
Ty-Bradley 15, Harris 8, Hampton 7, Etters 5, Gehret 4, McCaulley 2, Brooks 2.
In the earlier eighth-grade game, the Eagles went to 11-0 under Coach Elvey as they dominated the Warriors 11-1 and 14-3 in the first two quarters to take a 25-4 halftime lead, and then cruised to a 41-12 final victory. Ethan Etters, John Shaffer, and Kyle Updyke all led the way with 11, 10, and eight points, respectively. On top of their three games scheduled this week, the eighth graders will compete in a tournament at St. Marys in Altoona beginning the evening of Wednesday, February 2.
