Coming of a tough one-point loss at Bellefonte on Tuesday night, coach Mike Harris said his team had some things to work on to get ready for Bishop Guilfoyle.
Last night at the Pleasant Valley Gymnasium, Tyrone scored a 66-65 win over the Mauraders.
Harris has said all year that there are no superstars on his team this season.
“We have a great group of kids who work hard and play together,” said Harris. “This team plays together.”
This season, there has been a different star in each game. Against Guilfoyle, there was a different star in a different portion of the game.
In the first half, Tad Chamberlain was a huge spark off the bench for the Golden Eagles. With Tyrone trailing 10-6, Chamberlain went to work. The 6-5 junior scored Tyrone’s final five points in the first quarter to give the Golden Eagles an 11-10 lead after the first eight minutes. Chamberlain added six more in the second quarter for his 11 points on the evening. Tyrone also got hot from behind the arc. Senior guard scored a pair of three’s and Josh Crabtree added another to help pace Tyrone to a 32-26 halftime lead.
No game played in the Mauraders gym is ever easy and Guilfoyle fought back in the third quarter. The Golden Eagles were outscored 21-15 as BG tied the score at 47-47 heading into the final quarter.
“We needed someone to step up and score in the third quarter,” said Harris. “Kevin (Hershberger) stepped up and did that for us. He has been shooting the ball well all year and was hot in the third quarter tonight.”
Hershberger scored 13 of Tyrone’s 15 in the third quarter to keep the Golden Eagles on pace.
In the fourth quarter, senior forward Adam Hoover stepped up and played a big role. Hoover cleaned the glass and scored all eight of his points in the final period. Later in the quarter, Leonard Wilson hit a bucket to give Tyrone a 65-59 lead with :55 left to play.
Most times when a team has a six-point lead with less than a minute left to play, you warm up the bus and start celebrating. When Guilfoyle is involved, the game is not over until the final buzzer.
The Mauraders fought back. Finelli hit a bucket to cut the Tyrone lead to 65-61. After Josh Crabtree made one of two from the foul line to give Tyrone a 66-61 lead, Guilfoyle kept scratching and clawing. Patrick Miller hit two free throws to cut the lead to 66-63 with 23.6 seconds left. Tyrone turned the ball over and with 3.5 seconds left Johnny Cotto scored a bucket to shrink the lead to one point.
Tyrone inbounded the pass and drove the floor, but missed the layup and the ball went out of bounds off of a Golden Eagle with 1.3 seconds left to play.
The Mauraders inbounded the ball to Kasey Toomey who launched a shot from near half court that fell short and the Golden Eagles held on to a 66-65 win.
“It is always tough to win here at Guilfoyle,” said Harris. “We were coming off of a one-point loss and scored a one-point win. We’ve been fortunate to win three straight games here at BG.”
Tyrone used a balanced scoring attack for the victory. Kevin Hershberger eclipsed the 20 point mark for the third time in four games with 21. Tad Chamberlain had 11 and Leonard Wilson chipped in with 10.
“We knew we had a size advantage,” said Harris. “Our guys in the post (Tad Chamberlain, Adam Hoover and Kevin Hershberger) have been working hard with coach (George) Gripp. Our kids know their roles and have done a very good job adapting to them.”
Johnny Cotto led Guilfoyle with 21 points.
The Golden Eagles improved to 3-1 overall and 2-1 in the Mountain League and will host Lewistown on Tuesday.
“”We always play Lewistown tough at home,” said Harris. “That game is tough for the road team. We know that they will come to our place and play hard and we will have to improve to beat them.”
Hoop Notes: The Golden Eagles took the lead with :37 left in the first quarter and didn’t trail the rest of the game. The Mauraders tied the game twice in the third quarter and once in the fourth quarter… Tyrone turned the ball over three times in the final minute and held on for the victory… Kevin Hershberger is averaging 20.25 points per game through four contests.
Junior Varsity
Tyrone’s jayvee squad evened its record at 2-2 on the season with a 48-43 victory over BG.
The Eagles were led by Josh Clark who had 16 and Adam Corle’s 13.
Tyrone 66, Bishop Guilfoyle 65
Individual scoring
TYRONE – Crabtree 2 1-6 6, Cushio 2 0-0 6, Hershberger 10 0-0 21, Wilson 3 4-5 10, Hoover 3 2-2 8, Chamberlain 4 3-3 11, Gherrity 1 2-2 4, Corle 0 0-0 0. Totals: 25 12-18 66.
BISHOP GUILFOYLE – Toomey 6 1-1 16, Miller 3 2-2 8, Cotto 8 3-3 21, Moshella 0 0-0 0, Finelli 4 1-2 9, Meyers 1 0-0 2, Kresege 2 0-0 5, Curtis 1 0-0 2, McConnell 0 0-0 0. Totals: 26 7-8 65.
Score by quarters
Tyrone 11 21 15 19 – 66
Bishop Guilfoyle 10 16 21 18 – 65
Three point goals: Tyrone 4 (Cushion 2, Crabtree 1, Hershberger 1).
Bishop Guilfoyle 4 (Toomey 3, Kresage 1).
