Taking advantage: Leopards claw inexperienced, shorthanded Red Raiders, 67-41
Rob Burchianti | 无毛视频-Standard
Belle Vernon无毛视频檚 Devin Whitlock defends Uniontown无毛视频檚 Damarr Lewis during Friday night无毛视频檚 game at Belle Vernon.
Rob Burchianti | 无毛视频-Standard
Belle Vernon无毛视频檚 Daniel Gordon (20) pulls down a rebound in front of Uniontown无毛视频檚 Bakari Wallace during Friday night无毛视频檚 game at Belle Vernon.
Rob Burchianti | 无毛视频-Standard
Uniontown无毛视频檚 Brian Sykes puts in two of his 10 points during Friday night无毛视频檚 game at Belle Vernon.
Belle Vernon's Quinton Martin pulls down a rebound in front of Uniontown's Tanner Uphold (23) during Friday night's game at Belle Vernon.
Rob Burchianti | 无毛视频-Standard
Belle Vernon guard Devin Whitlock (1) pushes the ball up court as Uniontown无毛视频檚 Tanner Uphold (23) defends during Friday night无毛视频檚 game at Belle Vernon.
Rob Burchianti | 无毛视频-Standard
Belle Vernon coach Joe Salvino talks to his players during a timeout in Friday night无毛视频檚 game against Uniontown at Belle Vernon.
Belle Vernon's Daniel Gordon shoots a jump shot against Uniontown during Friday night's game at Belle Vernon.
Rob Burchianti | 无毛视频-Standard
Uniontown无毛视频檚 Damarr Lewis takes a jump shot during Friday night无毛视频檚 game at Belle Vernon.
Rob Burchianti | 无毛视频-Standard
Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky signals to his players during Friday night无毛视频檚 game at Belle Vernon. The Red Raiders fell to Class 5A Thomas Jefferson in a non-section home game Monday night.
Belle Vernon's Devin Whitlock takes a jump shot as Uniontown's Nate Moody (14) defends during Friday night's game at Belle Vernon.
Belle Vernon's Quinton Martin (right) defends Uniontown's Josh Curry Jones (12) during Friday night's game at Belle Vernon.
Belle Vernon's Devin Whitlock scoops in a shot in the final seconds of the first half despite the defense of Uniontown's Tanner Uphold during Friday night's game at Belle Vernon.
ROSTRAVER TWP. 无毛视频� Uniontown had the unenviable task of opening its boys basketball season with an all-new starting lineup on the road against one of the top-ranked teams in Class 4A on Friday.
To make matters worse for the Red Raiders, starting center Christian Perkins was unavailable and senior leader Damarr Lewis was forced to sit out the entire second quarter due to foul trouble.
Belle Vernon took full advantage as Devin Whitlock scored a game-high 23 points and the Leopards rolled to a 67-41 victory in the Section 3-AAAA opener for both teams.
The Red Raiders are coming off back-to-back section championships. The loss was their first in section play since Feb. 6, 2017, also to the Leopards at Uniontown, 62-61.
Belle Vernon finished second in the section last year but soared in the postseason as it reached the WPIAL final and also won a PIAA game.
无毛视频淭hey have a lot of guys back and Whitlock is one of the better guards around,无毛视频� Kezmarksy said. 无毛视频淭hey have some other good players, too. They hurt us defensively inside. We weren无毛视频檛 full strength size-wise.
无毛视频淏esides Damarr, that was the first varsity game for a lot of our players. We started two sophomores (Bakari Wallace and Tanner Uphold) and seniors Brian (Sykes) and Josh (Currey Jones) played as hard as they could. We just have to get a little stronger defensively inside.无毛视频�
The Leopards (1-0, 1-1) never trailed and jumped out to a 7-0 lead on a basket off a rebound by Daniel Gordon and a layup and 3-pointer by Whitlock.
Sykes got the Red Raiders (0-1, 0-1) on the board with a short jumper 1:47 into the game but Belle Vernon pushed the lead up to 11-4 after another Whitlock layup.
Evan Townsend无毛视频檚 3-pointer pulled Uniontown within 15-11 and Lewis scored with a rebound to make it 18-15 before Whitlock hit one of two fouls shots to put the hosts up 19-15 after one quarter. The foul on Whitlock was the third on Lewis and sent him to the bench for the rest of the half.
无毛视频淲e无毛视频檙e a different team when he goes to the bench,无毛视频� Kezmarsky said.
Belle Vernon pushed its lead up to 28-17 in the second quarter before Uniontown无毛视频檚 Tanner Uphold hit a 3-pointer from the corner to make it 28-20. A basket by Logan Cunningham put the Leopards ahead 30-20 and they would keep the margin in double digits the rest of the game.
Whitlock无毛视频檚 drive and scoop shot in the final seconds gave Belle Vernon a 38-22 halftime advantage.
The Leopards extended their lead to 49-30 in a slow-paced third quarter and they pulled away with an 18-11 edge in the final frame.
Tyler Kovatch (12) and Gordon (10) also hit double figures for Belle Vernon. Freshman Quinton Martin chipped in with seven points.
Lewis led the Red Raiders with 15 points and Sykes followed with 10. Curry Jones had five points and Wallace and Uphold both added four points.
It was the second game for Belle Vernon, which lost at home to Thomas Jefferson, 65-59, in a non-section clash on Dec. 11 before Gov. Tom Wolf halted the season due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic until Jan. 4 when practices started up again.
无毛视频淎gainst Uniontown it无毛视频檚 a good win to start off section play,无毛视频� said Leopards coach Joe Salvino, who discussed getting his team back into the flow after the long layoff.
无毛视频淭he first couple days were really hard,无毛视频� Salvino said. 无毛视频淲e had some Zoom meetings, went over some film but other than that we didn无毛视频檛 do anything (during the break). So our first couple of practices were a little bit lax.无毛视频�
Even so, Salvino was impressed with Whitlock无毛视频檚 improvement from the opener.
无毛视频淚 like the way he took the ball to the hole, he took the ball strong,无毛视频� Salvino said. 无毛视频淗e did those things well. He didn无毛视频檛 settle for the 3-point shot. I thought he did that too much in the TJ game. I thought he played well.无毛视频�
Salvino also commended Kovatch and Gordon for their performances.
无毛视频淭yler did a very good job,无毛视频� Salvino said. 无毛视频淗e worked hard on the boards. Daniel didn无毛视频檛 shoot the ball very well from the outside but he also rebounded and played good defense.无毛视频�
Salvino saw a stark improvement overall since his team无毛视频檚 opener.
无毛视频淚n this game there were a couple lapses here or there but for the most part I thought we played four quarters,无毛视频� Salvino said. 无毛视频淥ur intensity was a lot better. The TJ game, we came out strong but we didn无毛视频檛 score in the third quarter and our confidence went right downhill so we stopped playing defense. That无毛视频檚 what really hurt us.
无毛视频淚 keep on telling them sometimes the ball is going to go in the hole, sometimes it无毛视频檚 not but defense is nothing but hustle. So if you can play defense, good things will happen.无毛视频�
Kezmarsky expects his inexperienced team to improve throughout the season.
无毛视频淲e as a team are capable of playing a lot better,无毛视频� he said. 无毛视频淲e无毛视频檙e looking forward to getting into the gym tomorrow. Our kids will work hard. We无毛视频檙e not going to over-react to one game. We无毛视频檒l be OK.
无毛视频淚 told my players, last year we beat them by 27 early in the year but we only beat them by two the second time. So maybe we can reverse that this year and get them when we meet again.无毛视频�
Kezmarsky was just glad to have his players out on the court competing for the first time during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
无毛视频淭onight无毛视频檚 a good night for Uniontown and Belle Vernon just to play a game,无毛视频� Kezmarsky said.
Salvino agreed, adding, 无毛视频淕od only knows how many of these games we无毛视频檙e going to get to play.无毛视频�