Red Raiders seize control early, charge into elite eight
Rob Burchianti | 无毛视频-Standard
Uniontown无毛视频檚 Notorious Grooms (00) lofts a shot over Littlestown无毛视频檚 Christopher Meakin (30) during Tuesday night无毛视频檚 PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School. Grooms scored 12 points in the Red Raiders无毛视频� 67-46 win.
Rob Burchianti | 无毛视频-Standard
Uniontown无毛视频檚 Bakari Wallace (5) bolts past Littlestown无毛视频檚 Caleb Unger (14) as he dribbles the ball court during Tuesday night无毛视频檚 PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School. Wallace scored 18 points in the Red Raiders无毛视频� 67-46 win.
Rob Burchianti | 无毛视频-Standard
Uniontown无毛视频檚 Jamire Braxton sinks an off-balance shot against Littlestown during Tuesday night无毛视频檚 PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School. Braxton scored 11 points in the Red Raiders无毛视频� 67-46 win.
Littlestown's Cole Riley (right) looks for someone to pass to as Uniontown's Calvin Winfrey III (left), Tanner Uphold (23) and Notorious Grooms (00) play tight man-to-man defense聽during Tuesday night's PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School.
Uniontown's K'Adrian McLee (4) tries to get off a shot in the lane against Littlestown聽during Tuesday night's PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School.
Uniontown's Notorious Grooms (00) flips a pass back to Bakari Wallace (5) for a fast-break layup during Tuesday night's PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School.
Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky has a discussion with an official during Tuesday night's PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game against Littlestown at Bedford High School.
Uniontown's Notorious Grooms tightly defends Littlestown's Zyan Herr (32)聽during Tuesday night's PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School.
Uniontown's Calvin Winfrey III sends a pass to Bakari Wallace for a fast-break layup against Littlestown聽during Tuesday night's PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School.
Bedford's Zyan Herr loses control of the basketball while getting defensive pressure from Uniontown's Notorious Grooms (left) and Jamire Braxton聽during Tuesday night's PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School.
Rob Burchianti | 无毛视频-Standard
Uniontown无毛视频檚 Bakari Wallace (5) takes a jump shot against Littlestown during Tuesday night无毛视频檚 PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School. Wallace scored 18 points in the Red Raiders无毛视频� 67-46 win.
Uniontown's Levi Garner (11) blocks a Littlestown shot out of bounds during Tuesday night's PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School.
Uniontown's Notorious Grooms makes two free throws against Littlestown聽during the fourth quarter of Tuesday night's PIAA Class AAAA second-round playoff game at Bedford High School.
BEDFORD 无毛视频� Uniontown seized control from the start and never let go.
Now the Red Raiders are one of just eight Class AAAA boys basketball teams still alive in the state.
Bakari Wallace led a balanced attack with a game-high 18 points as Uniontown advanced to the PIAA quarterfinals for the first time in 21 years thanks to an impressive 67-46 victory over Littlestown at Bedford High School on Tuesday night.
无毛视频淭his was a team win and a great win for our program,无毛视频� Red Raiders coach Rob Kezmarsky said. 无毛视频淭hese kids deserve it.
无毛视频淭hey无毛视频檙e in the elite eight of the state because of one thing and that无毛视频檚 what they无毛视频檝e done in the offseason. We told them before the game, all their trips to Greensburg, Pitt team camp, all the individual workouts, everything we did in the summer from Woodland Hills to Greensburg Central, all of that prepared them for this.
无毛视频淭hese are just great kids.无毛视频�
The Red Raiders will play the winner between North Catholic and Valley View 无毛视频� who had their second-round game postponed to Wednesday due to inclement weather 无毛视频� on Friday at a site and time to be determined.
Uniontown, as it has all season, got contributions from a variety of players in improving to 22-5 overall and earning a seventh postseason game this year.
Notorious Grooms followed Wallace with 12 points, Jamire Braxton tallied 11 points in just one half of play due to illness, Calvin Winfrey III had 10 points and Levi Garner chipped in with eight points.
The Red Raiders, coming off an eye-opening 81-69 upset win at Berks Catholic on Friday night, jumped out to a 10-2 lead and never trailed against the Thunderbolts (21-7).
无毛视频淲e felt confident coming into the game,无毛视频� Garner said. 无毛视频淚t feels great to be in the top eight of the state.无毛视频�
无毛视频淲e let them get away from us the first four minutes and we were playing catch-up from there,无毛视频� Littlestown coach John Forster said.
Grooms hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Uniontown a 20-10 lead after one quarter and the Red Raiders led by as much as 16 points in the second quarter before settling on a 32-20 halftime advantage.
Braxton fell ill during the break and would not play again but Uniontown无毛视频檚 depth helped it maintain a comfortable lead.
无毛视频淲e had to overcome some adversity tonight,无毛视频� Kezmarsky said. 无毛视频淲e were rolling in the first half. Jamire无毛视频檚 not feeling well. He gutted it out and played great in the first half.无毛视频�
Littlestown whittled the gap to nine late in the third quarter on a 3-pointer by Lucas Denault.
Forster felt that was his team无毛视频檚 chance to get back into the game.
无毛视频淲e cut it to nine and had two good looks at 3s, shots that we无毛视频檝e been hitting all season,无毛视频� Forster said. 无毛视频淚 think if we could无毛视频檝e hit one of those and got it to six it might无毛视频檝e been a different game.无毛视频�
Neither shot went down and instead a three-point play by Wallace gave the Red Raiders a 42-30 lead heading into the fourth.
Grooms opened the final frame with another three-point play and a quick Winfrey-to-Grooms-to-Garner fast break made it 47-30.
Christopher Meakin, who led the Thunderbolts with 17 points, made a 3-pointer to cut the margin to 14 but back-to-back buckets by K无毛视频橝drian McLee and a free throw by Winfrey bumped Uniontown无毛视频檚 lead to 19. Littlestown wouldn无毛视频檛 get closer than 16 after that.
无毛视频淲e maybe should无毛视频檝e gone to the four corners a little earlier than we did but we kept getting fast-break opportunities and we无毛视频檙e so good at that I was fine with them pushing the ball in those instances,无毛视频� Kezmarsky said. 无毛视频淭ori and Calvin are so good at handling the ball at the end of games and they did again tonight.无毛视频�
Forster agreed with the effectiveness of the Red Raiders无毛视频� fast break.
无毛视频淲e didn无毛视频檛 hit shots early and we turned the ball over and let them get out on the break, which is one thing we talked about that we couldn无毛视频檛 let them do,无毛视频� Forster said. 无毛视频淚t无毛视频檚 a testament to their defense. They无毛视频檙e a great defensive team. They无毛视频檙e scrappy and they无毛视频檙e great in transition.无毛视频�
Kezmarsky pointed to his front court as another key factor in the win against the taller Thunderbolts.
无毛视频淚 thought Levi and K无毛视频橝drian controlled the game on the boards,无毛视频� Kezmarsky said. 无毛视频淭hey无毛视频檙e a good team. They have two 1,000-point scorers (Meakin and Jake Bosley, who was limited to seven points) and I thought Levi and K无毛视频橝drian played them pretty well. When Levi had to guard 22 (Bosley) I thought he did a good job.无毛视频�
Littlestown couldn无毛视频檛 bottle up the elusive Wallace, who consistently drove through its defense, helped force turnovers and handled the ball well also.
无毛视频淏akari does everything,无毛视频� Kezmarsky said. 无毛视频淗e knows how to get to the basket. He does stuff people don无毛视频檛 even realize, his tip-ins, his defense, the charges he takes. I无毛视频檝e never had a player take as many charges as him.无毛视频�
Forster commended his squad, which finished third in District 3.
无毛视频淚t was a great season,无毛视频� Forster said. 无毛视频淭hese guys worked their butts off. This is unprecedented territory for the school.无毛视频�
Zyan Herr followed Meakin with 12 points for the Thunderbolts.
It was another unselfish effort by the Red Raiders, according to Kezmarsky.
无毛视频淲ith this team, it doesn无毛视频檛 matter who scored, who didn无毛视频檛 score, how many shots anyone got, they just want to do what it takes to win,无毛视频� Kezmarsky said.
无毛视频淲hen you have kids like this it makes you proud.无毛视频�