ORAN – Even before the first seconds ticked off the game clock Friday night during the Uniontown High-Marmaton Valley High matchup, the Wildcats were already losing.
During warm-ups, a member of the Wildcat boys’ basketball team grabbed the rim resulting in two technical free throws for the Eagles. Uniontown capitalized as senior Zach Travis made both charity shots, taking a lead which they didn’t relinquish. The Eagles earned a 50-34 victory over their Three Rivers League rival in the first game on either teams’ schedule.
Denny Lasley, Marmaton Valley boy’s basketball head coach, said the boys did what they could to battle back but a slow start and some untimely mistakes proved to be the difference in a game closer than the score might indicate.
“We didn’t even get a chance before we were down,” he said, referring to the pre-game technical.
Trailing at halftime 32-10, the Wildcats came out in the third period swinging. With the help of junior Cole Becker’s shooting and an emphasis on defense, Marmaton Valley cut the lead to within nine, outscoring the Eagles 14-5 in the third.
“The kids never gave up,” Lasley said.
But every time the Wildcats got close enough to smell a lead, something went wrong, he said.
“We tried to rush everything and we didn’t keep the floor spread,” Lasley said.
Uniontown closed the game out with a 13-10 run.
Leading the Eagles to victory were Travis with 18 points – a game high – eight of which came from the charity stripe. Teammate and junior Brenton Esslinger had 11 points. Sophomore Trenton Miller and senior Domonic Robinson each had five points.
For the Wildcats, Becker led the way with 16 points and three three-point field goals. Junior Nathan Smart added nine and senior Zach Louk contributed seven points. Smart led the team with eight rebounds.
Uniontown (19-13-5-13-58) (FG/3-pt): Riley 0-1-0-1, Travis 2/2-8-3-18, Wiley 0-2-4-2, Miller 1/1-0-0-5, Kuns 1-0-4-5, Ulrey 0-0-2-0, Robinson 2-1-0-5, Labb 1-0-3-2, Esslinger 1/2-3-0-11, Simpson 2-0-4-4. TOTALS:10/5-15-20-50.
Marmaton Valley (4-6-14-10-34) (FG/3-pt): Louk 1-5-2-7, Carr 0-1-0-1, Becker 2/3-3-5-16, Frye 0-0-2-0, Ramsey 0-0-2-0, Hamlin 0-0-4-0, Stewart 0-1-1-1, Smart 3-3-2-9, Smith 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 6/3-13-19-34.
Eagles too much for Wildcats
