UNIONTOWN — The Lancers weren’t perfect on defense Monday evening.
But, that can’t be a huge concern when an offense plays to a level unseen by Crest High this season, according to head coach Travis Hermreck. The Lancers took down the Uniontown Eagles 70-62 in a heated matchup.
“We didn’t play great defense at any point in the game,” Hermreck said. “We just happened to play exceptional offense.”
That is no understatement.
Two Lancers scored 21 points — Brock Ellis and Hunter Frazell — and possibly the most impressive portion of their offense was from the free throw line. Crest hit 21 of 22 charity attempts, 95 percent from the line.
“That’s the best we’ve seen at Crest for a long time,” Hermreck said of shooting from the line.
For anyone in the stands Monday, it was obvious the Lancers needed every point they could get.
After putting a 44-31 lead on their opponent in the first half, Crest “survived” the second half, weathering several Eagle comeback attempts without giving up the lead.
Joseph Duffey helped lead the first comeback for the Eagles with a 9-2 run on the Lancers to start the third. Crest went from hitting nearly everything to ice cold after the half.
“You could tell our heads floated on us after halftime,” Hermreck said.
The same strategy that put them ahead in the first — fast breaks and quick shots — was resulting in bricks and turnovers. Austin Green had the first field goal of the third with a trey at the 1:42 mark. Then Frazell contributed a driving score and another trey to end the quarter. The Lancers held on 54-46 going into the final section.
The Eagles weren’t done yet. Jacob Duffey spearheaded another comeback with back-to-back buckets, coupled with some fast break points from his teammates. Uniontown pulled to within three, 59-56, with just under two minutes remaining.
Then, the stellar free-throw shooting came into play for the Lancers. They hit 10 of 11 charities in a row to seal the deal, breaking the Lancers’ four-game losing streak.
“We finally broke the losing streak,” Hermreck said, coming out of the locker room. “It feels good to finally get another win.”
In addition to Ellis and Frazell’s high scores, the Lancer’s Green hit eight and Landon Stephens and Taylor Davis had seven each. Skyler Riley had 18 points for the Eagles.
The Lancers travel to Lebo tonight.
Crest 20-24-10-16—70
Uniontown 15-16-15-16—62
Crest (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Frazell 2/3-8-2-21, Green 0/1-5-2-8, Godderz 2-0-3-4, Stephens 1/1-2-1-7, Davis 3-1-4-7, Brallier 0-0-1-0, Ellis 5/2-5-4-21, Ramsey 1-0-4-2. TOTALS: 14/7-21-21-70.
Uniontown (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Gleason 0/2-3-3-9, Riley 3/3-3-4-18, Bradbury 0-3-3-3, Jo. Duffey 5-0-5-10, Ja. Duffey 4-0-1-8, Elder 0-0-1-0, Johns 2-8-3-12, Wood 0-2-1-2. TOTALS: 14/5-19-21-62.
Lancers topple Eagles
