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Sandwiched in Tyrone junior Kyle Updyke goes up between two Philipsburg-Osceola defenders during the Eagles’ triumph over the Mounties at Tyrone, on Wednesday night. (The Daily Herald/Mary Michaels) |
With an 18-4 record coming into the game, Tyrone needed just one more win to clinch the Nittany Division of the Mountain League, and Steve Catich needed just 15 points to pass Eric Castorina for fifth overall on the scoring list at Tyrone.
The Eagles looked to sweep Philipsburg with the win, but beating the Mounties isn’t always an easy task. Dating back to last year, Tyrone lost a barn-burner against Philipsburg, so anything can happen.
Tyrone jumped out early, going up 11-2 to start the game. The Mounties were forced to call a timeout to straighten things out on defense, which helped them make the first quarter a respectable 19-11. Matt Curtis knocked down a trey after the timeout to get the Mounties back in the game, but Catich looked too smooth with his eight first-half points that kept Tyrone ahead.
Brandon Gehret started out the second quarter by holding the ball around mid-court to try and pull Philipsburg out of their 2-3 zone. Tyrone knew that if Philipsburg came out of the zone, the points would start rolling. Philipsburg remained in their zone for almost two minutes until Nate Dane started his own 6-0 run. This put the Eagles on top 25-11 with 5:24 to go in the half, giving them exactly what they wanted.
After a couple of Luke Curtis free throws, John Whitman managed to score the next five points for Philipsburg. It wasn’t enough, however, as the Eagles wrapped up the half with an overpowering 36-22 lead.
Catich and Dane combined for 22 of their 36 first half points, but Philipsburg wasn’t about to roll over just yet.
The second half looked as if Tyrone was going to run away with the game by starting out on a 6-0 run. The score read 42-22, but the Mounties answered with a run that shook the Eagles out of their shoes. The 20 point lead quickly turned into an eight point lead after a Mountie 15-3 run, but that was as close as they would get.
Tyrone began to finish what they started in the third quarter by finishing on a 14-7 run, making the score 59-44 going into the fourth.
The lead never went below 15 the rest of the way for Tyrone as they cruised on to a walloping 84-59 victory over Philipsburg on senior night.
“I liked our match-ups tonight with Catich on [Matt] Curtis,” Tyrone head coach George Gripp said. “He did a really good job at Philipsburg earlier in the year and Nate Dane controlled JD Mason as well. We played pretty good team defense tonight other than a few breakdowns, but it was an overall good performance tonight.”
The four seniors played excellent on senior night, showcasing their talent for one of their last two games at Tyrone in their career. Catich led all scorers with 22 points, Matt Brooks threw in a solid 15, Gehret chipped in five and Johnny Franco knocked down four. All four of these players have proven themselves over the past few years that they can handle the tough situations brought upon them in every game and also have shown their leadership and dedication on and off the floor. Each of these players will be remembered for how they carried themselves each night and will continue to do so in each of their futures. Good luck to the senior class in your last home game tomorrow night.
With the win, Tyrone improved to 19-4 and secured a Nittany Division crown. They are seeded number one in the district playoff bracket, awaiting the winner of Bellwood Antis and United. The Eagles will finish off the season tomorrow night in hopes of a 20 win season against Penns Valley.
“Our goal was a 20 win season this year, and tomorrow we have a chance to accomplish that goal,” said Gripp. “Tonight’s game showed that we had a few let downs on defense when we got a big lead, which we need to focus more on. We let up for a couple of minutes tonight, and Philipsburg cut our lead to single digits. It’s something we need to take care of before going into this last game and into the playoffs.”
Tyrone 84 Philipsburg-Osceola 59
Tyrone – Catich 9 4-4 22, Dane 9 0-0 18, Brooks 5 5-6 15, Updyke 4 1-3 10, Gehret 2 1-2 5, Franco 2 0-0 4, Peterman 1 0-0 3, Brokenshire 1 0-0 2, Taylor 2 0-0 5. Totals 35 11-15 84.
Philipsburg – Komisar 6 0-0 15, Whitman 4 1-2 9, L. Curtis 3 3-5 9, M. Curtis 2 1-1 6, Myers 2 0-0 4, Rocco 0 3-4 3, Baughman 2-2 2, Senior 1 0-0 2, Harris 0 0-1 0, Mason 4 1-2 9. Totals 22 11-17 59.
Score by Quarters
Philipsburg-Osceola 11 11 22 15 – 59
Tyrone 19 17 23 25 – 84
Three-point goals: Tyrone–3 (Updyke, Peterman, Taylor)
PO-4 (Komisar-3, M. Curtis)
Tyrone Jayvee Crush P-O
Levi Reihart, Andy Brokenshire, Dillon McKeehan and Jordan Taylor all combined for 54 of Tyrone’s 60 points in the blow out win over the Mounties. Reihart led the way with 15 points and three treys, while the other three tallied 13..
Tyrone 60 Philipsburg-Osceola 21
Tyrone – Brokenshire 5 2-2 13, Reihart 6 0-0 15, McKeehan 6 0-0 13, Taylor 6 1-1 13, Murray 1 2-2 4, Henneman 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 5-5 60.
Philipsburg – Harris 5 3-4 13, Senior 2 0-0 5, Baughman 1 0-0 2, Rocco 0 1-2 1. Totals 8 4-6 21.
Score by Quarters
Philipsburg-Osceola 5 4 10 2 – 21
Tyrone 10 19 16 15 – 60
Three-point goals: Tyrone-5 (Reihart-3, Brokenshire, McKeehan)
PO-1 (Senior)
