Tyrone’s Junior High Basketball Team chugged north on old Rt. 220 to get it on with the Wildcats of Central Mountain Thursday afternoon, and the trip was well worth it as the Eagles avenged an earlier season loss defeating them on their own court in another thriller 34-31.
Both squads matched up in man defense the entire game, and the Wildcats pressed the Eagle’s in a full court zone press right out of the gates only to find themselves down 13-6 after the first period.
“We worked on setting up several full court press breakers the day before in practice,” said coach Dick Stever, “and it really paid off today. We only had one turnover and scored off their press almost every trip.”
The Eagles took the halftime lead 19-11, and never relinquished the lead in the second half.
The Wildcats made several runs at the Eagle’s in the second half, but couldn’t match up with Tyrone’s big guys inside.
“Jared Templeton and Jim Ferguson shut down their inside game today,” said coach Stever. “They rely on scoring from their big tandem inside and only got two points from them today. It was a great effort defensively.”
Rich Stever ran the point for the Eagle’s and led the scoring with nine points. Jim Ferguson tossed in seven, and Stever Franco and JD Dorminy each had six points.
The Eagle’s overall record is 9-7.
Tyrone’s also won the first game of the day defeating the Wildcats 31-26. Led by Nick Patton with 10 points and Richard Crabtree with nine. Jordan Faretta led the Eagle’s with eight assists and Cody Dickson cleaned up the glass for the Eagle’s with 10 rebounds.
The Eagle’s pick up the action next week at home Tuesday against Penns Valley, visit Hollidaysburg Wednesday and Lewistown Thursday.
