After graduating five starting seniors from Philipsburg, Lou LaFuria and Miles Fenton were the only two returning players with experience in the big games from previous seasons. Freshman like J.D. Mason and Matt Curtis would have to step it up for a young Philipsburg lineup.
With a 7-4 record, Tyrone is coming out of the new year on a three game win streak against MAC opponents improving to 4-1. Philipsburg is not a team to be counted out as they are a mere 6-5 and 2-3 in the conference, but have a great zone threat and outside shooting to aid their overall play.
Friday night, Philipsburg and Tyrone headed into a brawl in Mountie country, continuing from the football season the rivalry remains alive.
The first quarter went back and forth as J.D. Mason and Lou LaFuria put up nine of the Mounties 11 first quarter points. This was good enough to keep within a three point lead after the first quarter, 14-11.
With zone defenses, Tyrone was able to get back into the outside shot, which they haven’t had a choice to shoot for two straight games. Kevin Hershberger scored five in the first quarter, leading Tyrone to a big first half, blocking and stealing key passes to remain a tough competition throughout the game.
“I thought in the first half we played really well,” coach Mike Harris said. “We did a good job on the transition to start the game, but we started getting a little more lazy on offense standing around. Our first half was played out solidly and the guys got it done.”
After one quarter of play, Tyrone really put the pressure on Philipsburg as they forced 12 Mountie turnovers into eight fast break points in the first half, controlling the break entirely Despite Tyrone’s running abilities, several missed lay-ups and seven turnovers kept Philipsburg within comeback range.
As the half came to a close, Tyrone’s defense started to get picked apart after the 9-0 run that put them ahead 21-11 with just under five minutes left. Philipsburg’s Matt Curtis drove the lane and switched hands for a tough lay-in that stopped Tyrone’s route of their streaking nine points carried from the end of the first quarter.
Lou LaFuria brought the ball up with 3:23 to go in the half and made a beautiful 40 foot pass that split four Tyrone defenders to J.D. Mason for the alley-OOP lay-in.
This brought the game to within 6, but after a Kevin Hershberger trey, Tyrone stole the ball and Byron Kost checked out another three of his own to put Tyrone well in front going into the locker room, 29-17.
The third quarter may have brought up some past memories of the Blairsville championship as Tyrone jumped out to a thirteen point lead with just 4:50 to go in the third when Philipsburg started to make a run.
J.D. Mason, a freshman at Philipsburg, owned the third quarter. Scoring 11 of his game high 19 points, he led Philipsburg on an 11-0 run that put the game within a bucket before the fourth quarter. He was ferocious down in the paint as Tyrone defenders swarmed his presence, but just couldn’t stop the big man under the boards.
This comeback was almost complete, but the Mounties didn’t have a lead since the first basket of the game. The play of the fourth quarter was the outcome of the entire game.
The fourth quarter started off with a bang as the Philipsburg gym uproared after a tying basket was drained from Fenton with 7:30 remaining in the game. After a Hershberger lay-up, Tyrone broke the tie only to have Lou LaFuria drain a long bomb to take the lead 47-46 with 6:00 to go, capping off a comeback and the first lead since the first quarter of play.
“The third quarter we just didn’t come out and play very well and they outscored us 25-15, and then went up by one point in the fourth quarter,” Mike Harris said. “We did not put together four solid quarters of basketball, and lately we’ve been putting together three or three and a half good solid quarters which we need to improve to a solid four quarters.”
After the miraculous comeback from Philipsburg to make the feat possible, Tyrone shoved the lead right back in their face, tearing off a nine point swing going on top 55-47 with 4:30 to go in the game. Frustration amongst the Mountie teammates arose and flames of fury flew throughout the floor in the remaining minutes between the players. Kevin Hershberger received a pass up top, and was immediately pressured by LaFuria, receiving two cheap shots to the stomach and an elbow after Hershberger released his pass. LaFuria, upset with the call, argued with the official for at least the fourth time of the game, and received a technical foul along with his fifth foul to set him on the bench.
Tyrone capped off three points out of the technical foul shots and the bonus foul shots which put Tyrone up by nine, 59-50 with just under four minutes to go in the game.
Tyrone would not let Philipsburg score again until 1:32 to go in the game when Tyrone had already put the lead up to 64-52 on another nine point swing by Hershberger and Wilson to seal the deal in this heated rival winning big, 67-56. With the win, the Eagles improve to 8-4 and 5-1 in the conference, proving that the number one spot in the MAC is up for grabs. Kevin Hershberger led Tyrone with 16 along with Chamberlain’s 13 points. Hershberger has been averaging 14 points per game since his injury return four games ago. The Eagles also shot 16-25 from the foul line, still shooting above 50%, but still have room for improvement as this wasn’t the best of their performances at the line.
Philipsburg falls to 6-6 and 2-4 in the conference. J.D. Mason and Lou LaFuria led all Mounties in scoring with 19 and 12 in their loss against Tyrone Friday night.
Tyrone jayvee slip and slide past Philipsburg
Tyrone jayvee led the game by fourteen points the entire game, but in the fourth quarter, the Mounties made a comeback to put the game within six points. After a timeout, Tyrone matched all of Philipsburg’s shots and went well ahead of the Mounties as they took Philipsburg out 52-42 in a fashionable style.
Adam Schaffer led Tyrone in scoring with 12 points along with Byron Kost who drained two trey’s from the corner that led to his 10 points in the game.
Jon Whitman led Philipsburg in scoring with 10 points of his own as he couldn’t bring the Mounties back in the end of the game.
.Tyrone 68 Philipsburg-0sceola 36
Tyrone – Wilson 5 4-5 14, Crabtree 3 1-4 7, Hershberger 6 2-2 16, Chamberlain 5 3-6 13, Clark 3 0-0 7, Corle 0 3-4 3, Haney 0 3-4 3, Kost 2 0-0 5. TOTALS 24 16-25 68.
Philipsburg – LaFuria 5 0-1 12, Curtis 3 0-0 6, Supko 3 0-0 6, Mason 7 5-6 19, Fenton 6 0-0 11. TOTALS 24 5-7 56
Score by Quarters
Tyrone 14 15 15 24 – 68
PO 11 6 25 14- 56
Three point field goals: Tyrone-4 (Hershberger-2, Kost, Clark)
PO-3 (LaFuria-2, Fenton)
Tyrone 52 Philipsburg-Osceola 42
Tyrone- Catich 4 0-0 8, Kost 4 0-1 10, Barr 2 0-0 5, Schaffer 5 2-3 12, Brockett 0 0-0 0, Levinson 2 0-0 5, Golden 2 0-0 4, Morrow 4 0-0 8 TOTALS 23 2-4 52.
PO – Decker 2 2-4 6, Kerfoot 1 0-0 2, Husar 3 1-4 7, Mills 3 0-1 6, Bunyak 1 2-2 4, Whitman 4 1-4 10, Washic 2 2-2 7. TOTALS 16 8-17 42
Score by Quarters
Tyrone 14 15 11 12 – 52
Philipsburg-Osceola 4 11 11 16 – 42Three point goals: Tyrone-4 (Kost-2, Barr, Levinson).
PO-2 (Whitman, Washic).
