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Feb. 23, 2022 D9 Boys 2A Quarterfinals: Keystone Exacts Revenge on C-L; Ridgway, Karns City Roll into Semifinals

Cole Henry looks around after snagging one of his 21 rebounds for Keystone Wednesday in its playoff win at C-L. Photo by Jared Bakaysa of JB Graphics. See more of Bakaysa's work here

STRATTANVILLE, Pa. – They say it’s hard to beat a team three times in a season.

Keystone proved that Wednesday night beating Clarion-Limestone, 51-44, in the District 9 Class 2A boys quarterfinals at C-L. The fourth-seeded Lions had beaten the fifth-seeded Panthers in the two regular-season games by scores of 59-53 and 49-44.

“I think we were confident coming in,” Keystone head coach Greg Heath said. “We played them pretty tough in the second game here, and (Zander) McHenry didn’t play. He makes a big difference. He is very tough on defense. We thought that might be the difference.”

McHenry definitely helped Keystone (12-11) on both ends of the floor. He had eight steals in the game, including five in the first quarter, while adding eight points and two assists.

“He gets to places you don’t think he can get to on defense,” Heath said.

                                      

Cole Henry also had a great game for Keystone, putting up a Dennis Rodman-like performance of 21 rebounds and four points.

“That was his best rebounding game of the season, no doubt,” Heath said. “He has that potential, certainly. One of the reasons his rebounding numbers aren’t better is because he has to compete with Bret Wingard, who is a pretty good rebounder himself.”

Henry talked about the win and his game.

For as good as McHenry and Henry were, Tyler Albright was the offensive hero for Keystone.

                          

Albright scored a game-high 23 points including 11 in the first quarter, six to start the second half, and six more in the fourth quarter.

It was Albright’s six straight points out of halftime that helped Keystone, which led 18-17 at the break, create some separation with C-L.

Keystone’s Tyler Albright brings the ball down as C-L’s Jordan Hesdon gives chase. Albright scored a game-high 23 points for the Panthers in the win over the Lions. Photo by Jared Bakaysa

Those six tallies gave the Panthers a 24-17 lead less than two minutes into the half and were part of a bigger 12-3 run that pushed Keystone’s lead to nine, 29-20, following a Henry basket off a McHenry feed with 2:43 left in the quarter.

“The biggest thing at halftime is that we felt we should have been up by more the one point,” Heath said. “We turned the ball over too many times in the first half (11). Ball security was a big thing. I thought we took care of the ball a little better in the third quarter.”

Keystone led by seven, 32-25, at the end of a third quarter in which it turned the ball over just four times, and the Panthers lead stood at 11, 40-29, following a basket by Albright (he missed an opportunity for an old-school 3-point play) with 5:26 to play.

But what looked like an easy Panther win, quickly turned into a ball game when C-L (11-12) went on a 9-0 run that was punctuated by back-to-back 3-pointers from Tommy Smith, the last one at the 3:40 mark off a Jordan Hesdon pass, that cut Keystone’s lead to just two, 40-38.

The Lions then had a chance to take the lead, but Rylee Klingensmith’s open-look 3-pointer from the left corner was off the mark.

Keystone then proceeded to go on an 8-0 run of its own that was started by a Wingard basket off a Henry assist with 3:03 to play and included buckets from McHenry and Albright as well as two Henry free throws to push the lead back to 10, 48-38, with 1:01 to play.

“We just needed to be patient and run our offense,” Heath said. “We stress the screening player being the second cutter. That got us a few really easy looks inside. I think that was the difference. It gave us some separation again.”

                                   

Wingard added a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Panthers while also blocking three shots and handing out a pair of assists.

Klingensmith led C-L with 11 points while adding four rebounds, an assist, and a steal.

Smith chipped in nine points on three 3-pointers and also had three rebounds and two assists, while Jase Ferguson added eight points, six rebounds, four steals, and an assist.

Also for the Lions, Ryan Hummell snagged a team-high 11 rebounds to go with seven points and two blocks, and Jordan Hesdon had six points, six steals, four assists, and four rebounds.

Keystone will face top-seeded Redbank Valley, who had a bye, in the semifinals March 1 at a time and place to be announced.

Regardless of that outcome, the Panthers will have a chance to play for a PIAA playoff berth, as District 9 takes three teams to the PIAA playoffs. That is quite a turnaround for a team that started the season 2-6 with perhaps one of the lowest offensive outputs in school history in a 44-12 loss to DuBois in the second game of the season.

“Coming into the season and even at the start of playing games, I really wasn’t sure what we needed to do be doing on offense and defense,” Heath said. “The summer wasn’t what I hoped it would be. It just took a while to figure out what we could do and what we couldn’t do on offense and what defense would work. Once we figured that out and our guards got more confidence we started to take off.”

RIDGWAY 42, SMETHPORT 21

RIDGWAY, Pa. – Bolting out to a 10-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, second-seeded Ridgway cruised to a 42-21 win over seventh-seeded and visiting Smethport in the District 9 Class 2A quarterfinals.

Domenic Allegretto hit a pair of first-quarter 3-pointers to get the Elkers rolling early, and Ridgway (18-5) led 17-6 at halftime limiting Smethport (12-11) to just two first-half baskets.

The lead grew to 22, 34-12, by the end of the third quarter thanks to 11 more points from Allegretto, playing in potentially his final home game.

Allegretto led Ridgway with a game-high 17 points while Dan Park added 12 and Aaron Sorg seven.

Alex Ognen hit a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 12 points to pace Smethport.

Ridgway will take on third-seeded Karns City in the semifinals March 1 at a time and place to be announced. The Elkers have at least two more games left, as District 9 gets three teams to the PIAA Tournament.

KARNS CITY 58, COUDERSPORT 17

                                  

KARNS CITY, Pa. – A rematch of last year’s District 9 Class 2A title game won by Karns City didn’t turn into much of a matchup, as the third-seeded Gremlins built a 34-7 halftime lead on their way to a 58-17 win over sixth-seeded Coudersport at Karns City High School.

Thanks in part to eight points from Micah Rupp and a pair of Luke Cramer 3-pointers, the Gremlins led 16-2 at the end of the first quarter and then got 3-pointers from Cole Sherwin, Taite Beighley, and Braden Grossman in the second quarter to push the advantage to 27 by halftime.

The PIAA Mercy Rule was put into motion by the end of the third quarter with Karns City ahead 45-12 thanks to five more points from Cramer and four from Luke Garing.

Rupp led a trip of Gremlins in double digits with 14 points with Cramer adding 13 and Garing 11. Jacob Callihan also chipped in with seven points.

Brady Streich led Coudersport with five points with Christian Furman adding four.

Karns City will take on second-seeded Ridgway in the semifinals March 1 at a time and place to be announced. The Gremlins have at least two more games left, as District 9 gets three teams to the PIAA Tournament.

                       

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