St. Joseph’s air attack too much for Hornets

By rscaife
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Updated: February 27, 2018

HUNTINGDON – It was raining threes Monday night at the Huntingdon gym as the St. Joseph’s boys basketball team sizzles through the air in defeating the number one seeded Juniata Valley 71-54 in the second round of District 6 Class A post season.
Leading the way offensively was RJ Marsh who led his team in the scoring with 21 points. His buckets were from downtown as well as taking in the lane.
Teammate Ethan Koaza hit from downtown, posting six triples en route to a 20-point effort.
Juniata Valley was led by a game-high 31-point effort by Cameron Collins. Collins was the Hornets spark plug on the night, helping his team on numerous runs at the Wolves.
In the first quarter, the two opened the game in dramatic fashion, looking like a shoot out.
Koaza got the Wolves scoring started with a triple just seconds into the game.
The Hornets cut it to one as Collins went right to the heart of the St. Joseph’s defense, cutting it to 3-2.
Again, the Wolves went from beyond the arc, this time Matt Steyers line up and hit nothing but net, upping the lead to 6-2.
The Wolves defense forced a Hornets miscue and then pushed it down up the court. Jack Mangene finished off the run with a lay up in the lane, making it 8-2 with 5:14 remaining in the period.
Collins and company marched right back, going on a 12-0 run to give Juniata Valley the 14-8 advantage.
In the run, Collins had six.
The Wolves ended the scoreless run with a simple pass and then triple by Koaza, cutting it to 14-11.
Back came Collins as he drove the lane once again.
With 1:45 left, St. Joseph’s went back to the three, this time Mangene got the call and hit nothing but net.
St. Joseph’s defense once again held and was able to force another crucial turnover.
Marsh tied things on a drive in a crowded lane, making it 16-16.
Less than a minute later, Marsh put his team up by two as he drove the lane once again, going ahead by two with 50 seconds.
Collins gave his team the lead once again, this time he hit 3-of-3 from the line as he was fouled when taking a three-point shot.
But the Wolves took the lead to end the first period on a Koaza triple at the buzzer, giving them a 21-19.
Offensively, the Wolves exploded in the second quarter, outscoring the Hornets 16-7 to cruise into the intermission leading 37-20.
Once again, the Hornets tried to make another comeback attempt as they rallied in the third to cut the Wolves lead to just 14-points, 49-35.
However, when it counted the Wolves were able to stretch out the lead when tested. In the final stanza, Collins was the only consistent shooter the Hornets had while the Wolves were getting buckets from up and down the line up.
In the end, the deficit was too much for Juniata Valley, allowing both teams to put in their reserves.
When the dust settled, the Wolves came out victorious 71-54.
Juniata Valley 69, St. Joseph’s 23(Girls)
HUNTINGDON – In the girls portion of the double header, it was the rookies against the veteran as St. Joseph’s Lady Wolves went up against the crafted veteran in Juniata Valley.
On this night it would be the tradition-rich Hornets that would be victorious 69-23.
The Wolves got a 10-point effort from Selena Mann. Mann also collected seven boards in the process.
A 16-0 Hornets’ run to start the contest put the young St. Joseph’s team behind early.
Juniata Valley outscored the Lady Wolves 18-4 after the first period.
Despite being down early, St. Joesph’s Academy started to claw its way back pulling into within 10 points, 20-10.
However, the high-tempo offense and opportunistic defense was too much for the young crew in their first post season appearance.