KEYSTONE 79, A-C VALLEY 47

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Jan. 18, 2008

By Chris Rossetti

KNOX – To say the Keystone Panthers were on fire at the start of each half Friday night in their 79-47 win over visiting A-C Valley would be an understatement.

Keystone connected on six of its first nine shots in the first quarter while building a 24-9 lead at the end of the frame, and then put the game away by coming out of the lockerroom at the start of the second half and burying 8 of 11 shots to start the third quarter including four 3-pointers.

“I thought we really executed well,” Keystone head coach Greg Heath said. “We had ball movement and player movement right off that bat. That is what I wanted to see and something I drilled them on before the game.”

The hot shooting start allowed Keystone (14-3 overall, 11-2 KSAC West) to take a 16-3 lead just over five minutes into the game.

The Panthers then maintained the lead at 13, 37-24, at halftime.

“We were pretty loose at halftime,” Heath said. “That is usually a good indication of how the second half is going to go. I could tell when I came in, they had a lot of confidence. They wanted me to shut up so they could get back onto the floor.”

Keystone’s confidence was evident in the third quarter, as the Panthers used a 22-0 run to blow the game wide open taking a 65-34 lead at the end of the quarter.

“It all started with defense,” Heath said. “We put pressure in the passing lanes and forced some turnovers. That is always what stimulates your offense. If you’re playing lousy defense, your offensive is going to (not be good). I think we came out and played pretty sound defense in the second half.”

Brock Witkowski and Kyle Rhoads led Keystone with 15 points each with Witkowski scoring nine of his in the first quarter and Rhoads eight of his in the third quarter. Derek Swartfager added 10 tallies for Keystone, including a buzzer beater off an offensive rebound at the end of the first half.

Nate Silvis was the lone A-C Valley player in double figures with 12 points, while Allan Eaton and Mike Himes each added eight. Heath credited Rhoads with keeping Eaton, A-C Valley’s fantastic 6-foot-5 freshman, in check allowing him just two baskets on the night and none in the second half.

“Kyle Rhoads did a nice job preventing any passes into the post,” Heath said. “I think we picked off at least three when they were trying to get it into him. I have to credit Kyle with having position on defense and the other guys for getting pressure on the basketball and not giving them a clean look.”

Rhoads finished the game with six steals, as Keystone had 12 as a team while forcing 19 A-C Valley turnovers.

Keystone returns to action Tuesday at Clarion-Limestone, while A-C Valley hosts Cranberry Tuesday.

NOTES – Keystone shot 50 percent (31 of 62) for the game to A-C Valley’s 40 percent (16 of 40). The Panthers outrebounded the Falcons 33-22 with Rhoads and Witkowski each grabbing a team-high five boards, and Ben Black, playing in his first game of the season, coming up with four and four points. Black had missed the Panthers first 16 games with a hand injury suffered during football season. Eaton led all players with eight rebounds for A-C Valley … Rhoads and Cristian Summerville each had four assists to lead Keystone, as the unselfish Panthers assisted on 22 of their 31 baskets … A-C Valley drops to 6-12 overall and 4-9 KSAC West on the season … The win allows Keystone to stay a game back of Rocky Grove, who beat Cranberry Friday night, in the KSAC West.

KEYSTONE 79, A-C VALLEY 47

Score by Quarters

A-C Valley 9 15 10 13 – 47

Keystone 24 13 28 14 – 79

A-C Valley – 47

Nate Silvis 4 3-4 12, John Stumpner 1 0-0 2, Joe Kaufman 0 0-0 0, Josh Austin 2 0-0 4, Nick McGuirk 2 2-4 6, Mike Himes 3 1-3 8, Reed Terwilliger 1 1-2 3, Allan Eaton 2 4-4 8, Blayne McGuirk 1 2-2 4, Tom Bell 0 0-0 0, Alex Logue 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 13-16 47.

Keystone – 79

Jake Knight 0 0-0 0, Ben Marchand 4 0-0 9, Kyle Rhoads 5 3-4 15, Tyler Harrison 1 0-0 3, Brian Long 0 0-2 0, Derek Swartfager 5 0-0 10, Nick Bowser 2 2-2 6, Ben Black 2 0-0 4, Matt Dean 0 0-0 0, Brock Witkowski 6 3-4 15, Garrett Rapp 0 0-0 0, Cristian Summerville 2 0-0 6, Dan Reed 0 0-0 0, Lexan Montana 0 2-2 2, Josh Huffman 4 0-0 9. Totals 31 10-14 79.  

Three-pointers – A-C Valley 2 (Himes, Terwilliger).