PUNXSUTAWNEY 46, KEYSTONE 40

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Jan. 12, 2009

By Chris Rossetti

KNOX – Punxsutawney used a game-ending 10-4 run to get a 46-40 win at Keystone in a battle of RRR Roadhouse D9Sports.com District 9 Top 10 teams Monday night.

It’s the second big, close road win in a hostile environment in a row for the eighth-ranked Chucks (8-2), who won 38-37 at Elk County Catholic Thursday night.

“We are getting better each game,” Punxsutawney head coach Chad Long said. “Defense is what we’ve been winning these games with. Offensively, we have struggled to get hoops. We are going to have tough road contests in the D9 League, but gaining these positives is only going to help us down the road. We are taking it game by game. We just have to go one game at a time and get more confidence. But it was a total team effort tonight. It was gut-check win for us.”

Punxsutawney never trailed in the game but watched second-ranked Keystone (10-2) erase a 6-point deficit heading to the fourth and tie the game at 36 on a Brian Long 3-pointer with 3:30 to play.

The Chucks, however, had the answer when Corey Neal, who had 15 points, got his own rebound inside off a missed shot and scored on the putback, was fouled and hit the free throw to give Punxsy a 39-36 lead with 2:50 to play.

“That was big,” Keystone head coach Greg Heath said. “He made a great individual play on it. That was probably the play of the game.”

Keystone got back within one on a driving layup by Ben Marchand 58 seconds later, but Dane Kopas nailed a 3-pointer with 1:12 to go that turned out to be the dagger shot. It was the third long-range three the senior, who finished with a game-high 18 points hit in the second half. The other two came in the third quarter and both put ends to Keystone attempts to tie the game. The first came with Punxsy leading 28-26 with 1:45 to go in the third, and then with the Chucks ahead 31-28, he hit another one with 27.2 seconds left that gave Punxsy the 34-28 lead at the end of three quarters.

“Dane, earlier in the year, wasn’t hitting his shots,” Long said. “But the last couple of games he is really playing with confidence. He wanted to make some clutch shots, and they were big.”

After Kopas’ 3-pointer made it a 4-point game, Marchand scored on another driving layup to get the Panthers back within two with 41.8 seconds left, but Punxsutawney hit 4 of 5 free throws in the last 30.8 seconds to seal the win.

“We could have very easily folded after they tied it up,” Long said. “We just kept battling. Our kids are stepping up at the right time. Each close game, we are getting more comfortable with the situation. I think that was evident tonight.”

The first half was a mix of strong Punxsutawney defense and awful Keystone shooting.

The Panthers shot 3 of 17 in the opening half including 1 of 10 in the first quarter and trailed 10-4 at the end of the first quarter and 21-13 at halftime.

“We never get to practice anymore,” Keystone head coach Greg Heath lamented after the game. “We look like a team that needs to get into the gym and practice a little bit. With the snow and the compacted schedule courtesy of the PIAA, we don’t get a chance to improve on the offensive end. That takes practice time in the gym. I can’t remember the last time we were able to put two practices together. It’s just a tough situation if you want your team to get better. Unfortunately, that’s the situation we are in.”

But Keystone started the second half on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 21-19 before Kopas hit a big 2-pointer to stop the momentum and start a 5-1 Chucks run that cut the lead back to six at 26-20.

The Panthers fought back cutting the lead to one, 26-25, on a driving layup by Marchand, who finished with a 11 points, with 2:41 left in the third quarter. But Punxsy, thanks in large part to the two long-range three’s from Kopas, ended the quarter on an 8-3 run.

Keystone had one last run in it starting the fourth quarter with an 8-2 spurt to knot the game, but the Panthers uncharacteristically missed a couple of open shots and turned the ball over a couple of times down the stretch allowing Punxsutawney to hold on.

“We made some mental mistakes,” Heath said. “It doesn’t surprise me. We haven’t practiced since Thursday, and that was basically just a walk through. So our timing is way off on the offensive end. It was all night. Unfortunately, that’s not something that’s going to improve until we get into the gym (for practice).   

Brock Witkowski led Keystone with 13 points, while Ben Black had 11 rebounds.

Kopas added five boards for Punxsutawney, while K.J. Starr and Jacob Stumpf led the Chucks with seven rebounds each.

PUNXSUTAWNEY 46, KEYSTONE 40

Score by Quarters

Punxsutawney 10 11 13 12 – 46

Keystone 4 9 15 12 – 40

Punxsutawney – 46

K.J. Starr 1 0-1 2, Chase Tibbs 1 0-0 2, Tommy Bush 0 0-0 0, Jordan Walker 2 0-0 5, Corey Neal 5 3-4 15, Dane Kopas 5 5-6 18, Jacob Stumpf 1 2-2 4. Totals 15 10-13 46.

Keystone – 40

Jake Knight 0 0-0 0, Ben Marchand 5 0-0 11, Brian Long 2 0-1 5, Chandler Clark 1 2-2 4, Ben Black 1 3-6 5, Brett Zuck 0 0-0 0, Brock Witkowski 4 4-6 13, Dan Reed 0 1-2 1, Lexan Montana 0 1-2 1. Totals 13 11-19 40.  

Three-pointers – Punxsutawney 6 (Kopas 3, Neal 2, Walker). Keystone 3 (Marchand, Long, Witkowski).