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Revenge for Trojans against Juniata

Sentinel photo by MIKE GOSS
Juniata’s Ben Lauver, left, and Mount Union’s Tyreki Seacrest fight for a rebound Wednesday.

MIFFLINTOWN — The Mount Union boys’ basketball team played shutdown man defense and Quinton Posey provided the offense as the Trojans knocked off No. 3 seed Juniata 48-33 in the quarterfinals of the District 6 Class 3A boys basketball tournament Wednesday.

Mount Union (14-9) earned a berth in the PIAA playoffs and will face Ligonier Valley, a 57-33 winner over Penns Valley, in the district semifinals on Monday at a site and time to be determined.

“Our defense was good all night. Our practices the last three nights were very focused, but you never know until they come out and play,” Mount Union coach Scott McClain said. “Juniata played their kind of game and I think we beat them at their game tonight. That’s saying a lot because I thought we would have to speed things up to beat them. We got a nice lead in the fourth quarter and it’s hard to come back when you’re a slow-down team like they are.”

Posey was the lightning rod on offense for Mount Union, scoring 19 points and hitting five shots from 3-point land. The Trojan junior had 14 of his points in the first half.

“Posey carried us in the first half. Thank God he was hitting his shots early. He kept us alive in the first half until Mykell (Smith) got going in the second half and carried us down the stretch,” McClain said.

Juniata coach Al Ream had a plan to stop Smith inside, and it worked — on Smith. But doubling down on Smith left Posey open from behind the arc and he made the Indians pay dearly.

“We struggled on offense from the get-go. For the first three minutes of the game nobody scored and somebody should at that point in a district playoff game,” Ream said. “We didn’t get it going and they did. We held Smith in check but Posey started shooting threes lights out and (Dylan Gearhart) came off the bench and made some threes just before halftime. They did what they had to do and we couldn’t counter what they did. Posey’s offense was the difference in the game.”

With four minutes to go in the third quarter and Juniata up 24-22, the Trojans made their move, going on a 26-9 run the rest of the way to close out the game. Smith scored all six of his points in the second half, River Terry had nine and Posey five in the run. Mount Union won the fourth quarter by a 20-7 margin.

Daunte Martin had only two points on the score sheet, but his defensive play was a back breaker for Juniata. The Trojan senior held Juniata’s leading scorer, Ben Lauver, to nine points in the game. Lauver came in averaging more than 20 a game. Martin added nine rebounds and two blocked shots to his outstanding defensive play as the visitors held Juniata to only 14 points in the second half.

“Daunte does that for us every night. I put him on the best player every night. Sometimes he scores and sometimes he doesn’t, but he couldn’t care less. He’s very unselfish” McClain said. “His tenacity doesn’t slow down and all. He goes hard from start to finish every night. I wish I had 10 of him. You can’t say enough good things about him.”

The first quarter saw both teams struggle from the field with the period ending in an 8-8 stalemate. Mount Union won the second quarter 14-11 thanks to back-to-back treys from Gearhart, giving the Trojans a 22-19 lead at the half.

Juniata (17-8) had its final lead of the game at 24-22 when Lauver and Bryson Clark stroked consecutive jumpers to start the third quarter. From then on, Mount Union took over on the boards with the man defense doing its work to perfection. With the win, the Trojans avenged last season’s 45-38 district quarterfinal loss to the Indians.

“They’re playing together as a team and hopefully, this gets us over the hump. Maybe this validates our hard work,” McClain said. “Mentally, they kept their heads in the game and this is a big win against a quality team like Juniata. I knew last year was going to creep into their minds but they stayed focused and our seniors kept the guys into the game. Everybody stepped up tonight. We have no pressure the rest of the way.”

Mount Union 48, Juniata 33

MOUNT UNION

Mykell Smith 3 0-1 6, Quinton Posey 7 0-0 19, Daunte Martin 1 0-0 2, River Terry 4 0-0 9, Tyreke Seacrest 3 0-0 6, Dylan Gearhart 2 0-0 6. Totals: 20 0-1 48.

3-point goals: Posey 5, Gearhart 2, Terry.

Did not score: Peyton McClain, Seth Smith, Cameron Trice.

JUNIATA

Ben Lauver 4 0-0 9, Bryson Clark 1 2-2 5, Bryce Leonard 2 2-4 8, Devon Nealman 3 0-0 8, Johnny Jiang 0 3-3 3. Totals: 10 7-9 33.

3-point goals: Leonard 2, Nealman 2, Lauver, Clark.

Did not score: Jamie Bailer, Adam Reichard, John Elliott, Will Tyson, Scott Brosius.

Score by quarters

Mount Union 8-14-6-20 — 48

Juniata 8-11-7-7 — 33

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