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Strong second half lifts Tigers

Dressler scores game-high 21 points for EJ

Sentinel photo by MIKE GOSS
East Juniata's Evan Reichenbach (13) and Wayne Dressler (30) along with Midd-West's Chase Mattern (15) and Canyon Ziegler (21) fight for a rebound.

COCOLAMUS — Despite some mishaps in the first half, East Juniata’s offense ran wild in the second half leading to a 55-43 victory over Midd-West in a non-league boys basketball game Saturday morning.

“Big win after a very disappointing loss last night,” East Juniata coach Steve Smith said. “I thought the guys really stepped up. They perceived, they played together, played with a lot of effort and heart, a lot of enthusiasm and it really showed today.”

The Mustangs were holding onto a two point lead at the start of the second half when the Tigers muscled their way inside the paint and quickly garnered the lead.

East Juniata slowly pulled away from Midd-West. However, the Mustangs refused to go away quietly and battled their way back — cutting the lead down to 38-35 at the end of the quarter.

Though he was not a major factor for the first three quarters of the game, Xavier Clement came alive in the fourth quarter — dropping shots from beyond the arc as well as coming up big on the foul line going 5-for-6. Clement scored 11 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter.

“Xavier Clement lit it up in the fourth quarter,” Smith said. “He hit two big threes in the fourth quarter. I thought him and Wayne Dressler had a pretty good offensive game. Xavier really stepped it up and took over that leadership in the fourth quarter. It was a big plus for us.”

Another big factor for the turnaround in the second half for East Juniata was its defense. It helped the Tigers outscore the Mustangs 35-21 in the second half. That included holding Midd-West to under ten points in the fourth quarter.

“Went into our man to man defense and the guys really stepped it up in our man to man defense,” Smith said. “We were playing that zone in the first half and they seem to be able to penetrate and beat our zone. So we thought maybe go man to man, maybe get a little more physical and I think that’s what wore them down.”

It was much different tale in the first half as the Tigers struggled to contain Midd-West’s Josue Rodriguez and Chase Mattern. The duo combined for all 12 points of the Mustangs’ points in the first quarter. Rodriguez led the way for the Mustangs with 16 points in the game.

“I think he scored when we needed to,” Mustangs coach Lance Adams said. “But he also had three fouls and missed a good part of the second quarter so that hurt us. Instead of finishing the first half on a high note, we kind of hung onto the lead.”

The Mustangs kept the pressure up in the second quarter being aggressive defensively with a full-court press.

“I thought we played with some intensity, with some aggression and we created some offense through our defense,” Adams said. “But we were unable to do that in the second half and that’s what killed us.”

Midd-West, however, failed to take advantage of its opportunities to extend the lead in the first half by missing several of its shots.

“We need to find a way to score,” Adams said. “When you can’t score it’s tough to win basketball games. I thought we played well defensively but, just got to find a way to score the basketball.”

East Juniata managed to stay close in the first half in large part to the efforts of Dressler who led the Tigers in scoring with 21 points for the game. Andrew Hunter was also a big contributor for the Tigers, finishing with 11 points in the game.

“This was Andrew Hunter’s best offensive output by far,” Smith praised. “He started doing the things we’ve been trying to get him to do from day one. Which is getting the ball inside big and strong and he was tonight.”

Midd-West won the JV game 26-18 with Blaine Goss leading the Mustangs with 12 points all of which were from the three-point line. The Tigers highest scorer was Ethan Roe with five.

The win moves East Juniata to an 8-6 and will look to keep the winning ways going Wednesday at Saint Joeseph’s Academy. Midd-West drops to 3-10 and will travel to Central Columbia, also on Wednesday.

East Juniata 55, Midd-West 43

EAST JUNIATA

Gannon Ryan 1 0-0 2, Xavier Clement 2 11-14 17, Andrew Hunter 4 3-6 11, Wayne Dressler 9 1-1 21, Tanner Barth 2 0-0 4, Brody Powell 0 0-1 0. Totals: 18 15-22 55.

3-point goals: Clement 2, Dressler 2.

Did not score: Ethan Roe, Smidge Losch, Evan Reichenbach, Nick Pillot.

MIDD-WEST

Josue Rodriguez 5 3-5 16, Hunter Wolfley 0 0-2 0, Carter Knepp 20-0 4, Chase Mattern 4 3-8 11, Marc Piccioni 2 2-2 6, Canyon Zeigler 3 0-0 6. Totals: 16 8-17 43.

3-point goals: Rodriguez 3.

Did not score: Keenan Dietz, Dominick Abate.

Score by quarters

Midd-West 12-10-13-8 — 43

East Juniata 10-10-18-17 — 55

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