Tyrone seniors Kendall Lehner, Sam Crilly, and Andrew Escala represented Tyrone on the Blair County All-Star team in the 18th annual Altoona Mirror Basketball Classic at the Adler Athletic Complex at Penn State Altoona.
The pace of the game was fluent and entertaining, with the focus being on offense, and the Tyrone representatives showed out, scoring 57 points combined.
To add to the Tyrone flavor of the game, the Blair County All-Stars were coached by Tyrone Head Coach Luke Rhoades and his staff.
Unfortunately, the Blair County team still fell to Central PA 109-97. But the focus of the night was on the players, not the final score, and both teams proved their impressive shooting abilities, accumulating 32 three-pointers, with Blair County making 15 of them.
Escala hit six three-pointers with Crilly and Lehner both chipping in two each.
The Blair County stars were backed offensively by Bishop Guilfoyle’s Nick Foor, who finished with 8 points, and Central’s Eli Muther with 9 points. Blair County also saw production from Hollidaysburg’s Brady Stiener with 7 points.
The game was back and forth in the first half, with underdogs Blair County in the lead 41-39 late in the second quarter, but the Central PA team went on a 29-2 scoring run to open up the second half, creating a 74-43 cushion. Blair County saw a scoring run of their own at the end of the third and the early fourth, bringing the 31-point deficit down to just 6 points. Kendall Lehner scored 10 of his 15 points in the final period of the game, but the Central PA scoring run was insurmountable.
Leading all scorers was Greater Johnstown’s Donte Tisinger, who finished with 25 points. On the Blair County side, the top three scorers were all from Tyrone, with Escala and Crilly both scoring 21 points and Kendall Lehner finishing with 15 points.
Central PA’s team MVP was State College’s Charlie Yartz, who finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds. The Blair County MVP was Tyrone’s Andrew Escala, who finished with 21 points.
The Central PA team improved to 14-4 all-time.
After the game, Escala talked to the Altoona Mirror about his future plans.
“I think next, actually, I’m going to commit to Penn State Altoona to play basketball,” Escala said. “Eventually, I’ll go to New York. Right now, I want to stay near home and play, basically, for my hometown team.”
The game marked the last time that Lehner, Crilly, and Escala would share the court.
“It was a great pleasure to play one last game with some of the guys I grew up playing with and against,” senior Kendall Lehner said.
BOX SCORE
CENTRAL PA (109): Kargo 0 0-0 0, Yartz 7 0-0 18, Melvin 3 0-0 7, Tisinger 11 2-2 25, Gouse 0 0-0 0, Whysong 2 0-0 6, Snyder 6 2-3 15, Nicholson 1 0-0 3, Rabish 4 0-0 12, Dumm 4 0-2 8, Koleno 2 0-0 5, Fleming 4 0-0 10. Totals — 44 4-7 109.
BLAIR COUNTY (97): Crilly 9 1-1 21, Muthler 3 2-4 9, Steiner 3 0-0 7, Foor 3 0-0 8, Lehner 6 1-1 15, Gates 0 2-2 2, Albarano 3 1-2 7, Escala 7 1-2 21, Brantner 1 0-0 2, Schreier 0 0-0 0, Byler 1 0-0 3, Bell 0 0-0 0, Rehm 1 0-0 2. Totals — 37 8-12 97.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Central PA 21 31 28 29 — 109
Blair County 15 28 18 36 — 97
3-point goals: Central PA 17 (Whysong 2, Snyder, Nicholson, Yartz 4, Rabish 4, Melvin, Tisinger, Koleno, Fleming 2); Blair County 15 (Crilly 2, Escala 6, Muthler, Steiner, Foor 2, Lehner 2, Byler).
Officials: Clark Adelman, Randy Burkett, Dan Solomon.
