Tonight Tyrone kicks off a three game week with a home game against Central Mountain and two league trips.

At home on Monday night Tyrone will face a 10-5 Central Mountain team that is very competitive within their league. Central Mountain has beaten Bellefonte and Bald Eagle, opponents in the Mountain League by more than 20 points.

Central Mountain boasts five dependable players that can spread a defense out and score the rock.  For Tyrone to succeed, defense will have to play an important role in this game.

“We’re really looking to Zack [Soellner] to provide the defensive edge he gave us against Clearfield last week,” said senior Anthony Politza.

Soellner limited the Bison’s leading scorer to 11 points and six points from the field goals.

If Tyrone can play stout defense and really hound Central Mountain in a press, Tyrone can pull this one out.

Wednesday Tyrone travels to Bald Eagle for what could be a warm up for Friday’s game. Bald Eagle is 4-15 overall with some disappointing losses to Bellwood and Phillipsburg. Bellwood beat Bald Eagle 83-39, but worse led 57-19 at the half.

Tyrone will not overlook Bald Eagle because they dress the league’s second leading scorer Trey Butterworth with 17.6 ppg and especially because the game is at Bald Eagle, a tough place to play.

To wrap up their week and begin the new, Tyrone faces Penns Valley in Centre Hall on Friday but in Tyrone on Monday.

Penns Valley boasts the league’s second best record with Logan Pearce and Ben Alexander leading them. Pearce and Alexander are both explosive guards that can dominate a game. In a win over the weekend against Central both scored 25 points.

If Tyrone wants a lucky man’s chance of winning the Mountain League, the team will need to play strong defense off these two dynamos while at the same time keeping 6’6’’ lerp Zach Engle off the glass.

This weekend will feel like an NBA series for Tyrone and Penns Valley, and should produce an enjoyable weekend of basketball.