The Tyrone boys defense came up huge in a 38-32 victory against Bishop McCort at Bishop Carroll High School on Friday in Ebensburg.

“[The key to the victory] was staying focused on defense the whole game,” said Tyrone Head Coach George Gripp, “[McCort] has nine solid players who all bring different elements to the game, some are shooters and some are very good drivers. I thought we recognized who was in our area and how we needed to play them.”

The game started out clean for Tyrone boys going up 7-0 in the first four minutes of the opening quarter.  After two quarters of play it was Tyrone up by nine, 21-12.

But that didn’t stop Bishop McCort from coming back hot in the second half and brought the game within two, 27-25. Bishop McCort then managed to tie the game on three times in the fourth quarter.

Tyrone’s Anthony Politza and Dylan Thomas combined for 30 of Tyrone’s 38 points.

Politza’s 20 point, 12 rebound effort was an amazing performance in a crucial game.

“Give credit to our coaches for our zone. We played so well as a team defensively and offensively. It was a great team win that our defense fueled,”said Politza.

Dylan Thomas scored 10 points and showed great strengths out on the court.

“Dylan hit some big shots for us early in the game to get us going. Anthony like he has been all year for us, was solid the whole game,” said Gripp, “Overall it was a huge win for us over a quality team, I was very proud of the guys and the effort they gave.”

“We played well as a team. The atmosphere was great and really got us into the game even more. Everyone played their hearts out and the final results showed that’s,” said Thomas.

This is the first time in three years that the Tyrone boys have won a second round playoff game.

Tyrone moves on to the District 6 AA semifinals against Bellwood-Antis at Hollidaysburg High School on Tuesday, 2/23.  Tipoff is at 7:00.

“It is going to take a great team effort to beat the number one seed in the district. They really have no weaknesses, it will be a challenge,” added Gripp.

Box Score

TYRONE (38): Mitchell 1 1-6 3, Meredith 0 0-3 0 , A.Weaver 0 1-2 1, Thomas 3 2-2 10, Politza 7 6-9 20, Soellner 1 0-0 2, G.Weaver 1 0-0 2, Lewis 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 10-22 38.

BISHOP McCORT (32): Nash 2 0-0 5, Britt 2 0-0 6, A.Carnahan 3 0-0 6, Wade 1 0-0 3, Petrosky 1 0-2 2, Stem 3 0-0 7, Vitovich 0 1-2 1, Lasper 1 0-0 2. Totals: 13 1-4 32.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Tyrone: 11 10 6 11-38

Bishop McCort: 6 6 13 7 –32

3-point goals: Tyrone 2 (Thomas 2), Bishop McCort 5 (Nash, Britt 2, Wade, Stem).