Tyrone Basketball won a dog fight against the Huntingdon Bearcats at home on Monday night. While the score wasn’t the close the end with Tyrone winning the match up 78-61, he game was completely physical with both teams fighting hard for rebounds and loose balls.

Tyrone started out fatigued and only scored one point four minutes into the game as Huntingdon went on a seven point run. After a timeout, the Eagles settled down and outscored the Bearcats 15-7 in the first quarter.

Tyrone took a seven point 30-23 lead into the half.

The second half was fully energetic show lead by Anthony Politza on the inside and Dylan Thomas outside.

Politza scored 12 baskets from inside and managed to go 7-8 at the foul line for a total of 31 points. Politza also took it to the Beacats hard defensively, earning him the title “King of Paint.”

“Despite some controversial calls and slipping composure, we regained our focus in the second and then battled hard on the glass, converted on easy buckets, and pulled out the W,” said Politza.

Tyrone’s sophomore guard Dylan Thomas got hot late in the third quarter. Scoring back to back to back buckets, two of them being from beyond the arc, Thomas finished with 23 total points.

“We played really hard out there and everyone came to play I liked our team effort,” said Thomas.

The Eagles finished the game with a 78-61 victory in what might prove to be a crucial win for the Eagles in the Mountain League.

“We did a good job tonight. Huntingdon is such a hard team to guard because all they want to do is drive and shoot. We did a great job of keeping our composure and it showed on the court,” said Head Coach George Gripp.

Tyrone has a game Tuesday night game on the road in Clearfield. Tip-off is at 7:30.

BOX SCORE

HUNTINGDON (61): Price 5 0-2 10, Shetrom 2 0-0 6, Mitchell 4 3-5 13, Speck 1 2-2 5, Sellers 5 3-4 17, Stratton 0 0-0 0, Holesa 0 0-0 0, Kyper 1 0-0 2, Rigby 2 0-0 6, Smith 1 0-0 3. Totals – 20 8-13 61.

TYRONE (78): Soellner 1 0-2 3, Mitchell 2 2-3 6, Meredith 3 6-9 11, G. Weaver 1 2-3 4, A. Politza 12 7-8 31, Thomas 9 0-0 23, Lewis 0 0-0 0, A. Weaver 0 0-0 0, Kohler 0 0-0 0, Light 0 0-0 0, Ferguson 0 0-0 0, Anderson 0 0-0 0, N. Politza 0 0-0 0. Totals – 28 17-25 78.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Huntingdon: 7 16 23 15 – 61

Tyrone: 15 15 29 19 – 78

3-point goals: Huntingdon 11 (Shetrom 2, Mitchell, Speck, Sellers 4, Rigby 2, Smith); Tyrone 6 (Soellner, Thomas 5).

Records: Huntingdon (7-8, 3-6 Mountain League); Tyrone (10-4, 7-1 Mountain League).

JV: Huntingdon, 57-53. High scorers-Rigby, H, 11; Ferguson, T, 19.