Tyrone improved to 12-2 with a 86-53 win over the 0-14 Philipsburg-Osceola Mounties last night in Philipsburg.

Big man Tony Politza led the Eagles with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Tristan Lingafelt had 13 and Preston Mitchell added 12 to the smorgasbord of buckets.

Trentin Herrington led the Mounties with 15 points.

While winning by 33 is usually a very positive thing, Tyrone beat Philipsburg  71-17 in their first meeting earlier this season.

The Eagles got off to a slow start, allowing Philipsburg to hold a lead well into the first quarter. This has become somewhat of a common theme  for Tyrone as Westmont jumped out to a big lead before Tyrone could match their intensity. In that game, it came back to bite the Eagles, contributing to Tyrone’s second loss of the season.

However, the Golden Eagles used the game as an opportunity to get some underclassmen a lot of varsity time. In fact, 11 Tyrone players scored last night.

“Tonight was a good team win,” Tony Politza said after the game. “But we definitely have to play with more intensity tomorrow against Central. Especially on the defensive side of the court.”

“This can’t happen anymore,” senior guard Blake Brooks said of the slow starts. “It is going to kill us one of these games. We have to figure something out. Obviously it was okay in this game, but we need to start coming out of the gate ready to play.”

One thing that might have contributed to the slow start was that the Eagles didn’t have senior point guard and playmaker Shane Geis available. Geis sat as a result of an illness earlier in the week. Fortunately for the Eagles, he will be starting tonight against Central.

Tyrone will play Central tonight at home.  Tip off is 7:30.

BOX SCORE

TYRONE (86): Z. Soellner 0 2-2 2, Pa. Mitchell 2 5-7 9, Meredith 4 0-0 8, Brooks 4 0-0 9, N. Soellner 1 3-3 5, Lingafelt 3 4-4 13, Thomas 1 0-0 3, Ma. Lewis 1 0-1 2, Pr. Mitchell 5 2-2 12, Mi. Lewis 1 2-2 4, A. Politza 9 1-2 19, Anderson 0 0-0 0, N. Politza 0 0-0 0. Totals – 31 19-23 86.

PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA (53): Herrington 6 1-4 15, Lamb 2 0-0 4, Jones 2 2-2 6, Belinda 2 4-4 8, Feathers 1 2-2 4, Smith 0 2-2 2, Davis 2 3-4 8, Guelich 0 4-4 4, Conklin 1 0-0 2. Totals – 16 18-22 53.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Tyrone: 25 18 22 21 – 86

Philipsburg-Osceola: 13 15 10 15 – 53

3-point goals: Tyrone 5 (Brooks, Lingafelt 3, Thomas); Philipsburg-Osceola 3 (Herrington 2, Davis).

JV: Tyrone, 51-16. High scorers-Thomas, T, 18; Davis, PO, 7.