12/23/25 Mirror photograph by Patrick Waksmunski /
Hollidaysburg’s JJ Stultz is pressured by Central’s Landyn Kasun.
MARTINSBURG — Throughout virtually each highschool basketball sport between two competitively shut groups there might be ebbs and flows that exist in which one group will finally experience their excessive to a win.
On Tuesday night time, it was the Hollidaysburg boys that had extra highs than lows towards Central because the Golden Tigers have been capable of hold tight throughout a late Scarlet Dragon run earlier than coming away with a 53-41 victory in Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference motion.
“I told the kids — ebbs and flows,” Hollidaysburg coach Brad Lear mentioned. “The game is high tide and low tide. We want to kind of stay in the tide pool as it doesn’t change. We want to just stay there.”
The Tigers’ J.J. Stultz was known as for a technical foul for hanging on the rim following a dunk off a steal and kick-ahead by Vince Albarano.
The Stultz flush stretched Hollidaysburg’s result in 49-34 with 4:34 left in the fourth.
Central’s Dylan Hoover, who battled foul hassle a great portion of the night, transformed the primary of two technical foul pictures.
On the following journey down the ground, the Dragons obtained a 3-pointer from Landon Rhodes, his third of the competition, after which one other by Jesse Muthler following a missed shot by Hollidaysburg.
“I thought he (Stultz) was just trying to protect himself from the fall. I didn’t think he overly hung on it, but they (refs) saw it a different way,” Lear mentioned. “They (Central) immediately hit two 3’s and a layup, and we turned the ball over and got two fouls.”
The trey by Muthler, who led Central with 17 factors, at 3:56 introduced his group to inside single digits at eight (49-41).
“It was a good response from our kids — a couple times tonight we did that,” Central coach Paul Frederick mentioned.
Those have been the final factors the Tigers gave up as they went into 4 corners mode to stall the sport and steal momentum again from the Scarlet Dragons.
Hollidaysburg obtained two free throws from Tyson Delerme, and one apiece by Wyatt Frazier and Kasen Metzger to finish the sport.
“We weren’t able to score enough to stay with them throughout the game,” Frederick mentioned. “Credit to them (Hollidaysburg) because they are tough on defense as well.”
Muthler hit the second of two foul pictures in the early going to offer Central a 3-2 benefit.
Metzger, who completed with 15 factors and 12 rebounds, responded by drilling a triple to kickstart a 14-8 spurt that prolonged into the second stanza and put the Tigers up 16-11.
Rhodes and Hoover hit back-to-back 3’s to place the Dragons again on prime at 17-16 on the 4:45 level.
Hollidaysburg responded by closing out the half on a 9-2 run to take a 27-19 edge on the break.
Stultz, who led all scorers with 19 factors, carried the spurt for the Golden Tigers because the junior obtained a steal and layup to place his group again in entrance 18-17 — prompting a timeout by Frederick.
Coming out of the timeout, Stultz got here up with one other steal and layup, after which, following a Muthler bucket, buried a deep 3-pointer to make it 23-19.
“J.J. has really done some masterful things for us over these last couple of games,” Lear mentioned. “He’s really come into his own, and that’s a testament to his hard work.”
Ben Zimmerman hit two free throws, after which Jayden Wolfe scored his solely two factors to offer Hollidaysburg the halftime edge.
The Golden Tigers wasted little time asserting themselves popping out of the break as a 10-2 burst gave them their largest lead of the night time at 16 (37-21).
Hollidaysburg’s Albarano, who needed to sit lower than two minutes into the sport after selecting up three fast fouls — one in every of which was a technical on the 6:25 mark of the opening body — canned a trey at 4:46 to offer his group the 16-point lead.
Following a Christian Heuston driving layup for Central, Albarano, who ended with 10 factors, hit a pair of foul pictures to drive the hole again to 16 (39-23).
Central outscored the Tigers the remainder of the third to set the competition at 45-32 heading into the fourth on a Heuston putback.
“We had a real poor start to the third quarter,” Frederick mentioned. “Then we were able to settle in and play the rest of that quarter kind of even.”
Hollidaysburg’s document moved to 4-2, whereas Central, who was taking part in its first house sport after beginning with 5 straight on the highway, additionally stands at 4-2.
HOLLIDAYSBURG (53): Wolfe 1 0-0 2, Albarano 2 5-8 10, Stultz 8 1-2 19, Okay. Metzger 5 2-4 15, Zimmerman 1 2-2 4, Delerme 0 2-2 2, Frazier 0 1-2 1. Totals — 17 13-20 53.
CENTRAL (41): Muthler 7 2-4 17, Heuston 3 0-0 6, Hoover 2 2-4 7, Rhodes 3 0-0 9, Beltz 1 0-0 2, Kasun 0 0-0 0, Decker 0 0-0 0, Scott 0 0-0 0, Reynolds 0 0-0 0, Wareham 0 0-0 0. Totals — 16 4-8 41.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Hollidaysburg 14 13 18 8 — 53
Central 9 10 13 9 — 41
3-point subject targets: Hollidaysburg 6 (Okay. Metzger 3, Stultz 2, Albarano); Central 5 (Rhodes 3, Muthler, Hoover).
Records: Hollidaysburg (4-2); Central (4-2).
JV: Hollidaysburg gained 38-34. High scorers — Tyler Steiner H, 10; Parker Scott, C, 8