The Gateway boys basketball team fell short in its first crack at Section 1-5A leader Uniontown.
The Gators were competitive in the Jan. 7 matchup with the Red Raiders, but a 22-12 margin in the second quarter ended up being the difference in the 82-73 Uniontown win.
Gateway, which got a team-best 25 points from junior guard Mykel Bruce-McCrommon and 15 more from fellow junior guard Jax Vovaris in the setback, was able to refocus its attention for section contests against Penn-Trafford and McKeesport.
The Gators rebounded in resounding fashion with a 68-52 victory at Penn-Trafford on Jan. 10 and a 77-52 rout of McKeesport at home on Jan. 14.
The 77 points against the Tigers was a season high and helped Gateway improve to 5-2 in the section and 7-6 overall.
The Gators were two games behind Uniontown and one game behind Latrobe in the section standings heading into last Friday’s matchup with the Wildcats that opened the second half of section play.
Latrobe got the better of Gateway, 75-71, when the teams met Dec. 13.
McCrommon maintained his torrid pace against Penn-Trafford with a game-best 27 points. He did almost all of his damage over two quarters with 12 points in the second and 11 more in the fourth.
Vovaris and senior center Paul Nnacho added 10 points apiece for a Gators team which led the Warriors by just three at halftime before pulling away over the final 16 minutes.
Balance was the key for Gateway against McKeesport as five players accounted for all the scoring, and all five finished in double figures.
McCrommon fronted the offensive attack with 19 points, junior guard/forward Chris Settles added 17, Nnacho finished with 16, sophomore guard Assan Wallace contributed 13, and Vovaris recorded 12 in the 25-point triumph.
The Gators were a collective 11 of 15 from the free-throw line, and they also drained eight 3-pointers.
Fast times
The WPIAL swimming regular season has reached the midway point, and Gateway boys and girls competitors are working their way up the top-times rankings and also recording more qualifying marks for the WPIAL Class 3A championships at the end of next month at Pitt’s Trees Pool.
One of sophomore Aliya Rassiane’s event specialties is the 100-yard butterfly, and her time of 59.17 seconds recorded Dec. 21 at the Jim Stacy Winter Championship at the Spire Institute in Ohio ranked her seventh overall in Class 3A.
The times and rankings are for meets completed through Jan. 9. The WPIAL each week posts the top times for swimming individual and relay events and for diving.
Those entries which appear on the lists are the ones which also have met the WPIAL-qualifying standard for that event.
Senior Hunter Raymer owns a qualifying cut in every individual event, and he ranked No. 2 in the Class 3A boys 500 free with a time of 4:37.51 recorded at the Jim Stacy meet.
The WPIAL 500 champion as a freshman, Raymer is behind only Central Catholic senior McClellan Clark, the two-time defending Class 3A 500 titlist.
Clark swam a 4:32.96 in a meet with Norwin on Dec. 5.
Raymer also checked in at No. 5 in the 200 individual medley with a 1:56.12 from Jim Stacy.
Also recording top-15 times were Rassiane (50 free, 13th, 24.85), junior Gunner Raymer (100 free, 15th, 49.26; 200 free, eighth, 1:45.23; and 500 free, 15th, 4:55.51), and senior Owen Echegaray (100 breaststroke, 12th, 1:02.61 and 100 fly, 15th, 53.56).
The Gateway boys 200 free relay was sixth with a 1:29.55 from the Jim Stacy meet. The 200 medley relay was seventh (1:42.80), and the 400 free relay was eighth (3:19.66).
Gators roll to another win
The Gateway boys bowling team was tested by East division rival Valley, but the seasoned Gators lineup passed the test with a 7-0 victory Jan. 15 at Wildlife Lanes in Lower Burrell.
At 7-0 overall, Gateway strengthened its hold on first place in the division by one game over Plum, which coupled wins over Franklin Regional and St. Joseph last week to improve to 6-1.
Senior Landon Lohr fronted the Gators attack with a 691 series which included top games of 248 and 258. Senior Joey Jurczak produced games of 225, 249 and 192 to complete a 666 series, while senior Josh Zlokas recorded a 624 series with games of 212, 199 and 212.
Junior Chase Owens and senior Allon Wallace Jr. added 489 and 563 series, respectively. Wallace rolled a 234 best game, while Owens tallied games of 200 and 209.
Jurczak, Wallace Jr., Owens and Zlokas all owned season averages better than 200 through its seven regular-season matches.
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Jurczak led the way with a 210.95 average through 21 games bowled.
Lohr’s 691 series bumped him up very close to 200. He possessed a 199.3 average through 21 games.