Eagles hold off 'Hawks after shutout quarter

Skyler Riley (3) looks to get by Jayhawk-Linn's Ben Rowe during the first half of play at Uniontown Tuesday night. Riley scored 18 points for the Eagles in a 51-40 victory over the Jayhawks. (Kenny Felt/Exclusive to the Tribune)

UNIONTOWN -- Uniontown's boys shut out Jayhawk-Linn in the first quarter of a Three Rivers League contest at West Bourbon Elementary's gym here Tuesday night and went on to hold off the Jayhawks by making 10 of 12 fourth-quarter free throws in a 51-40 victory.

The win comes three days after the Eagles lost to the Jayhawks, 43-41, on a buzzer-beater in the fifth-place game of the Pleasanton Mid-Season Tournament.

Uniontown (1-2 TRL, 5-8 overall) only scored 6 points in the opening stanza itself, but didn't commit a turnover and held Jayhawk-Linn (0-4, 4-8) to 0-for-7 field-goal shooting while forcing 6 turnovers.

"There have been a couple of times this year where I felt like the kids didn't really come out to play, we dug ourselves a big hole and lost close games," Uniontown head coach Nathan Hinrichs observed. "I felt like that happened Saturday when we lost to them. So I was really happy to see us come out with a lot of intensity defensively. Obviously, we weren't real sharp offensively, but the first quarter was one of our better efforts, defensively."

The offenses arrived in the second quarter with the Jayhawks catching up and getting to within 18-16 before Skyler Riley made a pair of free throws for the Eagles with 17 seconds left in the half.

The Jayhawks were concentrating on Brenton Esslinger in an effort to keep him from getting his usual 18 to 20 points and did a good job in that respect. But Riley stepped up in the third quarter and scored 12 points. That helped counter the effort of J-Linn's Ben Rowe, who scored the Jayhawks' first 8 points of the half as they got within 26-24 with 3:35 to go.

Riley hit a 3-point shot off an inbound pass moments later, then scored on a fast break and added two free throws. Dakota Wiley added a free throw to make it 34-24 with 1:49 to go.

"Skyler was able to get to the basket and make them pay a little bit," Hinrichs said. "Brenton gets a lot of attention. They were pretty determined to keep him from beating them. But Skyler and Trenton (Miller) really stepped up tonight."

Uniontown led 35-28 going into the final stanza. The Jayhawks got within 6 points, 41-35, with 2:27 to go but the Eagles made 8 of 10 free throws in the final two minutes.

Riley led the Eagles with 18 points while Esslinger managed 12 and Miller chipped in with 8. Rowe led J-Linn with 15 points -- scoring all of them consecutively for his team during the second and third quarters.

The Eagles travel to play league co-leader Crest Friday night.

JAYHAWK-LINN: Walters 0-5 3-7 3, Rowe 6-11 3-4 15, Dawson 1-5 0-0 3, Coleman 2-8 3-4 7, Mathews 2-6 0-0 4, Sutherland 0-0 2-2 2, Mark 1-4 1-2 3, Miller 1-5 1-2 3. TOTALS: 13-44 13-21 40.

UNIONTOWN: Gleason 0-0 5-6 5, Riley 5-11 5-6 18, Jo.Duffey 0-1 3-4 3, Wiley 1-5 3-6 5, T.Miller 4-8 0-0 8, Ja.Duffey 0-0 0-0 0, G.Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Esslinger 3 6-8 12. TOTALS: 13-36 22-30 51.

Uniontown......... 6 14 15 16 -- 51

Three-point field goals: Jayhawk-Linn 1-13 (Dawson 1-4, Coleman 0-1, Mathews 0-1, Miller 0-1, Walters 0-2, Rowe 0-2, Mark 0-2), Uniontown 3-7 (Riley 3-5, Wiley 0-2).

Total fouls: Jayhawk-Linn 26, Uniontown 16. Fouled out: Rowe. Technical fouls: Jayhawk-Linn bench.

Rebounds: Jayhawk-Linn 31 (Miller 8), Uniontown 33 (Esslinger 8). Assists: Jayhawk-Linn 4 (Mathews 3), Uniontown 5 (Ja.Duffey 2). Turnovers: Jayhawk-Linn 13, Uniontown 13. Steals: Jayhawk-Linn 8 (Rowe 4), Uniontown 7 (Gleason 2). Blocked shots: Jayhawk-Linn 2 (Dawson, Mark), Uniontown none.