CLARION, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Zander Laughlin buried four of his five 3-pointers in the opening quarter, helping the Union boys basketball team defeat Clarion, 58-48, on Friday evening in the opening round of the District 9 Class A playoffs at Clarion High School.
(Union’s Zander Laughlin was named the Hager Paving Incorporated Player of the Game)
Laughlin drained three of his long-range shots in helping the Golden Knights build an 11-1 lead by the 4:27 mark of the first quarter, forcing a Clarion timeout.
The lead would remain at 10 points until Devon Lauer hit a 3-pointer to trim the lead to 16-9 after one quarter of play.
“We didn’t really want to start shooting that early in possessions, but they were falling for us,” said Union coach Eric Mortimer. “Zander was hitting them early and he is more than capable of that, which got us going. This was a really big win for us.”
Both teams struggled offensively in the second quarter as the two teams combined for just 12 points with Clarion holding a 7-5 edge to cut the Union lead to 23-16 by halftime.
“They out-hustled us and they out-rebounded us and that was pretty much the story of the game tonight,” said Clarion coach Scott Fox.
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Laughlin scored seven more of his total in the third quarter as the Golden Knights held a 17-11 scoring advantage to push their lead to 40-27.
Lauer scored all eight points of an 8-0 run, which started on a 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter until the 6:45 mark of the fourth, slicing the lead to eight at 40-32.
Clarion would eventually cut the lead to five at 47-42 with 2:30 to play in the contest.
However, Union would close the game on an 11-6 run with six of the 11 points coming from the free throw line to set the final score.
“We were trying to slow things down when we got that lead and they turned us over a few times,” said Mortimer. “We were able to regain our composure and get to the foul line where we knocked down some of those free throws to pull it out.”
Laughlin led the Knights with 21 points and eight rebounds. Payton Johnston scored 17 points, all coming in the second half. Dawson Camper added seven points with 14 rebounds.
“Payton is quick and he can really get up the floor,” said Mortimer. “They did a good job on him defensively in the first half, but he was able to get loose a bit more in the second half.”
Lauer led Clarion with 18 points while Dawson Smail added eight points. Gabe Simko scored five points.
“Union played well defensively, but we didn’t move the ball, nor did we have movement in our offense until the fourth quarter,” said Fox. “We’re a young team, so we have to try and right the ship before the consolation game. These guys are getting experience so they are learning which should bode well for us come next season.”
Union will square off against DuBois Central Catholic, which downed Keystone, 57-26, in another quarterfinal game on Friday, in the semifinals on Wednesday at a site and time to be determined.
Top-seed Elk County Catholic beat Smethport 55-30 and No. 5 seed Cameron County downed Johnsonburg, 40-37, in the other two opening-round games. ECC will meet Cameron County in the semifinals, also Wednesday and also at a site and time to be determined.
Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.
