Highlands uses balanced attack to hammer Beaver Falls

By: George Guido
Tuesday, December 17, 2019 | 11:00 PM

No Johnny? No problem Tuesday night for the Highlands Golden Rams.

With Johnny Crise sitting out a game due to an ejection Saturday night, it didn’t stop Highlands from getting off to a remarkable start and an 82-60 victory over Beaver Falls.

The Golden Rams, 4-1 and No. 2 this week in the TribHSSN Class 4A rankings, raced out to a 19-0 lead and never looked back.

Highlands had a pair of 3-pointers each from Korry Myers, Luke Cochran and Carter Leri in the first quarter as the Golden Rams were staked to a 28-5 advantage.

Beaver Falls, 3-2 and No. 4 in the Class 3A rankings, didn’t get on the scoreboard until reserve Nazir Jones hit a 3-pointer with three minutes to go in the opening quarter.

“We talked a lot in the pregame about guys coming out and sharing the basketball,” said Golden Rams coach Tyler Stoczynski. “It was as unselfish a first half as I’ve seen our guys play in a long time.”

“We came out with unbelievable energy and we wanted to get back at them for a loss last year,” Myers said. “We felt we had to defend our home court.”

Highlands didn’t commit a turnover until there was 2:46 left in the opening period.

“That’s not our team,” said Tigers coach Carliss Jeter of the nightmarish start. “We can’t let this one game define us. We’ve got a bunch of good, young men that work hard every day. That’s a very good, well-coached team over there and I told our guys that before the game.”

A pair of foul shots with 51 seconds left in the half by Antoine McDaniel gave the Golden Rams their biggest lead of the night, 50-17.

Eight Highlands players made the scoring column in the first half.

Said Stoczyski: “We have guys capable of making shots when they’re shooting wide-open shots and we were moving the ball enough to get the right guy at the right time. We got to continue to play together. That’s the key to our success.”

Myers led the way with 19 points. Cochran finished with 18 and 10 assists while junior forward Wahkeem Roman had a career-high 17 points and collected 11 rebounds.

“There’s a reason he’s playing so well,” Stoczynski said of Roman. “He didn’t take a day off when the football season ended. He was with us in the gym. He deserves everything he’s getting right now.”

Beaver Falls made some headway in the second half, outscoring the Golden Rams, 39-32.

“The first half, we didn’t have any energy, but you can see it in the second half when we turned up our energy. We just dug a hole too deep,” said Jeter, who played on Beaver Falls’ WPIAL title teams in 1979 and ’80.

Junior Michael Conley had 16 points, 14 in the second half. Darius Nesmith had 11.

Highlands will play Wednesday at 3 p.m. against Shaler at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland and Myers is eagerly anticipating the big road trip on an NBA floor.

“We’re excited. We want to get out there and take care of business early,” Myers said.

The Golden Rams will then stay and watch the Cavaliers take on the Charlotte Hornets.

Tags: Beaver Falls, Highlands