Mount Union boys basketball story

By TERRY BOWSER
Sports Editor
Mount Union players and coaches cut down the nets after clinching the Juniata Valley League championship with a 96-55 Senior Night blowout of visiting Glendale in Monday regular-season finale.
It marked the program's first league championship since the 1988-89 club won its first 27 games and swept to the Mountain League championship. Mount Union switched affiliation to the JVL prior to the 1992-93 campaign. A year ago, the Trojans had a shot at titles in both cycles, but were denied after dropping a pair of playoffs to Penns Valley.
After going 8-1 in the first cycle and beating Bellwood-Antis 58-57 in a playoff at Huntingdon Jan. 25, the Trojans swept through the second half at 9-0. Mount Union notched its 16th straight win since losing 52-50 on a buzzer shot at Bellwood Dec. 20.
After netting his first league title in 12 seasons as head coach, Joe Komir reflected back to his very first year when the Trojans struggled to a 2-22 finish.
"It took me 12 years to cut down the nets," Komir cited. "After that first year, I never thought it would come. I'm very happy and proud of our coaching staff and the players. The guys have worked hard to make this happen and deserve it."
The Trojans (24-1), now 158-140 under Komir, face an 11-day layoff before opening their District Six Class AA playoff bid. Seeded second behind Ligonier Valley, Mount Union returns to the court Friday, Feb. 21, at a site and time to be determined against the winner of a Feb. 18 first round game between Blairsville and Penns Valley.
Komir is concerned about what being idle so long will affect his club. He said, "We'll take Tuesday off to enjoy this championship and go back to work Wednesday to get ready for our next goal. We'll work on something different each day to keep from getting stale and pace ourselves."
Among the individual highlights was senior Jared House, a four-year starter, setting a new school record for career assists. He finished the game with six dishes to boost his total to 599, two more than Robo Vaughn's previous high-water mark of 597.
The record-breaker came with 1:22 left in the third quarter when House bounced a pass around a high-post screen set by Earl Hollis to Justin Price cutting to the basket for a layup. The game was stopped and the crowd acknowledged the achievement.
Four Trojans ended the game in double figures. Price led the way with 28 points, including 21 in the first half, and House had 24. Both guards nailed six shots from beyond the three-point arc. Hollis had 23 points and Danny Puchalla 12.
Hollis completed another double double with 10 rebounds. Isaiah Helton also had six assists and House came up with six steals.
Mount Union made 39 of 71 shots from the field for 55 percent and controlled the glass 32-18. The Trojans had just seven turnovers.
Mike Morrison led Glendale (8-15, 3-6 JVL) with 13 points, followed by Scott Laing with 11 and Shawn Krestar 10. The Vikings shot well from the field as they made 22 of 47 for 47 percent, but had 16 turnovers.
Komir started seniors Hollis, House and Jarid Sroka and senior reserve Ryan Grove also got to see action.
Glendale, which lost 80-49 to the Trojans in Flinton Jan. 13, drew first blood in the rematch on a Mark Lyons jumper with 7:07 on the clock. The Trojans responded with a 10-point run and never looked back. Price had 13 points in the first quarter, featuring four treys, as Mount Union doubled up the Vikings, 32-16.
The Vikings never got the deficit in single digits the rest of the night. Mount Union made 23 of 37 first-half shots (62 percent) and buried nine of 16 bombs (56 percent) from behind the three-point arc to lead 56-34 at the half.
Hollis had nine third-quarter points as the Trojans led 73-46 heading into the final buzzer. Leading 75-50 with 6:38 left in the game, Mount Union went on a 19-0 tear to the 3:03 mark. House, who had 11 points in the run, made a trey to put the Trojans on top 94-50. Komir went to his bench periodically during the game and pulled his starters for the final 2:21.
The Trojans junior varsity had its seven-game win streak broken in dropping the prelim, 49-29. Bubba Brown's 11 points led coach Casey Hanlon's underclassmen, who finished with a 13-7 record.