TAMAQUA — It was an uneven season opener for Minersville. But one of the Miners’ best returning players, along with a dominating night on the boards, bailed them out.
Senior David Graham had a team-high 17 points, while key offensive rebounding down the stretch helped preserve a 50-44 Minersville non-league victory over Tamaqua on Monday.
Graham scored six points in the fourth quarter, including a go-ahead bucket with 1:33 remaining in the game.
Minersville (1-0) outrebounded the Raiders (0-1) 36-23, with two of the biggest coming from Adam Stoppie on the offensive end that help preserve the Miners’ victory.
“I thought we rebounded the ball very well,” Minersville coach Cliff Woodford said. “When we needed a rebound, I thought we got the rebound.”
Stoppie finished the night with 12 boards.
Chris Leshko added 15 points for Minersville, while Jon McBreen had nine points, six rebounds and three assists and Graham grabbed five boards.
Sophomore Thad Zuber had a game-high 18 points for the Raiders to go along with nine rebounds. Russell Blaker added 16 points for Tamaqua.
Tamaqua led 44-42 after Zuber hit both ends of a 1-and-1 with 2:59 to go. About 40 seconds later, Graham had a steal and threw a long pass downcourt to McBreen, who scored a layup and was fouled in the process.
He missed the foul shot but the game was tied at 44.
On Minesville’s next possession, Graham used a head fake to get open for a shot inside and then scored to give the Miners the lead for good.
With 34.8 seconds left, Leshko hit both ends of a 1-and-1. Stoppie then hit the front end of a 1-and-1 with 23.1 second remaining, but tracked down his miss. It led to another 1-and-1 from Leshko.
Stoppie grabbed Leshko’s second miss. The ball ended up in McBreen’s hands and he was fouled. He missed both his shots, but the Miners led 50-44 with 16.2 seconds left. All Tamaqua could get on its final possession was a 3-point attempt by Joe Berezwick as Minersville held on.
“I think it was a little bit of our inexperience,” Tamaqua first-year coach Jim Barron said of the difference Monday. “We had a chance to go up a couple of buckets and panicked a little bit, quick turnover, so instead of going up by 4, now we are in a tie game.
“It is going to come along. We are very inexperienced. The effort we had tonight was great. We just have to play smarter.”
Tamaqua won both meetings last season, including a 59-53 victory in the Schuylkill League semifinals. But this a completely different Raiders team this season after they lost four starters to graduation.
Minersville won Monday despite shooting 20-for-57 (35 percent), including a 9-for-29 (31 percent) performance in the second half as Tamaqua switched between an aggressive man-to-man and a 1-3-1 zone on defense all night.
The Miners’ best offensive quarter was the second when they held an 18-12 scoring advantage to take a 25-17 halftime lead. Minersville shot 8-for-16 in the period.
“Toward the end, we controlled the tempo a little bit better than what we did the whole game,” Woodford said. “I credit Tamaqua. I thought they played very good defense, they forced us into taking some shots we shouldn’t have taken.”
Tamaqua struggled from the floor, too, hitting 15-of-40 (38 percent).
The Raiders got to within 36-32 at the end of the third quarter and took their first lead of the game when Zuber set up Berezwick inside to make it 40-38 with 4:14 left.
A Blaker steal and layup made it 42-40, while two foul shots from Zuber gave the Raiders their last lead at 44-42 with 2:59 left.
Game Summary
MINERSVILLE (50) — Snyder 0 0-0 0, McBreen 4 1-6 9, Leshko 4 5-6 15, Woodford 0 0-0 0, Wollyung 0 0-0 0, Hoffman 1 0-0 2, Taylor 0 0-0 0, Stoppie 3 1-4 7, Graham 8 1-2 17. Totals 20 8-18 50.
TAMAQUA (44) — Blaker 5 5-6 16, Wassell 1 0-0 2, Kurek 0 0-0 0, Zuber 5 7-11 18, Scott 0 0-0 0, Rother 0 0-0 0, Gregoire 1 0-0 2, Berezwick 3 0-0 6, Bates 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 12-17 44.
Min (1-0) 7 18 11 14 — 50 Tam (0-1) 5 12 15 12 — 44
3-point FGs: Leshko 2, Blaker, Zuber
JV score: Minersville 51-42