Strong defense leads to Loyal win over Pittsville

By Harry Toufar The old adage “Defense wins ball games” reigned true Friday night as the Loyal Greyhounds steamrolled over the visiting Pittsville Panthers,.

“I was very pleased with our intensity on defense,” said coach Brandon DeSmet after the game.

All night long, the Greyhounds used a swarming and tenacious defense to totally take the Panthers out of their game plan. Special accolades need to go to senior Parker Smith and sophomore Carson Prein. Smith was given the task of guarding Pittsville’s junior standout Dawson Luther. Luther was hounded no matter where he went on the floor. When Smith picked up his second foul, DeSmet inserted Prein, with the same result. Luther did lead his team in scoring with 12 points, with only four coming in the first half. For the most part, Luther was taken out of his game plan. It appeared he was starting to force things.

While Smith and Prein were doing their thing on defense, the rest of the Greyhounds were taking care of business as well, holding the Panthers to 13 points in the first half. Beside his defense, Smith also contributed on offense. He started things rolling with a 2-pointer. Pittsville responded with two baskets, giving them their only lead of the evening. In the meantime, Cain Toufar tied the score with a bucket, Bryce Deegan hit from long range and Smith drained one of his 3-pointers to give Loyal a 10-4 lead. Pittsville scored, making it a four-point difference.

Then the well went dry as Loyal ran off 19 unanswered points, starting with a basket plus one from Prein. Toufar scored twice, with Reed Stieglitz scoring as well. Rhett Lamovec scored twice with Stieglitz draining a 3-pointer, prompting the Pittsville coach to take his third timeout of the half. Smith nailed his second 3-pointer to end the run. The teams were pretty much even the rest of the half, with Loyal outscoring the Panthers 8-7. Smith made his last basket of the game with Hunter Walter and Deegan each making a basket. Lamovec added a basket as well. The half ended with Loyal leading 37-13. Toufar started the second half by making a basket. Fouled while shooting, he calmly sank the plus one. Pittsville drilled a 3-pointer before Stieglitz and Walter scored, giving Loyal a 29-point lead. The Greyhounds went into a mini deep freeze as the Panthers scored nine points from Luther and senior Logan Zickert. However, Toufar ended the mini freeze with a basket and Deegan and Stieglitz added baskets of their own. Leading 51-30, the Hounds went on a 12-0 run started by a hustle play from Walter going after a loose ball and flipping it back to Toufar for two. Hunter scored following that and Stieglitz made a basket and two free throws. Walter scored again, with Lamovec adding a bucket. Joe Treffinger and Aaron Radue rounded out the scoring. All of this led to another win in the books for the Greyhounds, 67-34.

“I was very pleased with our inside-outside game. We did a real good job of reversing the ball,” said DeSmet.

Toufar led the team in scoring, with 15 points on seven baskets and a free throw. Stieglitz scored 14 points, making five baskets (including two 3-poiners) and making both his free throws. Smith scored 10 points, including two 3-pointers. Walter scored eight points, with Deegan adding seven points (including one 3-pointer). Lamovec (6), Prein (3), Treffinger (2) and Radue (2) rounded out the scoring. Loyal hosted Columbus Catholic on Tuesday and will travel to Gilman on Friday.