Late run leads Elite PT to second straight win
By JOE SABOLEK
MVI Sports
Elite Physical Therapy secured a much-needed victory, its second straight, defeating Union Cleaners, 54-47, Thursday.
“I’m happy they didn’t quit. We have to get better as a team, moving the ball, being a little unselfish, defending, rebounding doing the little things,” said EPT head coach Vada Epps “I think we’re too worried about scoring right now, and you do need to score to win but we have to play better defense and rebound better to win the rest of the way.”
Elite PT (2-2) used a 17-3 run in the final 5:40 of the contest to vault its way past a winless Union Cleaners squad. Robert Cain (Kiski Prep) and Bryce Epps (South Allegheny) combined to score 10 in the spurt.
Monessen’s Chas Mrlack sparked a run with 13:40 left in the second half for Union Cleaners, scoring five points and assisting on two more, that pushed Union Cleaners’ lead to 39-30, and it looked like they would be able to pull away with another quick bucket or two. But Epps regrouped his squad, and they got baskets from Jaden Hammack and Robert Cain to kick off their big run.
“You know, Bryce didn’t have one of his best shooting nights tonight, but that’s fine because we have guys like Jaeden (Hammack) and Robert (Cain)” Vada Epps said. “They’re young guys and they knocked down some huge shots for us tonight. They picked up the slack and that’s what a team does for each other.”
Cain and Hammack finished with 13 and 12, respectively, for Elite, including several big shots down the stretch.
Hammack was also tasked with guarding Nate English, who scored only 11 points. English is a rising Albert Gallatin senior with the fourth best scoring clip in the league.
“Jaeden accepted the challenge and he said ‘I wanna watch him,’ so he did an excellent job on him, his lateral movement was just as good, definitely a great defender and a big body and plays well,” Epps said.
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