Greater Johnstown falls just short at Bishop Guilfoyle in LHAC semifinal

Feb. 17—ALTOONA, Pa. — Greater Johnstown junior forward Dion Dixon held nothing back when describing his emotions.

"Anger. Upset. Annoyed," Dixon said frankly and firmly in quick succession.

Unable to hold off second-seeded Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic down the stretch, Dixon and the visiting Trojans were denied a shot at the Laurel Highlands Conference boys basketball championship, 47-43, on Thursday night.

It was only the second time all season Greater Johnstown has been held under 50 points all season and both were gutwrenching near-misses against Bishop Guilfoyle at its Pleasant Valley gymnasium. The Marauders prevailed 49-47 back on Jan. 11.

Making it all the rougher is the Trojans left Blair County feeling a significant portion of the damage done was self-inflicted. In tasting defeat for just the third time in 23 starts, Greater Johnstown missed nine free throws and, although it only turned the ball over eight times, four of those came in the fourth quarter as Bishop Guilfoyle erased a three-point second-half deficit in a contest where neither team was able to build a comfortable cushion.

Greater Johnstown also forced the hosts into 16 turnovers, but many of them were of the dead-ball variety, depriving the Trojans of the opportunity to get into transition and score.

Dixon led the Trojans with 10 points.

Jahmir Collins and Donte Tisinger finished with nine apiece, Raheem Braswell netted eight and Nyerre Collins chipped in with seven.

Bishop Guilfoyle's Haigh brothers — Patrick and Jude — combined with 24 points for the Marauders, 20 coming over the final three quarters after Greater Johnstown had its largest advantage of 13-7 early in the second frame.

"We have to use this as motivation," Braswell said.

The potential fire Thursday's loss might light under the Trojans is one potential silver lining for coach Ryan Durham's squad.

Another might just be the experience of handling the emotions of a tight game when the margin for error is razor thin — that figures to come into play more and more often in the postseason if Greater Johnstown can continue to advance.

Greater Johnstown's only two games decided by fewer than 11 points this season were the losses to Bishop Guilfoyle.

"We haven't done a good enough job of coaching them in these moments, it seems," Durham said. "It doesn't matter if you lose a close game if you don't learn from it. Losing just to lose is not beneficial. We thought we had corrected our issues in the tight games.

"We just did not do enough to win the game."

Bishop Guilfoyle coach Chris Drenning, though, said playing Greater Johnstown made his Marauders a better team. Bishop Guilfoyle is the top seed in District 6 Class 3A this year, where Penn Cambria figures to provide one of — if not the biggest — challenges.

"Win or lose, I thought we would be better for the experience because they're going to make you better," Drenning said.

A four-point Greater Johnstown run in the middle of the four quarter had the contest knotted at 39 with just over two minutes to play. Patrick Haigh — Bishop Guilfoyle's all-time leading scorer — found himself with the ball at the foul line. However, he fired a pass in the corner to Matthew Woolridge to put the Marauders ahead for good at 42-39.

Bishop Guilfoyle (20-3) made only four treys in the game.

"Our intensity pulled it out for us. It was just two good teams battling all night," said Patrick Haigh, who finished with 13 points. "Matt was sitting open in the corner and I hit him. He did the rest."

Greater Johnstown fell behind by 10 after one quarter in the first meeting, but the Trojans were determined not to let that happen again, scoring six of the first eight points and forcing nine Marauders turnovers in the first eight minutes.

Tisinger's driving basket staked the Trojans to a 13-7 lead a minute into the second before Bishop Guilfoyle rallied.

The game went back and forth from there with five lead changes and three ties. Neither team was up by more than three between the five-minute mark of the second quarter and the final minute. Greater Johnstown had a 35-32 edge on Braswell's driving layup late in the third.

"There were things that all of us left on the court. Too many people made simple mistakes," Dixon said. "Everyone's got to go and look at film. If they're not using the mistakes made to make them better, it's pointless."