Juniata boys pick up nail biting win

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: December 28, 2018

By Kenny Varner

MILL CREEK – It was a nail biter until the very end.

The Juniata boys basketball team pick up their first win of the season as they defeated Roberto Clemente Charter School 37-35 Thursday night in the opening game if the Penns Valley Ram Winter Jam.

With 2 minutes left and the game tied at 35, the Indians’ Tylor Gomez took a charge by Clemente guard Jason Encarnacion, giving his team the ball with the game losing in on expiring.

The Indians worked the ball around and finally found an open Bryson Clark in the middle.

Clark faked a run in the lane and fished it to a wide open Gomez underneath the basket.

He was fouled on his way up.

With the game in his hands, Gomez was clutch on both shots, putting Juniata ahead 37-35 with nine ticks left on the clock.

After getting the ball up the court, Clemente’s Axel Avia Santana squared up from just beyond on arc and fell backward as his shot went off the rim and out, giving the Indians the victory.

Leading the way offensively was Clark, who posted a game-high 21 points and six rebounds in the victory.

With his three-point performance, Gomez pulled down a team-high eight as did teammate Jamie Bailor.

Clemente’s leader was Encarnacion and Santana with 10.

“The kids played hard and did a good job. They did a great job of coming back when they got down in the fourth quarter,” Juniata coach Al Ream said. “They didn’t hang their heads. They didn’t give up. We got a couple of key rebounds when we needed and made the most of it.”

Going into the final stanza, Juniata led 24-23.

Clemente struck first on a drive to the lane, giving Clemente its second lead of the game at 25-24.

Clark responded with a triple to put his team back up to two with 7:05 left.

On the following Clemente possession, Santana hit a trey of his own, giving his team back the lead with 5:21 left in the contest.

After a Juniata time out, Santana added to his team’s lead when he stole the ball and drove it to the hole.

Clark kept his team in the game as he drove and hit a leaner in the lane to cut the Clemente lead to 30-29.

But Clemente once again had an answer to a Clark shot.

This time, Melvin Bautista was handed the rock and sent it from beyond the arc to extend his team’s lead to four with less than four minutes to play.

Devon Nealman, who posted eight, was open under the bucket and easily put it in to make it just a 2-point game.

Encarnacion was not going to make it easy for the Indians’ comeback attempt, posting another bucket in the lane.

But consecutive baskets by Juniata, both by Clark, set the stage for the drama that would ensue.

As Gomez took the charge, the momentum took a change onto the Indians’ side as he was able to take the charge and then hit the two clutch free throws from the charity stripe, giving Juniata to lead in the last ticks of the clock.

In the first period, the Indians got down early 4-0 but rallied to take the first quarter scoring by outscoring Clemente 8-0 in the quarter’s last three minutes.

Juniata continued to battle Clemente in the second as they played to a 7-7 quarter.

However, the Indians still took a 4-point advantage into the intermission.

Offensive boards were the name of the game in the third as Clemente battled their way closer to the Indians’ lead outscoring the “Red and Blue” 12-9.

With the win, Juniata will battle Bellefonte in the title tilt today at the Rams Winter Jam while Clemente will face Penns Valley.

The consolation game starts at six while the championship game is set for an 8pm start.