By Dan Irwin
New Castle News

When the ball doesn’t go in the hole, the team usually does.

Union found that out in last night’s opening game of the Neshannock Tipoff Tournament. The Scotties trailed by 12 points midway through the second quarter against Mercyhurst Prep, and although they’d rally to lead briefly during the third quarter, a cold shooting night eventually doomed them to a 58-47 loss.

Union will play Shenango, a 78-38 loser to the host team, in today’s 6 p.m. consolation contest.

“I don’t know if it was first game, if the legs weren’t there, too much adrenaline, something,” Union head coach Dave Smialowski said. “But the shots that we missed, we missed them pretty bad. I think that had to do with a lot of adrenaline and it might have hurt us within the game.

“We came out in the third quarter, we really put the pressure on and we started making some shots. But I think the biggest thing is that we missed a lot of easy ones tonight that are probably going to go in for us once we get a little more practice.”

Union was just 17 of 56 from the floor (30 percent) for the night, and 10 of 19 from the foul line.

It wasn’t surprising, then, that Mercyhurst Prep jumped out to a 23-11 lead with 4:21 left in the second quarter. Alex Borges used his 6-foot-6 frame to muscle in 13 of his 21 points during that span. Borges’ 19 rebounds also helped the Lakers enjoy an overall 45-33 advantage on the boards.

“He’s a nice player, and he wears you down,” Smialowski said of Borges. “I don’t know if we’re going to see another big man all year that’s as good as him.

“But I thought our guys did a pretty good job on him. Tre (Major) got himself in a little bit of four trouble, he was trying to out-quick him, but he did some good things.”

Once the Scotties slowed Borges — he had just eight points over the final 2 1/2 quarters — they began clawing their way back into the contest. They closed the second period with an 11-4 run to get within five points by intermission, then opened the third stanza with a 9-2 spurt to go up 31-29.

Major, though, picked up his fourth personal foul when Borges drove on him with 3:53 left to knot the score at 31. That bucket sent Mercyhurst on a 16-5 run from which it never looked back. Major eventually fouled out with 3:10 left in the game.

Markel Peace keyed the Scotties with 15 points.

Carl Anderson’s 19 markers were second-best for the Lakers, who will meet Neshannock in today’s 7:30 p.m. title game.

“I told our kids, don’t hang your heads on game one,” Smialowski said. “We’ve got a long way to go. These kids are going to be back. They’ll compete.”

(Email: d_irwin@ncnewsonline.com)