Battered and sick, State College boys basketball sprints to District 6, Class 6A title
Braeden Shrewsberry fought through a stomach bug.
Ryan Perks fought through possible foul calls, finishing the game with a reddened face and a cut on his right cheek. A seemingly unfazed Issac Dye found himself open in the corners for five 3-point field goals in the third quarter.
State College rose above its ailments to defeat Altoona 69-49 in the District 6 Class 6A championship game, the team’s second in a row against its Mid-Penn rival.
Perks finished with 10 points and believes the victory has all to do with one word that his head coach Brian Scholly preaches on a nightly basis.
“It’s one of the words we have — toughness,” Perks said. “(We) play every play, and we get up. It doesn’t matter what the refs call, we just keep playing hard every time.”
The sharp-shooting Dye finished the game with a game-high 24 points. Dye has won two district championships in two seasons with the program after moving from Houston. Since joining the team, he’s paired with fellow transfer Shrewsberry to provide a one-two punch in scoring. With Shrewsberry scoring 14 on Friday night as a capable decoy, he opened a path for Dye to shine on one of the brightest stages.
“It feels great, but I think it just speaks more to the chemistry of our team,” Dye said. “They were just more focused on Braeden and just left me open. I was able to knock down shots tonight, although there were a couple of air balls. Other than that, it was a pretty good night all around. We move the ball so well and create open shots for everybody.”
Little Lions head coach Scholly is constantly impressed with the team, but he is never surprised with how his players can fill up the bucket — especially Dye.
“All of our guys have confidence to make plays,” Scholly said. “Our guys know how well Issac (Dye) can shoot, especially when he gets one — our guys know to look for him to get the next one because it’s like an avalanche with him. It’s just the confidence of everything that we’ve gone through this year to keep working and executing the plays when we need to.”
State College jumped out to a 15-12 lead in the first quarter with Lake Black leading the way for the Little Lions with five points. Altoona’s Evan Alwine kept the period close with five points of his own.
The Little Lions opened up the second quarter with a 7-2 run, but Altoona pulled back in the game with a 26-19 State College advantage with 2 minutes, 29 seconds remaining in the first half.
Shrewsberry ended the half with a layup, only to be answered by Ashton Neely’s buzzer-beating halfcourt heave to cut State College’s lead to 30-25 at the half.
The Little Lions opened up the third quarter with a 6-2 run, followed by Perks and Dye’s layup and 3-pointer respectively. Dye ended the third with five 3-point field goals and had 19 points heading into the fourth quarter. State College held a 53-33 lead prior to the fourth quarter and continued to pour on buckets in the final period for the 69-49 victory.
State College 69, Altoona 49
SC (22-2): Dye 24, Shrewsberry 14, Perks 10, Black 8, McKenna 8, Morris 2, Furmanek 2, Urie 2
A (9-14): Neely 22, Triplin 15, Alwine 5, Hardison 5, White 2
Half: 30-25
This story was originally published February 24, 2023 at 10:23 PM.
