SUNBURY -- It takes a village.
Or, at the very least, a deep roster of players who aren't too intimidated by the stakes to make a big play in crunch time. In Tuesday night's Heartland Athletic Conference Division I contest between Mifflinburg and Shikellamy, the Braves were able to maintain their perfect record thanks to some fourth-quarter heroics by a number of players.
Tyler Pratt scored 12 of his team-high 15 points in the fourth, C.J. Tyler knocked down a big 3-pointer, and Andrew Eyster made a huge offensive rebound to seal the win as the Braves left the Shikellamy Field House with a 50-46 victory.
"The experience was what got us through," said Pratt, who was 9-for-11 from the foul line in the final period. "When the moment's on, everyone on this team ... (can do) a great job."
Shikellamy improves to 7-0 with the win (2-0 in the HAC-I).
"Ultimately, I was pleased with how we executed during the last three minutes of the game," Shikellamy coach Tim Foor said. "We didn't play very well in the first half. We were sort of sluggish, and we missed a lot of shots in transition."
Mifflinburg fell to 2-6 (1-1) despite the heroics of senior guard Connor Pierce, who scored a game-high 23 points. Teammate Alex Vidunas added 14 points and 10 boards.
"I think we earned a lot of respect tonight from Shikellamy and from around the league," Wildcats coach Andre Roupp said. "You can expect a hard-nosed game from us; you can expect us to come out and be aggressive and physical."
In addition to Pratt, the Braves got a double-digit scoring effort from Taylor Mantz, who had 11 points to go with his game-high 13 rebounds. Mantz scored 10 of his points in the second half.
"(Mantz) had a very good third quarter," Foor said. "We came out and we wanted to establish the post."
The score was 16-16 at halftime. Shikellamy held a three-point edge (32-29) heading into the fourth, but C.J. Tyler nailed a trey to start the fourth, giving the Braves their biggest lead of the night to that point.
Mantz made it a seven-point lead a minute later by scoring inside, but the Wildcats came right back with a 6-0 run to cut the deficit down to one (37-36). But after Ernie Tyler missed a three on the other end for Shikellamy, he got his own rebound and passed it to a wide-open Pratt, who drained a three from the top of the key to make it a four-point game.
"(Pierce) left Pratt to try to guard (Tyler's shot)," Roupp said. "Pratt was then the open guy, and he drilled it. He's that good of a player. You can't leave him open."
That Pratt 3-pointer started a 7-0 Shikellamy run -- with Pratt scoring all seven points by himself. But the Wildcats used a 5-0 run on one trip down the floor -- Jeremy Uscowskas made two foul shots on an intentional foul and Pierce hit a 3-pointer on the ensuing inbounds play -- to crawl back into it.
The Wildcats would get the deficit down to three at 49-46 when Pierce scored on a layup with 22 seconds left.
Mifflinburg then fouled Benny Delgado with 14 seconds to go, and he missed both shots. But Eyster soared for the offensive rebound, and Pratt would eventually hit one more foul shot for the final deficit.
"If there was a play of the game, that was it," Foor said of Eyster's rebound.
