GREENSBURG — For most of Monday night’s battle, a Class A Hauser boys basketball team stood toe to toe with 3A Greensburg.
But a 19-4 Pirates run that spanned both halves was too much for the Jets to overcome. Greensburg built a 16-point lead in the closing minutes and hung on for a 76-70 victory.
Hauser led 26-20 at the midway point of the second quarter. The Pirates then scored the next eight points to take the lead.
After the Jets tied the game at 28-28 and 30-30, Greensburg’s Trevor Reynolds scored on a layup just before the first half buzzer. The Pirates then scored the first seven points of the third quarter to take a 39-30 lead.
“I think our intensity needed to be a little stronger at that point,” Hauser assistant coach Griff Roth said. “But give Greensburg credit. They played a good basketball game.”
The Jets (2-2) were close at halftime despite missing its two starting post players for most of the second quarter. Alex Gross and Justin Compton both picked up two fouls in the first quarter, and while Compton returned for the final couple minutes of the first half, Gross did not come back until the third quarter.
In their place, Brad Paetzel came off the bench to score eight of his 10 points in the second quarter.
“I thought we were in good shape going into the second half because we had our big guys out, but we were right there,” Roth said.
After falling behind 39-30, the Jets scored six in a row to get back within three. But then the Pirates’ Drew Comer hit three 3-pointers to help Greensburg (3-1) open the lead back to 54-43 late in the third quarter.
The Pirates opened the lead to as big as 70-54 with 2:21 left in the game before Hauser finished the game with a 16-6 run.
Freshman Andrew Welage scored a game-high 28 points to lead Greensburg. Comer hit five 3s for the game and finished with 19.
Wilson led the Jets with 16 points, while Gross added 15. Mason Sherman chipped in nine points to go along with Paetzel’s 10.
The Pirates outrebounded Hauser 34-22. Andrew Titus led the Jets with five rebounds.
