All-time WPIAL boys basketball championship games No. 7: 1964 Uniontown beats Midland to stay unbeaten
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Wednesday, February 21, 2018 | 6:03 PM
The TribLive High School Sports Network will be counting down the Top 10 boys and girls WPIAL basketball championship games leading up to the 2018 title games March 1-3 at the Petersen Events Center.
TRIBHSSN is the exclusive audio and video home for all 12 WPIAL championship games, which will be broadcasted and video streamed live at TribHSSN.triblive.com.
Here is the fourth installment of a 10-part series ranking the top WPIAL boys basketball championship games in district history.
No. 7: 1964 — WPIAL Class 3A finals: Uniontown 46, Midland 43
This championship game had everything you could want in a title game. Star players, including three future NBA and two future NFL players; a pair of undefeated teams; and a packed house of more than 10,000 fans at the old Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
Uniontown, led by legendary coach Abe Everhart, won the WPIAL Class 3A crown in 1962. The Red Raiders were heavy favorites to win the following year but were stunned by Norwin in the district quarterfinals, ending a 36-game winning streak. But behind players such as 6-foot-3 forward Stu Lantz, who would later player for San Diego in the NBA; Ben Gregory, who would go on to play for the Buffalo Bills in the NFL; and Ray Parson, who also made it to the NFL with the Detroit Lions; the Red Raiders reached the WPIAL finals with a perfect 24-0 record.
Midland also brought a perfect record to the table thanks to the play of two future pro basketball stars in Norm Van Lier and Simmie Hill.
Midland used a big second quarter in which they outscored Uniontown, 16-7, to take a 26-20 lead into the locker room. But the Red Raiders outscored the Leopards, 27-17, in the second half, including 14-11 in the final quarter after the game was tied heading into the fourth.
While Hill scored a game-high 26 points for Midland, one of the keys to victory for Uniontown was holding Van Lier to only three points. Pat Yates led the Red Raiders with 13 points.
Uniontown went on to beat Huntingdon, Punxsutawney and Plymouth-Whitemarsh to win the PIAA championship and become one of a handful of boys basketball teams in WPIAL history to go undefeated. The run was the start of a 52-game winning streak that is tied with Washington for the longest streak in WPIAL boys basketball history.
Don Rebel is a TribLive High School Sports Network broadcaster and staff writer. Reach him at drebel@tribweb.com.
Tags: Uniontown
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