ERIE, Pa. – The Youngsville and Sheffield boys got a unique experience Saturday, getting to play under the bright lights of Erie Insurance Arena.

Gage Hendrickson’s star shined the brightest, as the Eagle junior poured in 23 points to lead his team to a 58-34 victory.

Hendrickson and Nyko Mercado both drilled 3’s as Youngsville (8-10) raced out to a 14-4 lead after the first quarter.

They never looked back.

“The kids really enjoyed the experience,” said Youngsville coach Jesse DeLoof. “It was cool to see how excited the boys got when we walked into the arena.

The lead swelled to 31-10 at halftime.

Brady Olewine, Mercado and Ethan Kesterholt also had productive games offensively, scoring 9, 8 and 7 points respectively.

Sheffield (1-17), which was playing on back-to-back days, played well in the second half with just a 3-point margin in favor of Youngsville.

Tyler Hepinger had a strong game, leading the Wolverines with 15 points, including 11 after intermission.

“Credit to Sheffield playing back-to-back,” DeLoof said. “They really came out in the second half and played hard and started really applying pressure until the final buzzer.”

Youngsville also won the JV game, 49-24. Owen Procter had 16 points for the Eagles, Xavier Mowrey, Kesterholt 9 and Dominic Dell 6. Caden Copley had 7 points to pace Sheffield.

Youngsville returns to action Tuesday, hosting Union City, while Sheffield hosts Johnsonburg on Tuesday.

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YOUNGSVILLE (58)

Mack 2-2-2-6, Olewine 3-3-4-9, Kesterholt 2-2-2-7, Hendrickson 8-4-4-23, Bower 1-1-2-3, Mercado 3-1-2-8, Dell 0-0-0-0, Procter 1-0-0-2, Mowrey 0-0-0-0, Totals 19-13-16-58

SHEFFIELD (34)

Dunham 1-0-0-2, Hepinger 6-2-3-15, Richards 1-0-0-2, Vinopal 3-0-0-6, McNeal 2-0-0-4, Kyler 1-0-0-2, Benjamin 1-1-2-3, Johnson 0-0-0-0, Copley 0-0-0-0, Stoltz 0-0-0-0, Totals 15-3-4-34

By Quarters

Youngsville 14 17 13 14 – 58

Sheffield 4 6 8 16 – 34

Three-point FGs: Youngsville (5) – Hendrickson 3, Kesterholt, Mercado; Sheffield (1) – Hepinger