High school roundup: Penn-Trafford uses balanced attack to topple Plum

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, December 23, 2017 | 12:00 AM

Penn-Trafford used a balanced scoring attack, with four players in double figures, en route to a 72-63 victory over host Plum in a Section 3-6A boys basketball game Friday night.

Sean Kelly scored 23 points, and Kevin Stinelli (14), Zach Rocco (12) and C.J. DeStefano (10) also aided the winning effort for the Warriors (3-4, 1-1), who led 44-33 at halftime. Lamar Whiting had 19 points to lead the Mustangs (3-4, 0-3).

Woodland Hills 61, Hempfield 59 — Reed Hipps scored 25 points for Hempfield (2-5, 1-2), but Woodland Hills earned a Section 3-6A win. Keandre Bowles had 14 points to lead No. 5 Woodland Hills (6-0, 3-0). Braden Brose added 16 for Hempfield, which rallied with a 24-18 run in the fourth quarter.

Central Catholic 53, Shaler 46 — Luke Nedrow had 20 points and Justin Tarrant added 14 as Central Catholic (3-3, 3-0) won a Section 1-6A game.

Mt. Lebanon 80, Bethel Park 46 — Caden Hinkley had 23 points and Hayden Mitchell added 19 as No. 2 Mt. Lebanon (6-0, 2-0) rolled to a Section 2-6A win.

Upper St. Clair 58, Connellsville 47 — Kyle Meinert had 27 points as Upper St. Clair (4-3, 1-1) won in Section 2-6A.

McKeesport 75, Thomas Jefferson 53 — Terron Taylor's 23 points paced No. 4 McKeesport (3-3, 2-1) in a Section 1-5A victory.

Franklin Regional 70, Highlands 46 — Nate Leopold and Jake Rosenberg scored 14 points apiece and Hunter Stonecheck added 10 for Class 5A No. 3 Franklin Regional (6-0, 1-0) in a Section 3 opening victory over visiting Highlands (2-3, 0-1).

Luke Cochran scored 15 points to lead Highlands, which cut a 20-point deficit in half on two free throws by Cochran early in the fourth quarter before a 10-0 run by Franklin Regional pushed the lead back to 20 points, 60-40, with 4:35 remaining.

Gateway 44, Kiski Area 23 — The Gators' John Paul Kromka scored 15 points to lead Gateway (2-4, 1-0) past Kiski Area (0-6, 0-1) for a Section 3-5A win.

Deer Lakes 64, Mt. Pleasant 26 — Deer Lakes raced out to a 30-8 lead at halftime and cruised to a Section 1-4A win. Jake Kelly had 13 points for the Lancers (4-3, 2-1) and Jared Colton scored 12 on four 3-pointers. Mike Secosky had eight points for Mt. Pleasant (0-7, 0-2).

Valley 65, Yough 27 — The Vikings jumped out to a 36-11 halftime lead and Nyjewel Carter scored a game-high 22 points to lead Valley (3-1, 2-0) past Section 1-4A foe Yough (2-7, 0-3). Gamal Marballie had 11 points for the Cougars.

New Castle 57, Blackhawk 52 — Carrington Smith had 24 points to lead No. 2 New Castle (5-2, 2-1) to a Section 2-4A win. The Red Hurricanes opened the second half with a 21-2 run.

Quaker Valley 61, Central Valley 43 — Coletrane Washington and Ryan Stowers had 21 points to lead No. 1 Quaker Valley (5-0, 3-0) to a Section 2-4A win. Josh Kline had 20 for No. 5 Central Valley (3-3, 1-2).

Belle Vernon 77, Waynesburg 50 — Griffin LaCarte had 15 points to lead Belle Vernon (4-2, 2-1) to a Section 3-4A win. Derek Thomas had 13 points, and Jarod Hartman and Cameron Nusser each scored 12. Darton McIntire scored 19 for Waynesburg (1-5, 0-3).

Keystone Oaks 62, Uniontown 52 — Josh Snell had 22 points as Keystone Oaks (4-2, 2-1) won in Section 3-4A.

Lincoln Park 88, Mohawk 51 — Keeno Holmes had 35 points to lift No. 2 Lincoln Park (2-3, 1-0) to a Section 1-3A win.

South Side Beaver 62, Brownsville 57 — Jake McDougal had a career-high 37 points as South Side Beaver (2-4, 2-1) won a Section 4-3A game.

Washington 62, Southmoreland 44 — No. 4 Washington (4-1, 3-0) led 38-17 at halftime and rolled to a Section 4-3A win. Isaiah Walton had 24 points for the Little Prexies. Dylan Eicher had 13 points for Southmoreland (2-4, 1-2).

Burrell 51, East Allehgeny 50 — Jake Okopal drained a 3-pointer to tie the game with 1 minute, 3 seconds on the clock, and Donovan Russell hit a foul shot with 2 seconds remaining to give Burrell a Section 3-3A win over East Allegheny (1-5, 0-1).

Logan Bitar and Seth Fishbach each scored 10 points to lead the Bucs (3-5, 1-0).

Burrell held a slim 31-29 lead at halftime and had to rally after East Allegheny used a 17-7 third quarter run to take a 46-38 advantage heading to the fourth.

Olajawon Owens scored 20 to lead the Wildcats.

Steel Valley 70, Apollo-Ridge 58 — Steel Valley (4-2, 1-0) put up 22 points in the fourth quarter to pull away from Apollo-Ridge (3-5, 0-1) for a Section 3-3A win.

Serra Catholic 64, Greensburg Central Catholic 40 — Malik Edmundson had 13 points and Jimmy Moon added 12 as No. 5 Serra Catholic (5-1, 2-0) won a Section 1-2A game. Joel LoNigro scored 15 to pace GCC (1-6, 1-2). Serra used a 22-7 third-quarter run to put the game away.

Summit Academy 63, Leechburg 60 — Christian Hack scored his 1,000th career point on his way to game-high 29, but Leechburg (5-2, 2-1) fell short down the stretch as Summit Academy (1-5, 1-2) pulled out the Section 1-2A win. Jake Blumer added 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Blue Devils, and John Miskins scored 11 points.

Jeannette 80, Springdale 40 — In his season debut, Anthony Johnson poured in 20 points as No. 2 Jeannette (3-0, 2-0) earned a Section 1-2A victory. Tre Cunningham added 17 points for the Jayhawks, who opened a 15-4 lead.

Chartiers-Houston 72, California 60 — Cameron Hanley had 30 points to lead No. 4 Chartiers-Houston (5-1, 2-0) to a Section 2-2A victory.

Neshannock 75, Bishop Canevin 65 — Jake McCormick had 23 points and Chris Scott added 22 as Neshannock (3-4, 2-1) won in Section 3-2A. Nevan Crossey and Sean Weldon scored 21 apiece for Bishop Canevin (1-5, 1-2).

Kaukauna, Wisc. 85, Mars 83 — Robby Carmody scored 37 points and had seven reobunds and five steals, but Mars (5-2) fell short at the City of Palms Classic in Fort Meyers, Fla. West Virginia recruit Jordan McCabe scored 42 for Kaukauna.

Girls basketball

Latrobe 60, Norwin 45 — Laura Graytok scored a game-high 23 points to lead unbeaten Latrobe (5-0, 2-0) past the host Knights (1-4, 1-1) in a Section 2-6A game. Latrobe started the game on a 9-0 run before Norwin rallied to take a 28-25 halftime lead on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Olivia Gribble.

But the Wildcats, who won only two section games last season, regained control in the third and held Norwin to eight points in the fourth, to increase the advantage to double figures early in the fourth.

Jayle Wehner scored 12 and Lucy Race added 11 for Norwin.

Penn Hills 42, Fox Chapel 41 — In Section 2-6A, Adia Brisker his a shot as she fell to the floor with a minute left to lift No. 4 Penn Hills (3-3, 1-1) to a victory. Brisker had 18 points for the Indians. Megan Friday scored 13 for Fox Chapel (2-4, 0-2).

Mars 61, Plum 29 — The Planets jumped out to a 33-16 halftime lead then put up 19 points in the third quarter to put the game away as No. 5 Mars won a Section 4-5A matchup. Tai Johnson scored a game-high 17 points and Lauren Wasylson added 16 for Mars (4-3, 2-0). Kennedy Montue scored 15 and Kelsi Zik chipped in 11 for Plum (0-7, 0-3).

Sacramento, Calif. 60, Mt. Lebanon 49 — At the Nike tournament in Phoenix, Alyssa Hyland and Haley Sabol each scored 13 points for Mt. Lebanon (3-5), but the Blue Devils lost to Sacramento.

Wrestling

Hempfield 63, Franklin Regional 3 — Kyle Burkholder (113 pounds), Tyler Williams (120), Ty Linsenbigler (138), Trevor Verkleeren (152), Dallyn Wood (170), Colin Choby (182), Justin Cramer (195) and Isaiah Vance (285) all had pins as Hempfield (12-0, 2-0) rolled to a Class AAA, Section 1B victory.

Carter Dibert (106) had the lone decision for Franklin Regional (1-1, 1-1).

Waynesburg 36, Burrell 31 — Back-to-back pins by Shaun Gates (160 pounds) and Austin Mele (170) gave Burrell a late 31-27 lead, but a pin by Kyle Homet (182) and a 5-3 decision for Luke Robinson (195) in the final two bouts secured a nonsection win for Waynesburg. Corey Christie (152) won a 2-0 decision, Bryan Gaul (126) won by fall, and Trent Vaovchik scored a 12-4 major decision for Burrell.

Canon McMillan 36, Kiski Area 27 — Jimmy Baxter (106), Michael Binni (113), Logan Macri (126) and Zach Rohaley all had pins as No. 2 Canon-McMillan won a nonsection match against No. 1 Kiski Area.

Jack Blumer (152 pounds) and Danny Starr (195) had pins for Kiski Area in a rematch of last season's WPIAL Class AAA title match. Logan Pollick won by a 17-2 tech fall, and Cam Connor (145) scored a major decision win for Kiski Area, which was missing three starters from its lineup.