2024 WPIAL Class 5A boys basketball championship breakdown: Moon vs. Franklin Regional

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Thursday, February 29, 2024 | 1:01 PM

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WPIAL Class 5A boys basketball championship

No. 1 Moon vs. No. 2 Franklin Regional

9 p.m. Friday, Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh

On the air: Audio broadcast: Trib HSSN; Video livestream: NFHS

WPIAL titles: Franklin Regional 0; Moon 4 (2017, ’06, ’05, ’04)

Moon (22-3)

Coach: Gino Palmosina

Projected starting lineup

No., Name, Ht., Cl., Pos.

1, Michael Santicola, 6-5, jr., G/F

2, Caden Schmidt, 5-10, sr., G

5, Elijah Guillory, 6-5, sr., G

23, Charles Depner, 6-1, sr., F

24, Aiden Reesman, 6-4, sr., G/F

How they got here: Defeated Woodland Hills (73-39), Fox Chapel (63-50) and Thomas Jefferson (67-65)

Notable: Moon takes a hot streak into the Pete, having won 10 in a row. The Tigers also are 15-1 since the calendar turned to a new year. They will be chasing their first title since 2017, the first year the WPIAL went to six classifications. Senior 6-foot-5 guard Elijah Guillory, who committed to Youngstown State this week, scored 39 points in a 67-65 thriller against Thomas Jefferson in the semifinals. Caden Schmidt added 10 for the Tigers, who average 63.2 points. Moon’s losses are to Lincoln Park, Penn Hills and Hampton. Gino Palmosina is in his second year as coach. He won two WPIAL titles (2021, ’22) and a PIAA title (’22) as coach at Bishop Canevin.

Franklin Regional (23-2)

Coach: Jesse Reed

Projected starting lineup

No., Name, Ht., Cl., Pos.

1, Colin Masten, 6-1, sr., G/F

2, Cam Rowell, 6-5, sr., G/F

3, Cooper Rankin, 6-0, sr., G

10, Connor Crossey, 6-1, jr., G

11, Fin Hutchison, 6-0, sr., G

How they got here: Defeated Mars (67-50), Gateway (53-35) and Shaler (68-40)

Notable: Franklin Regional, one of the top up-tempo teams in the WPIAL, ran past Shaler for an 28-point win in the semifinals to return to the WPIAL final for the first time since 2018. The Panthers lost to Mars that year, 55-44, at Petersen Events Center. A senior-led group saw Fin Hutchison score 16 points, including four 3-pointers. Connor Crossey hit a playoff career high with 14, and Cooper Rankin scored 11 in the semifinal win. Senior Cam Rowell, the team’s leading scorer (19 ppg), needs 14 to reach 1,000 for his career. The Panthers are 15-1 in 2024 and take a 12-game winning streak into the finals. Coach Jesse Reed, a former standout at Greensburg Central Catholic, Saltsburg and American University — he played professionally overseas — is 39-29 in three seasons as coach and is 3-0 in the playoffs. Franklin Regional has not won this many games in a season since 1997.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Bishop Canevin, Franklin Regional, Jeannette, Moon, North Allegheny, Norwin