Several big boys basketball games set for Tuesday in Class 6A

By: Don Rebel
Monday, January 6, 2020 | 10:01 PM

The two rivals met in the very first WPIAL Class 6A boys basketball championship game three years ago in 2017.

Now, Pine-Richland will visit Butler for the first of two Section 1-6A meetings in the regular season coming up on Tuesday.

Back in March of 2017, Phil Jurkovec led Pine-Richland to a second straight district crown with 21 points in a 72-61 victory. Then-freshman Ethan Morton had 17 points to lead Butler.

Since that game, the Rams have beat the Golden Tornado in three of five games. However, their last meeting went to Butler in last year’s WPIAL 6A semifinals, 70-68.

Crowded second place

There are six teams in Section 2-6A boys basketball.

Fox Chapel (2-0) is alone in first place and Norwin (0-2) is alone in the basement. That leaves the other four teams log jammed in second place with 1-1 records. All four of those teams meet on Tuesday.

Hempfield (5-6) visits Penn-Trafford (7-3), while Connellsville (5-5) hosts Latrobe (3-6).

Believe it or not, the only team of the four coming into their game with any momentum is Latrobe. The other three teams are coming off losses while the Wildcats beat Penn-Trafford in their first game in January.

Cougars challenge

A year ago, North Catholic tied Seton LaSalle for the Section 2-3A championship.

The Trojans reached the WPIAL title game, where they lost to Lincoln Park.

Currently, North Catholic is again tied for the top spot in the section with a 3-0 mark. However, they are not tied with Seton LaSalle. The Trojans are deadlocked with Carlynton.

On Tuesday, the battle for first place takes place in Cranberry.

Carlynton finished in last place last year, winning only one section game.

The Trojans swept the two games from the Cougars by a combined score of 153-82.

Tags: Butler, Carlynton, Connellsville, Hempfield, Latrobe, North Catholic, Penn-Trafford, Pine-Richland