WPIAL Basketball Playoff Recaps for Friday, February 24th

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, February 24, 2012 | 11:39 PM

While there were surprises left in right in round one, the eye-brow raising was kept to a minimum on the first night of Round Two. The USC girls upset machine continues on to the Semifinals and double-digit seeds Keystone Oaks and Steel Valley in girls AA are also Final Four bound, but most of the other top seeds moved on to Round Three in the 2012 WPIAL Basketball Postseason. Here are the recaps from Quarterfinals Friday on Boys AAA, Boys A, Girls AAAA and Girls AA.

A special THANKS go out to Mark Schaas, Bob Gregg, Don Rebel, Dennis Fischer, Bob Barrickman, Matt Vandriak, Paul Paterra, Rick Smith, Bob Orkwis, Melissa Carle, Josh Rowntree, Johnny Lee, Sam Hall and Lee Mohn for their help on these recaps.

WPIAL BOYS CLASS AAA Quarterfinals:

New Castle Red Hurricanes 96 – Mars Fighting Planets 52  
The Red Hurricane continued their perfect ways with a mercy rule win at North Allegheny. New Castle is now 24-0 and will meet Section 2 rival Beaver for a third time on Tuesday for the right to play for a WPIAL title. The Canes led 19-16 early in the second quarter, but much like the other 23 wins, New Castle went on a run, this time 10 straight to lead 29-16, the Canes also scored 7 straight near the half to lead 45-26 at the break. New Castle ended any hope of a Mars comeback, scoring the first nine points in the second half. The mercy rule kicked in early in the fourth quarter. Five players ended in double figures for New Castle, Antonio Rudolph led the way off the bench with 21 points, a season high. Shawn Anderson scored 16, Anthony Richards nailed four more three’s for 12 points, the sophomore has nine treys in two playoff games, Malik Hooker added 11 and Jermaine Cuffie scored 10 off the bench. New Castle made 42 field goals, including 9 three pointers, coach Ralph Blundo was most happy about the 28 assists the Canes dished out. Corey Eggleston had only 8 points, but handed out 11 assists for game high honors. The Red Hurricane committed 12 turnovers. With the win, New Castle also assured itself of a PIAA tournament spot. Mars was led by Mitchell Buzzard with 11, Zach May added 10, the Planets are now 17-7, they will also advance to the PIAA tournament if New Castle wins on Tuesday. New Castle defeated Beaver 81-48 at home and trailed 59-55 at Beaver at the end of the third quarter, the Canes outscored the Bobcats 29-9 in the final frame to win 84-68.

Beaver Bobcats 53 – Trinity Hillers 47  
Nick Conjeski hit two three-pointers in the middle of the fourth quarter, propelling Beaver Area to a 53-47 win over Trinity. The Bobcats move to the WPIAL semifinals Tuesday night against #1 New Castle. Christian Herstine's 10 points in the opening quarter were one better than the Hillers, who had 7 turnovers in the period.  Trinity scored the first four points of the second to take the lead, 13-10.  Two minutes later, Curt Lanctot drove the lane for a bucket, restoring Beaver's lead and the Bobcats never trailed again.  Jared Deep and Corey Hunsberger combined for 14 points in the third as Trinity twice pulled even.  Lanctot's three-pointer with one second to play in the quarter made it 37-34 Beaver after three.  With the Bobcats leading 44-42, Trinity turned the ball over twice before Conjeski's first three-pointer cut like a knife into the Hillers' hopes. After Trinity got to within 47-44, neither team score for more than two minutes before Conjeski's silky-smooth trey all but iced the win for Beaver.  Herstine finished with 14 points for Beaver (18-6).  Lanctot had 13, Corey Nesmith added 11, including five early in the fourth to maintain a 4-point lead.  Jared Deep's 18 points paced Trinity (14-11).  Hunsberger finished with 14, ten after intermission.

Montour Spartans 50 – Blackhawk Cougars 38
The defending AAA champs pitched a rare postseason shutout in the second quarter to turn the game their way in a 12 point victory Friday night at West Allegheny High School. Trailing 11-8, Montour outscored Blackhawk 13-0 in the second quarter to take the halftime lead 21-11. What's even more impressive was the Spartans did their damage with two starters on the bench in early foul trouble in the second quarter, Dillon Buechel and Aaron Reed. The Cougars started well, scoring seven of the game's first eight points, but they lost senior Cory Ostach late in the first quarter after he collided wiith Ryan Lewis for a loose ball near midcourt. Blackhawk was never the same. Montour came out in the third quarter and put the game away by outscoring Blackhawk 20-10. Devin Wilson led the Spartans with 14 points while Lewis added 11 points. Nick Martin, who injured his elbow and came out of the game for several minutes in the second quarter, led the Cougars with a strong second half with 14 points. Blackhawk drops to 14-10 and needs Montour to make the AAA finals to qualify of the PIAA state playoffs. The Spartans improve to 19-3 and will face 3rd-seed Hampton in the WPIAL AAA Semifinals.   

Hampton Talbots 47 – Central Valley Warriors 39  
In a game featuring great defensive play by both teams, the #3 seeded Hampton Talbots advanced to the Semifinal Round of the WPIAL Triple A boys basketball playoffs with a 47-39 win over the #11 seeded Central Valley Warriors at Fox Chapel High School on Friday night. Hampton led just 11-9 at the end of the first quarter, extending its lead to 22-15 at the half.  The Talbots built a 10 point lead by the end of the third quarter, 32-22, only to see the Warriors close the gap to within two early in the fourth period.  Hampton then took control of the game, scoring several uncontested baskets to regain as much as a 12 point advantage before settling for the eight point win. Hampton (21-3) was led by sophomore forward Ryan Luther with 15 points, and sophomore guard Collin Luther and senior forward Mark Pilarski with 12 points each.  Junior guard Brian Kolich of Central Valley led all scorers with 21 points, all coming by way of three point baskets.  Senior guard Curtis Lewis chipped in 11. Hampton, now guaranteed a spot in the state playoffs, will meet #2 seeded Montour next Tuesday night in the Semifinals at a site and time to be determined.  This will mark the Talbots third trip in four years to the Final Four.  Central Valley (15-10) can reach the PIAA tournament if Hampton advances to the WPIAL title game next Friday night.
 

WPIAL BOYS CLASS A Quarterfinals:

Lincoln Park Leopards 52 – Sewickley Academy Panthers 25  
Lincoln Park and Sewickley Academy got off to a sluggish start with the Leopards leading after the first quarter, 7-2, but the charter school from Midland poured it on thereafter and crushed the Panthers in a boys A contest on Friday night at the Ambridge Fieldhouse, 51-25.  Lincoln Park’s swarming defense held Sewickley Academy to merely seven points in the first half as the number one seeded Leopards led by 15 at the half and 35-17 after three quarters.  Lincoln Park’s Devontae Watson, a 6’10 Temple recruit had a double double in points and blocked shots.  Watson led the attack with 24 tallies while sophomore Ryan Skovranko added 10.  Carrington Motley had 10 points as well to lead Sewickley Academy.  With the win, Lincoln Park got some measure of redemption after losing to the Panthers in the WPIAL final and PIAA west final two years ago.  The Leopards are now 20-4 and will face Vincentian in the semifinals on Tuesday.  Lincoln Park, the defending state runner up, has qualified for the state playoffs.  The 11-12 Panthers must have Lincoln Park win the WPIAL championship to enter the PIAA tournament.

Vincentian Academy Royals 86 – Serra Catholic Eagles 73
For the 3rd year in a row, Vincentian and Serra Catholic met in the Class-A Quarterfinals.  And for the 2nd year in a row, it's the Royals who are moving on to the WPIAL Semi-Finals.  Led by an explosive 2nd quarter, nine first half three-pointers, and 28 points from Chris Kroyak, the defending WPIAL champs will continue their title defense. Serra led after the 1st quarter 22-18 behind 10 points from Craig Bittner.  But the 2nd quarter was the turning point.  Vincentian hit six 3-pointers and outscored Serra 30-9 to take a 48-31 lead at the half.  The Royals fast-paced offense, which averaged a Class-A leading 75.8 points per game, was too much for Serra to keep up with.  Add into the equation the lights out shooting of the Royals in the first half, which included Kroyak nailing five 3-pointers, and it was a recipe for a long night for the Eagles. Five Royals reached double-figures in the game.  Besides Kroyak, who led all scorers with 28, Ryan Wolf (16), Ryan Wise (13), Tony DiNardo (12) and Jim Kenna (10) all hit double digits in scoring.  Serra was led by Brandon Camic's 18 points.  Tyler Greber added 14 for the Eagles, while Bittner and Shawn Menzies each scored 12. The next step for the Royals  (21-3) is a re-match of last years WPIAL Championship and PIAA Semi-Final against Lincoln Park.  Serra (16-8) will go from foe to friend of the Royals, as the Eagles have to hope Vincentian repeats as champs to get into the PIAA tournament. 

North Catholic Trojans 49 – Union Scotties 33  
After a slow start, 2nd-seed North Catholic moves on thanks to a strong second quarter in which they outscored 10th-seed Union 20-3 en route to a 16-point victory Friday night at North Hills High School. The game was tied 7-7 after the first quarter, but the explosive second quarter lifted the Trojans to a 27-10 lead at the half and they never looked back. Dan Savulchak scored a game high 22 points to lead North Catholic, while teammate Jon LeGrande chipped in 16 as the Trojans improve to 18-5 and advance to the Class A Semifinals for the fifth straight year where they will battle 6th-seed Cornell on Tuesday night. Union falls to 12-10 with the loss. The Scotties has no players in double-figure scoring and were paced by Markel Peace's 9 points.

Cornell Raiders 54 – Clairton Bears 48 
Despite losing two starters to fouls in the fourth quarter, Cornell held on to upend Clairton. Cornell played a stifling zone defense that kept the Clairton potent offense for much of the evening. The Bears scored only 5 points in the second quarter. Cornell assumed command in the third quarter as Rodney Payne scored 10 of his 12 points. Dorian Maynard paced Cornell with 13 points. Corey Mackey added 10 before fouling out with 7:05 to play in the fourth quarter. Payne led Cornell on the boards with 9 rebounds. The Raiders were able to hold off a furious Clairton rally in the fourth quarter even though Mackey and Dustin Goins fouled out. Tyler Boyd led Clairton with 15 points, 13 in the second half. Terrish Webb added 10 points and 7 rebounds.

WPIAL GIRLS CLASS AAAA Quarterfinals:

Oakland Catholic Eagles 40 – Bethel Park Black Hawks 35  
Top seeded Oakland Catholic (23-1) used relentless full court pressure defense to wear down a scrappy Bethel Park squad on its way to a 40-35 WPIAL Class AAAA girls quarterfinal victory tonight at North Hills Junior High School. The Black Hawks, however, kept the game close early by deploying a tenacious defense of their own, causing 14 first half turnovers by Oakland Catholic. In addition, senior guard Justine Carroll scored 14 of her game-high 19 points in the first half, helping #9-seeded Bethel Park (15-9) to trail the favored Eagles by a slim two points at the intermission, 20-18. Holding the Black Hawks to only six third quarter points and tightening up its deliberate offense, Oakland Catholic opened up its biggest lead of the contest, 34-24. Bethel Park, however, refused to go away quietly as the Black Hawks outscored the Eagles by five points in the final eight minutes. Bethel Park cut the deficit to 37-35 late in the game, but three clutch free throws in the final minute of the game sealed the victory for Oakland Catholic. Senior guard Bobbi Baker led the Eagles in scoring with 18 points. Jess Mrdjenovich, also a senior guard, also chipped in eight points for the victors. With the win, the Eagles advance to the semifinals where they will face #5 Baldwin, a 39-28 winner over #13 Shaler tonight.

Baldwin Highlanders 39 – Shaler Titans 28 
This contest was back and forth in the first two quarters, with Shaler leading 22-21 at halftime. Then, 2:25 into the 3rd quarter, the lights went out at Fox Chapel High school with Baldwin leading by 1. When the power came back on 45 minutes later, the power stayed out for the Titans, as the defending WPIAL Quad-A Girls Champions saw their playoff run end in the quarterfinals. Baldwin’s zone defense gave the Titans problems all game, especially in the 3rd quarter, in which Shaler went scoreless. In fact, the Titans didn’t get their first field goal of the second half until 4:38 remained in the contest.  For the second consecutive game, senior Taylor Wentzel paced Baldwin’s scoring with a game high 12 points. She was the only player in double figures in the game. Carly Corcoran added 9 points and 5 rebounds for the Fighting Highlanders. Forward Taylor Letender was a demon on the glass for Baldwin for the second straight playoff game, pulling down a game high 17 rebounds. The 5-10 sophomore now has 32 rebounds in Baldwin’s 2 playoff wins. Ashley Domochowski led the Titans with 7 points, but left the game late in the 4th quarter with a left leg injury. Even though the 13th seeded Titans playoff run is over, their season is on hold at (14-10). If Baldwin wins the WPIAL Girls AAAA Championship, then Shaler would qualify for the PIAA playoffs as the 5th place team from the WPIAL.  Fifth seeded Baldwin is now (17-6) for first year Head Coach Gavin Prosser and the Fighting Highlanders advance to the semi-finals, where they will face #1 Oakland Catholic on Tuesday night at a site and time to be determined. With the victory, Baldwin has also clinched a spot in the state playoffs, representing District 7 (WPIAL) as one of the top four seeds.

Mount Lebanon Blue Devils 61 – Pine-Richland Rams 45  
The Blue Devils continued to roll, as they stopped Pine-Richland, 61-45 at North Allegheny Friday night.  Mount Lebanon jumped out to a 16-7 advantage after one, thanks to a great job on the boards by junior forward Jordan Holmes.  The woes of the Rams continued into the second quarter, as they struggled defensively to slow down the Blue Devil attack.  Mount Lebanon led 35-19 at the half.  Pine-Richland made adjustments defensively to start the third quarter, shifting into a 2-3 zone that put pressure on Mount Lebanon's high post-centered offense.  The Rams forced six Blue Devil turnovers in the second half, while committing only three.  Mount Lebanon held a 49-32 lead heading into the fourth quarter.  Pine-Richland made a few runs, but each time it got close to cutting the deficit to single digits, Mount Lebanon would step up and stop the Rams momentum.  The Blue Devils ran the final two minutes off the clock, as the game ended in favor of Mount Lebanon, 61-45.  Pine-Richland’s season comes to an end at (15-9).  Brittany Byerly led the Rams with 18 points.  Hannah Todorowski chipped in 11 points.  Mount Lebanon improves to (21-3).  The Blue Devils will face Upper St. Clair in the semifinals on Tuesday.  A very impressive Jordan Holmes led Mount Lebanon with 18 points and five blocked shots.  Christine Ehland posted 11 points for the Blue Devils, who had eight different players on the scoreboard.

Upper St. Clair Panthers 44 – Hempfield Spartans 42  
Mom would have been proud. Jordan Serio would take the ball coast to coast and hit the game winning layup as time expired, propelling #14 Upper St. Clair to their second upset of the 2012 postseason, knocking off #6 Hempfield 44-42 at McKeesport High School Friday night. Serio, the daughter of Duquesne Women's basketball coach Suzie McConnell-Serio, would net a team-high 9 points for the Panthers, who upset #3 Gateway and Baylor recruit Destiny Brown in the first round. It was a tight game throughout, with Hempfield taking a 31-25 lead into the break. However, USC would chip away at the lead and tie things up late, despite only converting three field goals in the 4th Quarter. The Panthers defense was incredible in the final frame though, holding Hempfield to only one field goal and six points. Hempfield's Taylor Lubinsky, a Wheeling Jesuit recruit and the teams leading scorer at nearly 14 points per game was held to only 2 points and no converted field goals. In addition to Serio's 9 points, USC also got 9 points from Elayna Kaylor (as well as 7 rebounds) and Rachel Mazzie (off the bench). The Spartans, who only scored 11 points as a team in the 2nd Half, received 13 points from Emily Nelson and Monica Burns, as well as 7 rebounds and 8 blocks from Christina Santone. The scary thing about this USC team is that they have no seniors in their starting lineup and only one who plays any significant minutes. Hempfield's season ends at 20-4 and will become USC fans now, as they need the Panthers to win the WPIAL AAAA Championship to reach the PIAA playoffs. USC moves to 13-11 on the season and will face their rivals, #2 Mt. Lebanon in the Semifinals  on Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.

WPIAL GIRLS CLASS AA Quarterfinals:

Seton-LaSalle Rebels 76 – Beaver Falls Tigers 36 
In 1973 the English Rock Band Led Zeppelin made famous the saying "The Song Remains the Same" with their blockbuster movie and soundtrack.  So far this year, in Girls AA Basketball, the song has definitely remained the same for the Seton LaSalle Rebel Girls Basketball Team.  On Friday night, at West Allegheny High School, the Rebels remained undefeated and on pace to defend their WPIAL title with a 76-36 mercy rule victory over the Beaver Falls Tigers.  The ingredients in the victory always seem to remain the same for Seton LaSalle.  Their pressure defense was too much for the Tigers to handle.  Their balanced scoring was too much for the Tigers to deal with. And their unselfish play and overall depth just wore Beaver Falls down.  SLS led 44-16 at halftime, and 62-29 after 3 quarters enroute to the win.  The Rebels were led by Angela Heintz's 16 points, Naje Gibson with 15, and Fantastic Freshman Point Guard Cassidy Walsh with 14 points and a bevy of assists.  The Tigers had a Fantastic Frosh of their own, Kaitlyn Smith, who came off the bench early and led Beaver Falls with 13 points. Ayana Vaughn also had 13 for the Tigers.  Next up for Seton LaSalle, a familiar foe, the Keystone Oaks Golden Eagles, on Tuesday night at a site and time to be determined.

Keystone Oaks Golden Eagles 55 – Greensburg Central Catholic Centurions 41 
 Cinderella dances on in the WPIAL girls AA bracket, the 13 seed throttles the 5 seed in quarter final action at Gateway High School Friday night as Keystone Oaks eliminates Greensburg Central Catholic 55-41. The Golden Eagles had a coming out party of sorts for sensational sophomore Maryssa Agurs who dominated the glass against the much bigger Centurions and poured in a dozen points in the win. The Golden eagles were led by senior Taylor Brownlee who came off the bench to score 15 on the night. GCC Started out cold form the floor managing just five first quarter points and falling behind 14-5 at the end of one, and they were just never able to recover. Brownlee scored 12 of her 15 inthe second half as KO was able to run away from GCC in that second half for the comfortable win. Alexa Xenakis the leading scorer through the regular season also got into double digits with 10 on the night. Keystone Oaks joins three section mates in the semi finals as section 5 girls AA improves to an incredible 10-0 in the playoffs this year. GCC was led by their own sophomore sensation in Carly Mellinger with 11 points but she was the only Centurion to reach double figures on the night. Keystone Oaks gets their third crack of the season at the unbeaten number one seed Seton LaSalle Tuesday night on the MSA Sports Network.

Bishop Canevin Crusaders 58 – Avonworth Antelopes 25  
Bishop Canevin forced 7 Avonwoth turnovers in the first 1:07 to set the tone and cruised to a 58 -25 victory.  Bishop Canevin had no problems with the zone Avonworth played getting numerous lay up opportunities.  Bishop Canevin was led by Carly Force with 19 points and Erin Waskowiak with 18.  For Avonworth Lauren Mayernik had 17 points.  Bishop Canevin will now face Steel Valley Tuesday night.  Avonworth will wait and see if they will be one of the 7 teams from the WPIAL to qualify for the PIAA tournament which starts March 9th.

Steel Valley Ironmen 79 – New Brighton Lions 52  
New Brighton stayed with Steel Valley for a quarter but the Lady Ironmen dominated the rest of the way and beat the Lady Lions Friday night in a girls AA quarterfinal match up, 79-52.  New Brighton trailed by only 15-13 after the first quarter at Canon-McMillan High School but Steel Valley outscored the Lady Lions 27-7 in the second period and cruised the rest of the way.  Emily Olson led the Lady Ironmen with 18 points with Ashley McAllister netting 16 and C.C. Dixon, the team’s leading scorer on the season adding 14 tallies before fouling out in the fourth quarter.  Steel Valley canned 22 of 31 foul shots while New Brighton was only eight of 16 from the charity stripe.  Kaitlyn Hopkins paced the Lady Lions with 10 points but fouled out near the mid way point of the third period.  The Lady Ironmen are now 19-5 and has qualified for the PIAA playoffs.  Steel Valley will now meet Section 5 rival Bishop Canevin in the WPIAL semifinals on Tuesday.  New Brighton dropped to 13-9 after upsetting 2011 finalist Jeannette on Tuesday.  The Lady Lions will qualify for the state playoffs if Steel Valley defeats Bishop Canevin or if Bishop Canevin wins the WPIAL crown.