Aliquippa races past South Park, reaches Class 2A finals with revenge in mind

By: Dave Mackall
Tuesday, February 24, 2026 | 11:49 PM

Aliquippa is headed to a WPIAL championship game in boys basketball.

Again.

For a fourth consecutive time.

Qa’lil Goode scored 21 points, and the second-seeded Quips, minus three regular starters, put up 13 unanswered points in the third quarter Tuesday night to break open a close game and roll to a 60-38 rout of No. 3 South Park in a WPIAL Class 3A semifinal at Fox Chapel.

Aliquippa (17-6) will play No. 8 South Allegheny (16-8) for the championship at 1 p.m. Saturday at Petersen Events Center in a rematch of the Gladiators’ last-second, 37-35 victory over the Quips in last season’s title game.

“It’s not just another game,” Goode said. “It’s personal. We’re going to try to return the favor this time.”

The teams also met again in the PIAA semifinals, a 36-31 South Allegheny victory leading to the Gladiators’ 60-51 loss in the state final to District 1’s Philadelphia West Catholic.

“We know they’re going to be tough. We know they’re hungry,” Aliquippa coach Mrryce Smith said of South Allegheny.

Someone suggested to Smith that his team appeared starved for success itself after its latest performance.

“Yeah,” he said with a nod. After a moment to ponder, he grinned.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Smith emphatically agreed.

DeJuan Hill Jr. added 13 points and Antonio Reddic contributed 11 for Aliquippa.

Cooper Hochendoner led South Park (20-4) with 18 points. Luke Scarff, the Eagles’ all-time leading scorer, added 13, but the 6-foot-8 senior struggled to establish a presence inside against the quicker Quips.

“We knew he was strong on the boards,” Smith said. “We knew if he posted up, we had to get backside help fronting him. We just executed the plan perfectly. Our plan was to put pressure on them, because scouting them, we didn’t feel their guards handled the ball very well.”

The teams played back-and-forth through the first half, when there were four lead changes and three ties. Aliquippa managed a 22-18 lead at the break.

South Park took its last lead in the first minute of the third quarter but steadily fell behind, wilting under Aliquippa’s stepped-up pressure.

The Quips, who won back-to-back WPIAL championships in 2023 and ‘24, led 29-26 before using a 13-0 run to take charge. Hill scored seven points during the spree.

They carried a 45-29 edge into the fourth quarter following Antonio Reddic’s buzzer-beating 3-point shot to end the third.

“We matched them early, physicality-wise, and then they really hit the boards hard,” South Park coach Chad Pappasergi said. “It kind of forced us off our spots a lot. That’s what they do. It seems like there’s 10 of them out there sometimes. It’s really hard to simulate what they do. But hats off to them. I have a lot of respect for what they do.”

The loss ended South Park’s six-game winning streak. The Eagles were playing in the semifinals for the first time in 27 years.

“I’m really, really proud of our effort to make it this far,” Pappasergi said. “They made shots in critical moments; we turned the ball over in critical moments. When they needed to make a shot, they kept pushing the lead. We’d push back, and it kind of deflated us a little bit.”

Aliquippa was without injured starters T’Vonn Parchman Jr. and Camden Evanochko and also was minus 6-4 sophomore Anthony Ingram, who was serving the first of a two-game suspension after being whistled for two technical fouls in a 50-33 victory over No. 7 Seton La Salle in the quarterfinals.

“It really isn’t anything new for us,” Smith said. “They just work extremely hard and play hard. We had a lot of adversity with three starters out tonight. But the way we teach our kids is the next man up, and everybody that stepped on that floor tonight did a great job.”

At the head of it all was Goode, a four-year starter at Aliquippa.

“He’s fantastic,” Pappasergi said. “He’s fun to watch. He controls the pace of the game. He’s a really good leader. He’s a leaper. He does everything for them. In baseball terms, he’s a five-tool player.”

Said Smith of his star of stars, Goode: “That’s what you’ve come to expect from Qa’lil. He’s been playing for four years, since he was a freshman. Now he’s the leader, he’s the team captain. So the others feed off of his energy, and he always has energy. As long as he’s going, I think we’re pretty good.”

Tags: Aliquippa, South Park