Belle Vernon hits glass to beat Knoch in matchup of Class 4A contenders

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Saturday, January 25, 2025 | 10:01 PM


Belle Vernon missed its share of shots after halftime Saturday, but somehow those misses kept finding their way into the basket.

The Leopards were focused on the offensive glass and sparked a fourth-quarter run with a string of putback baskets to defeat Knoch, 54-50, in the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Hall of Fame Classic at North Hills. The nonsection matchup of ranked teams in WPIAL Class 4A produced a playoff feel with amped-up physicality.

Belle Vernon (14-4) took the lead early in the fourth with a 12-0 run that started with three offensive rebounds in a four-possession span.

“At halftime, our coach was yelling at us about getting rebounds,” said Belle Vernon senior Zion Moore, who scored a game-high 20 points. “I guess we all just crashed hard. It made a big difference.

“We went on a run off straight putbacks.”

Belle Vernon’s Tommy Davis, a 6-foot-6 senior forward, added 13 points while bolstering the Leopards’ offensive rebounding efforts.

Knoch led 40-35 in the fourth quarter until Davis grabbed a couple of offensive rebounds, scored six consecutive points and gave Belle Vernon a 41-40 lead it never lost. Teammate Dom Ghilani scored on another offensive putback seconds later before Moore and Deaubre Lightfoot followed with driving layups.

Knoch went scoreless for almost 5 minutes. The 12 consecutive points gave Belle Vernon a 47-40 lead with 3 minutes left.

“I thought the physicality really bothered us,” Knoch coach Alan Bauman said. “We play hard. They play hard. It was two really good basketball teams in a heavyweight fight. They just made a couple of more plays than we did down the stretch.”

Teegan Finucan led Knoch (13-5) with 17 points, and Jackson Bauman had 13. Both are juniors.

In a tight game with a taste of playoff-like pressure, Knoch’s coach said Belle Vernon’s experience maybe gave the Leopards an edge down the stretch this time.

Knoch starts four juniors and a sophomore.

“They’ve got a great senior in Zion,” Alan Bauman said. “We’ve got juniors out there still learning to maneuver.”

The game included seven ties and eight lead changes before Belle Vernon’s decisive run. Before Belle Vernon pulled ahead in the fourth quarter, neither team held a lead larger than six points.

The teams were tied 14-14 after one quarter. Belle Vernon led 29-23 at half, and Knoch was ahead 38-35 after three.

“We rebounded a lot better in the fourth quarter, and we weren’t doing that well up until that point,” Belle Vernon coach Joe Salvino said. “We didn’t do anything different. It was just the effort.”

Belle Vernon’s rebounding edge showed up late in the third quarter when Davis and Curty Wade grabbed consecutive rebounds and scored to force a 35-35 tie.

“In the third quarter, they didn’t have a field goal unless it was on an offensive rebound,” Alan Bauman said. “And then we let up seven offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter. Again, I go back to that ‘toughness’ part. We had a couple times where the ball was right there. They went and got it. We didn’t.”

Knoch had a size advantage with 7-footer Zane Pacek in the middle, but the towering junior dealt with early foul trouble.

A 3-pointer by Knoch’s Jackson Bauman narrowed Belle Vernon’s lead to three points with 15 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The Knights desperately fouled Moore, who made two free throws with 8.5 seconds left to push the Leopards’ lead to 53-48.

An ill-advised foul by Belle Vernon with 7.8 seconds left kept Knoch’s hopes barely afloat. The margin shrunk to three points after Knoch’s Derek Lang made two free throws, but Belle Vernon’s Trevor Kovatch made one of his two foul shots with 6.5 seconds left to seal the win.

Still, it was tense to the finish.

“It was a playoff atmosphere,” Salvino said, “and you just hope these help you down the line.”

Both teams aspire to make postseason runs this winter, which motivated each to take part in Saturday’s multi-game showcase.

“Knoch is a good 4A team that we may see in the playoffs,” Moore said. “I feel like it builds our confidence up a lot.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

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