Belle Vernon sees magical season, coach’s career come to an end with loss to Sharon

By: Liam Belan
Tuesday, March 11, 2025 | 10:26 PM

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With all the circumstances surrounding his team’s PIAA second-round matchup against District 10 runners-up Sharon, Belle Vernon coach Joe Salvino felt that his squad was putting plenty of pressure on itself.

After the emotions of winning the second WPIAL championship in school history and knowing that they’re one loss away from the end of their season, along with a few players not being 100 percent, Salvino thought the Leopards didn’t exactly look themselves in their first-round win against Farrell.

On Tuesday night at North Allegheny, that came to a head as the Tigers bested the Leopards, 69-64, to end Belle Vernon’s historic year.

“They never got into a rhythm,” Salvino said. “The pressure that they put on themselves (was hard to overcome) because they knew that if they lost, they’re done. I think that that got to them to a point, and I think it also showed against Farrell. They didn’t want to lose, but if you go out and play not to lose instead of playing to win, that’s what happens.”

Not only did the loss bring an end to the career of several players including Zion Moore, Alonzo Wade, Dom Ghilani, Trevor Kovatch, Tommy Davis, Tanner Hepple and Dadon Graves, but it also marked the end of a legendary career for Salvino.

After 41 seasons of coaching, finishing with the second-most wins in WPIAL history with a 745-313 record, capturing seven WPIAL titles and two more PIAA gold medals, Salvino’s time on the sidelines is up.

“All good things must come to an end,” he said. “I’m proud of my players. They came a long way. They won a WPIAL championship, and they played their hearts out today. We just came up short. It happens sometimes. Again, I can’t ask anything more than my players going out and giving 110 percent.

“I told them to keep their heads up because they accomplished a lot this year. They won a WPIAL championship and brought a community together. We had a great season, and I’m proud of them.”

The trio of Derek Douglas, Levi Hailstock and Owen Schenker helped to spoil Belle Vernon’s parade. Douglas in particular was clutch with 24 points, 17 of which came in the second half. He made seven free throws down the stretch to ice the game.

Hailstock posted 16 points, half of which came from the charity stripe, and Schenker added 11.

For the Leopards (22-5), Moore scored 18 of his 24 points in the final two quarters. Playing with a tweaked ankle for the past few weeks, Salvino was proud of Moore’s grit as he continued to perform in the postseason.

Davis scored 16 points and neared a double-double as he and Ghilani, who scored nine more, owned the paint early on. But they also found themselves in foul trouble as Ghilani and Wade fouled out and Moore ended the game with four, giving them some trouble defensively.

Hailstock and Cedrick Boyd opened the scoring for the Tigers (20-8) while Davis had the first four points for the Leopards. Schenker hit a 3 and Douglas made a layup to open up a 10-4 lead for Sharon.

Ghilani stopped that spurt with a putback before four more points from Sharon. Leading 14-6, Belle Vernon scored six straight before a layup from Douglas made it 16-12 after the first quarter.

Sharon scored the first four points of the second but the Leopards stormed back with 10 unanswered points that gave them their first lead of the contest at 22-20. They worked that advantage up to 26-21 before the Tigers scored five of the last seven points of the half, leaving them with a 28-26 deficit after two.

Sharon regained control of the game in the third quarter with a 7-1 spurt to open the second half. After Ghilani converted an and-one to fire up the loud Belle Vernon contingent, Douglas responded with a triple to bring it to 36-32. The Tigers worked out to a 44-38 advantage over the Leopards by the end of the third.

In the fourth, Moore came alive, but it wasn’t enough as Douglas also erupted. Moore had 18 of his points in the last eight minutes while Douglas poured in 14 of his, matching shots in the clutch until Belle Vernon cut it down to a one-possession game at 67-64 with under 20 seconds left.

From there, Hailstock knocked down two free throws to cap off the scoring at 69-64.

“There were some times that we didn’t run any type of offense,” Salvino said. “We just got out of sync again and again. I seriously believe that we put so much pressure on ourselves that we played not to lose instead of to win.”

Tags: Belle Vernon