Bethel Park boys basketball season marked by close losses, development

By: Ray Fisher
Saturday, February 22, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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One of the highlights of the 2024-25 season for the Bethel Park boys basketball team was a two-game sweep of Thomas Jefferson in section play.

The Black Hawks defeated TJ by scores of 52-48 and 65-63 but missed out on a WPIAL playoff berth while the Jaguars advanced as the fourth-place team in Section 3-5A.

Bethel Park finished 4-8 in the section and 7-14 overall, losing twice in overtime and once to South Fayette by a 49-47 score in section play.

The Black Hawks were involved in two games decided by one point and two others decided by two points. They won twice against Ringgold.

“All records aside, upon losing several games by only a bucket, some in overtime, to the top teams in our section, you can’t help but to think we were close on many occasions,” Bethel Park coach Rico Abbondanza said. “I am confident that our opponents didn’t doubt our potential.

“We lost our 6-foot-6 captain, Tanner Pfeuffer, for eight games due to football-related injury. He proved to be an important factor in our previous season’s success but certainly this season as well with him as our top scorer.”

The Black Hawks last season advanced to the WPIAL and PIAA quarterfinals before ending up 15-14. After finishing third in Section 1-5A, Bethel Park made some blaring noise in the postseason by winning three times in the WPIAL tournament and twice in the state playoffs.

Seven seniors graduated off last year’s squad. Two seniors — Pfeuffer and 6-foot guard Jack Bruckner — were the only returning starters.

“It is hard to assess how you measure up against other teams in the preseason not seeing them for an entire year and with the growth and development of their players,” Abbondanza said. “But with a short preseason and the late inclusion of our shared football athletes, there was a lot of excitement to see how things would play out.

“I was certainly not disappointed. Sure, you want to win games, but we had so many individual breakthroughs and victories internally that you can only feel a sense of joy and reward when you witness these things across 10 or 11 active players on your roster.”

At the end of the season, the team’s starting five consisted of Pfeuffer, Bruckner, 6-4 junior forward Mike Bruckner, 5-10 senior guard Alex Dziezgowski and 5-8 junior point guard Will Thomas. Pfeuffer led the Black Hawks offensively by averaging 13 points per game.

Will Sabatos, a 6-1 sophomore guard, also started several games and shared his starting spot on and off with a few different teammates.

Sabatos tipped in a missed shot to break a tie in the final minute in his team’s two-point win against TJ late in the season.

“Will Sabatos is just a high-level athlete who is a focused defender and a timing expert,” Abbondanza said. “He creates so many unpraised plays down in the trenches doing a lot of the high-level gritty plays.

“All of our starters shared the scoring role and had big games throughout.”

Bethel Park’s rookie coach plans to keep building on a basketball culture within the program.

“This year was a great lead-up to what we are trying to establish at Bethel Park, a basketball culture,” Abbondanza said. “Our assistant coach, Jose Ramirez-Del Toro, brings such a great addition to that culture with a wealth of knowledge and background of winning basketball tradition. His energy and excitement and his teaching are fun to be around. You can see something special in the air by having him with us.

“In addition, we see a lot of potential in the underclassmen in our program and with a lot of experienced players returning. I think we will be in a position next year to simply get over the hump. There were so many achievements and moments for us this season. This team has helped lay the foundation for our program.”

The four playoff qualifiers in Section 3 were Baldwin (11-1), Peters Township (9-3), South Fayette (9-3) and TJ (5-7), followed by Bethel Park, Trinity (3-9) and Ringgold (1-11).

“I want to congratulate the other teams and coaches that earned their spots to move on,” Abbondanza said, “and that we wish them well to represent our section proudly.”

Tags: Bethel Park