Bowles helps Woodland Hills edge Greensburg Salem in Section 1-5A contest

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, January 25, 2019 | 10:18 PM

Woodland Hills found itself in a dogfight at Greensburg Salem on Friday, but Keandre Bowles made sure the Wolverines left with a victory.

The WPIAL’s leading scorer tallied 11 of his game-high 22 points in the fourth quarter, including hitting on 9 of 10 from the foul line, and Woodland Hills edged Greensburg Salem, 61-56, in a Section 1-5A boys basketball game.

The Wolverines (13-3, 8-1) finished the game on a 7-0 run to erase a 56-54 deficit after Jack Oberdorf hit a 3-pointer with 1 minute, 33 seconds left for the Golden Lions (8-8, 3-6).

Tre’Mon Josey tied the score with a basket with 1:09 left, and Raeshon Robertson’s free throw gave Woodland Hills a 57-56 lead with 44.1 remaining.

Greensburg Salem had a chance to retake the lead, but turned the ball over with 20 seconds left. Bowles hit two free throws to make it 59-56 with 14.2 left, and after another Greensburg Salem miss, Bowles made two more free throws to ice it away.

Bowles, who averages 29.5 points, went over the 1,000-points mark in his career. He has 1,004.

Woodland Hills took the lead early by as many as nine points (19-10 and 21-12) in the first quarter. Bowles scored nine points for the Wolverines, but he also picked up two fouls and sat on the bench in the second quarter.

“I have a rule, if you pick up two fouls in the first half, you sit,” Woodland Hills coach Odell Miller said. “When I looked at the schedule earlier this season, I knew this game could be a trap game. Greensburg Salem is playing very well.”

Ryan Thomas, who finished with 21 points, and Shamar McCoy, who had had 10 points, 16 rebounds and six blocked shots, got the Golden Lions back in the game in the second quarter. Thomas had 13 points in the first half and McCoy eight as the Golden Lions pulled to within 37-32 at halftime.

“We had our chances,” Greensburg Salem coach Mark Zahorchak said. “We have a knack of not starting off games well. But I told them at halftime that we hadn’t played well yet, and we came out strong in the third quarter.”

The Golden Lions, who never led in the first half, tied the score at 41 on a bucket by McCoy. Then, a free throw by Thomas and baskets by Mike Leo and Cade Cavanaugh pushed the lead to 46-41.

But Woodland Hills finally righted the ship and finished the quarter strong.

Woodland Hills used a 10-0 run to end the third quarter and begin the fourth to take a 51-46 lead.

But a basket by Dante Parsons gave the Golden Lions a spark. Christian McGowan (12 points) hit a 3-pointer to close the lead to 52-51 and Thomas’ bucket cut the lead to 54-53 before Oberdorf’s 3-pointer gave the Golden Lions their final lead.

“In the third quarter, we played a great defensive quarter,” Zahorchak said. “We had some chances to extend the lead even more and didn’t take advantage of that. Normally, we shoot the 3-pointer better, but tonight our big guys came through.”

Greensburg Salem was 3 for 16 from beyond the arc.

Paul Schofield is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paul at pschofield@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Schofield_Trib.

Tags: Greensburg Salem, Woodland Hills