Daemar Kelly helps Penn Hills ‘learn how to win’ in section victory over Gateway

By: Chris Harlan
Tuesday, January 11, 2022 | 12:01 AM

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As the final seconds ticked away, coach Chris Giles and the players on the Penn Hills bench all were shouting the exact same words.

“Dunk it!”

With no one between him and the hoop, sophomore Julian Dugger obliged and threw down a dunk as No. 5 Penn Hills celebrated a hard-fought 66-56 victory at section rival Gateway on Tuesday night. The Indians had trailed with 4 minutes left but found a way to win, so Giles wanted them to enjoy it.

A week ago, Penn Hills (9-1, 3-1) squandered a Section 3-5A game against Franklin Regional, but this time the team seemed determined to finish stronger.

“You have to learn how to win games, and you have to learn how to win games in a tough atmosphere,” Giles said. “I’m proud of my guys that they figured it out. It wasn’t always pretty, and it wasn’t the coaching (that won the game). They trusted their fundamentals and trusted the process.”

Penn Hills junior Daemar Kelly scored 12 of his game-high 22 points in the fourth quarter, including a pair of late 3-pointers. One of his 3s proved to be the final lead change, giving the Indians a 53-52 edge with 3 minutes, 40 seconds remaining.

Kelly also went 6 for 8 from the foul line in the fourth as Penn Hills finished on a 19-6 run.

“It’s good to have some close wins, and situations where the crowd is intense,” Kelly said. “That’s good for later on down the road, when we plan on winning WPIALs and states.”

Kelly was Penn Hills’ only returning starter this season, so he has shouldered a leading role in the team’s success. Along with his 22 points, the 6-foot-4 junior had nine assists and seven rebounds.

He shot 7 for 14 from the field

“Everybody within the community knows he’s one of the best players around,” Giles said. “He’s a tremendous athlete. He’s a tremendous kid. He had a tremendous work ethic.

“He was with a group of seniors (last year). I wouldn’t say he took a backseat, but he allowed the game to come to him. In the summertime, we were really hard on him as a coaching staff to be the leader, be the guy, impose your will and make tough shots at difficult times.”

Kelly was one of three Penn Hills scorers in double figures. Jaden Dugger scored 11 points and brother Julian Dugger had 10. They tied with two dunks each, and Kelly had one.

“Sometimes we lose sight that they’re kids and this is just a game,” Giles said of encouraging dunks.

Ryan Greggerson led Gateway (3-3, 1-1) with 14 points and 13 rebounds. The 6-foot-7 senior gave the Gators a series of second chances with nine offensive rebounds and four put-back baskets.

Jaydon Carr added 12 points.

“I thought we did a pretty good job in spurts,” Gateway coach Alvis Rogers said. “We didn’t get enough 50/50 balls on the defensive side, but I thought we did a pretty good job rebounding the ball.”

The game was Gateway’s first in two weeks following covid-related cancellations. The Gators went 3 for 18 from 3-point range and shot only 38% from the field but rebounds kept them close.

Penn Hills finished 7 for 15 from the arc but missed its first five 3-point shots, at times taking deep looks.

“Part of our game plan was to get the ball inside, use our size and use our athleticism,” Giles said. “We were playing right into Gateway’s hands. This is a fantastic arena. It’s beautiful, the floor is nice, but it’s extremely hard to shoot on. We knew we had to get it inside and get layups, just so we didn’t allow Gateway to get in transition.”

“Coach Giles had to call a timeout and talk some sense into us,” Kelly said, “to remind us what the game plan was.”

Gateway led 14-9 after the first quarter but was outscored 23-9 in the second, when Penn Hills’ Khalil Wall made three 3-pointers off the bench. Penn Hills led 32-23 at halftime and 44-43 after three quarters.

There were six lead changes in the second half.

Gateway’s largest fourth-quarter lead was 48-44 with about 6 minutes left, but five turnovers down the stretch were the Gators’ undoing.

“When you see the score in the paper or online, it’s going to say, ‘Boy, they beat them by 10,’ ” Rogers said. “It was a lot closer than that. It was a three-point game, two-point game, four-point game.”

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.

Tags: Gateway, Penn Hills