Despite early playoff exit, future bright for Gateway boys basketball

By: Michael Love
Sunday, February 23, 2025 | 11:01 AM

Purchase Photo Options

The Gateway boys basketball team hoped to get out fast at Moon in a WPIAL Class 5A first round game Feb. 18.

The No. 12 Gators came into the game with a high degree of momentum after closing the regular season with three straight wins, including an overtime triumph against section rival Penn-Trafford.

But the homestanding Tigers were the ones who got out to a strong start. They jumped on Gateway to the tune of a 16-5 lead after the first quarter.

Gateway had to play catchup the rest of the game, and while the Gators whittled the deficit down to four points at one point in the second half, they were not able to come all the way back in a 49-42 loss.

“We knew that Moon was going to have a sagging defense, and our goal was that we wanted to get the ball in the paint,” Gateway coach Alvis Rogers said.

“They sagged man to man, and they bumped us. They got aggressive with our big guy (senior forward Paul Nnacho). The opportunities that we had, we didn’t take advantage of them. When we had open shots, we didn’t knock them down. When we had layups, we didn’t make those. I think that kind of got to us a little bit. Defensively, we didn’t have good communication and good transitional rotation.

“We were able to settle in and get back in the game. They showed tremendous effort. But we were constantly trying to climb back up that hill, and it did start to take its toll. I felt that the court also was a little tilted. The things Moon was doing to our guys in a few cases, it wasn’t being called, and when we turned around and did the same thing, it was being called.”

Gateway shot more free throws than Moon — 18 to 11 — but the Tigers converted 8 of 11, while the Gators made 11 of 18.

Rogers said he was a little surprised to see where Gateway was seeded — 12th — after finishing tied with Latrobe for second in Section 1 at 10-4 behind undefeated Uniontown (14-0).

“Moon finished third in their section, so I was wondering what was behind us being positioned where we were,” Rogers said.

“I think our nonconference schedule was one of the toughest in 5A, and we played Uniontown tough both times. We thought we had a great resume to where we could’ve had a higher seed.”

While the loss to Moon was still fresh in his mind the next day, Rogers was able to take a quick look back at the season and see that it was successful with what expectations were for his young group.

“We accomplished some things that I thought that we weren’t going to be able to achieve,” he said.

“With how things were going over the summer months, it was hard to think ahead to how many games we could win. I think we finished higher in the section than most people thought we would because of what we had coming back and what we had lost the year before. We had two guys make the all-section teams, one first and one second. We had some really good wins where the guys came together, and they were total team efforts.”

Nnacho was selected to the Section 1 all-star second team, and junior guard Mykel Bruce-McCrommon earned first-team honors.

Nnacho and Dyson Harper are the only two seniors who will be moving on because of graduation. Rogers said it was emotional seeing Nnacho foul out late against Moon knowing that a couple of the calls against him were questionable.

“It was tough after the game for me to express to those guys just how much they meant to this team this year,” Rogers said.

“Paul, from where he was the first time playing as a sophomore to where he is now, he is a McDonald’s All-American. He was such a hard worker who never missed a practice. He came in and worked tirelessly. He worked his way into the player he is now. He’s probably going to end up with a scholarship to a JUCO or community college, and he can move on from there. Making second-team all section, that right there tells you that if you put in the time and the effort, good things can happen.

“With Dyson, we didn’t know if he was going to play this year because of how things went in previous years. But he was there every day. He had been fighting through injury and wasn’t 100% at the end of the season. He wasn’t a starter at first, but he put in the work and saw the opportunity to become a starter. He seized the moment and never gave it up.”

Harper will join the football team at Division II West Liberty State.

Next year’s team will be built around returning starters in McCrommon, as well as juniors Chris Settles and Jax Vovaris.

McCrommon, a 6-foot-5 guard, was a versatile difference maker for the Gators. He averaged 22 points a game this season.

“His growth now will be learning to play through contact,” Rogers said.

“He’s a (Division I) player who has the size, the skills and the IQ for the game. It comes down to realizing the potential of his athletic ability and being confident in whatever he does.”

Rogers pointed to areas where his team improved this season, from rebounding and overall team defense, as building blocks moving forward into the offseason.

“It sounds simple enough, but we told the young guys after the game (with Moon) that they need to get better,” Rogers said.

“A lot of schools are losing a lot of seniors, and we have the potential to be one of the top teams in the section if not the entire 5A. We have three guys returning as starters with others who have played a lot. We have to get in the gym and work on the things that we have been preaching to them.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Gateway