Early deficit too much for New Castle in PIAA quarterfinal loss

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, March 17, 2018 | 1:48 AM

There just wasn't enough time for New Castle to fix all that went wrong in the first five minutes.

District 10 champion Sharon used a few loose balls, offensive rebounds and its huge size advantage to score the first dozen points Friday night, an early lead that New Castle couldn't erase in the final three quarters.

New Castle's Marcus Hooker had 22 points, 10 rebounds and led a resilient second-half rally, but the WPIAL champion's season ended with a quarterfinal loss to Sharon, 53-42, in the PIAA Class 4A playoffs at Slippery Rock University.

Sharon held first-half leads of 12-0, 23-10 and 29-15.

“If we'd got our job done in the beginning, it would have been a lot closer game,” Hooker said. “We can't predict what the outcome would be, but it would have been a very good game.”

Hooker scored 16 second-half points including seven in a row in the third quarter to pull New Castle (23-5) back to within single digits. Nine seconds into the fourth, teammate Lorenzo Gardner's layup cut Sharon's lead to 35-30.

But New Castle got no closer.

Sharon's Ethan Porterfield, a 6-foot-8 junior, answered Gardner's shot with a turnaround jumper and two free throws to push the lead back to eight.

When New Castle closed to within six points near the four-minute mark, Sharon sparked a 10-3 run.

“So much credit goes to Sharon for responding every time we made our way halfway up that mountain,” New Castle coach Ralph Blundo said. “I just think in almost every area they were better than us tonight. When that happens, you're going to lose.”

New Castle defeated Sharon, 72-38, in the PIAA first round last season, but both teams returned this year much different.

Porterfield and Elite Williams each scored 13 points for Sharon (26-2), which next faces WPIAL runner Quaker Valley in a PIAA semifinal on Monday. Ramell Askerneese added 11, including six free throws in the fourth quarter.

Sharon's size was a problem from the start, and New Castle was out-rebounded 36-21.

After Sharon took a lead, Tigers coach Zach Sarver switched his defense to a packed-in 3-2 zone with Porterfield and 6-5 Tristan Ballard under the basket. New Castle's inside drives and passes to the post were swallowed up by Sharon's size, so New Castle resorted to jump shots.

“The holes are smaller and you have to find them,” Blundo said. “You have to fake a pass and make a pass. We threw too many straight-line passes to the post.”

Hooker made two quick 3s in the first quarter, but New Castle struggled overall to solve the zone.

“It's nice having those two big guys to change some shots,” Sarver said. “Without question, it makes it a pretty effective zone.”

Sharon knew New Castle wasn't a strong perimeter shooting team, so the plan was to keep its scorers away from the basket. New Castle shot 29 percent (14 of 47) from the field and made just 3 of 16 from the arc.

“They're big and good,” Blundo said. “We've played big. But not too often do you play big and good.”

Sharon dominated the paint and shot 45 percent (17 of 37) from the field, and also converted 16 of 20 from the foul line.

New Castle trailed 29-15 at half but rallied in the third behind its trapping defense. Sharon has six turnovers in the quarter and made only two of six shots.

New Castle won the third 13-6.

“I hate to say that we ramped up our pressure because our pressure is supposed to sit at a certain level all the time,” Blundo said. “But when you see an extra step to your pressure, it makes you question just how hard we were playing early.”

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.

Tags: New Castle