First-quarter run carries North Catholic over Valley in WPIAL 3A playoffs

By: William Whalen
Saturday, February 16, 2019 | 8:09 PM

Valley believed it a good chance knock off No. 3 seed North Catholic in the first round of the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs.

And for the first 2 minutes and 30 seconds, the 14th-seeded Vikings looked capable of pulling off the upset. Valley came out hot and took an early lead, but Trojans’ standout junior guard Jackson Paschall took over from there.

His game-high 23 points led the Trojans past Valley, 77-60, in the final game of a playoff tripleheader Saturday at Fox Chapel.

“We told ourselves to come out and not take this team for granted because they were a good 14 seed,” Paschall said. “They gave us some good competition. We tried to come out quick, and we struggled for the first minute and a half. Then we got a decent lead and kept that going throughout the game.”

North Catholic (19-4) moves to the quarterfinals to face No. 6 Deer Lakes (16-6) on Thursday with a site and time to be determined. The Lancers advanced by defeating No. 11 Charleroi, 57-47. Valley finished its season 8-11.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” Valley coach Mark Faulx said. “At this point, I’m proud of our guys for playing hard, finishing, being where we are and we’re going to celebrate our seniors.”

The game was a series of runs.

North Catholic’s runs were like transatlantic flights. Valley’s were like a run to the corner store.

Baskets from Nyjewel Carter and David Price paced the Valley offense early. Elijah Murray added a short jumper to give Valley its only lead of the game at 6-4. Carter led Valley with a team-high 14 points.

Then came a North Catholic run that gave the Vikings jet lag.

Paschall, who scored 12 in the first quarter, tied the score at 6-6 to spark a 23-2 spurt. Sophomore Isaiah Jackson and Ryan Feczko connected on 3-pointers, and Isaac DeGregorio added a pair of layups to extend North Catholic’s lead to 23-6 to close out the first quarter. DeGregorio finished with 15 points, and Feczko added 10.

“It was important that we got off to a good start,” North Catholic coach Dave DeGregorio said.

Murray stopped the Trojans’ run with a layup with 6 minutes, 51 seconds left in the second quarter. Murray’s basket ignited another short Valley run. Carter added a floating jumper, and Murray followed up with a free throw.

“We were hoping to minimize runs, and that big one early really hurt us and we got out of our game,” Faulx said.

Senior David Primus scored on a layup to cut into North Catholic’s lead at 27-15 with just under 5 minutes remaining in the first half. Primus finished with 10 points.

Paschall added a coast-to-coast layup and a short basket to lead North Catholic into the halftime with a commanding 44-23 lead.

Faulx’s advice for his team at halftime was to win every two minutes of the final two quarters.

“We feel like with our team, we have the ability to get around people but we can’t do it early in the possession,” Faulx said.

Valley came out in the second half a much more settled team. Adisun Jackson drained a deep jumper, and Deonte Ross added a putback followed by a 3-pointer from Carter to bring the score to 53-30.

Ross, a Gannon football commit, asserted his size and strength and pounded away in the paint for the Vikings. Ross scored seven of Valley’s 16 third-quarter points.

“It’s just frustrating being that it’s my last year, losing and everything being over,” Ross said. “I did what I could do.”

Ross fouled out with 13 points, walked over to the bench and into the waiting arms of Faulx.

The final quarter was perhaps Valley’s best. The Vikings didn’t go away easy and outscored North Catholic, 21-9.

“I didn’t think that we were very focused, and I thought that we were a completely different team in the second half,” DeGregorio said. “We weren’t disciplined. We weren’t making the extra pass and doing the things that we need to do to be successful.”

William Whalen is a freelance writer.

Tags: North Catholic, Valley