Gateway boys edge Latrobe as Wildcats fall short of playoffs

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Friday, February 9, 2024 | 10:55 PM

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With the outcome of another game that had a direct effect on theirs already decided, the Latrobe boys basketball team took the court and played for pride.

Despite shutting out Gateway in the second quarter, the Wildcats couldn’t earn a season sweep of the visiting Gators and fell 55-53 on Friday night.

Even if the Wildcats (8-13, 3-7) had won, they would have needed Penn-Trafford to beat Kiski Area to make the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs. Kiski Area won 62-37 on the final night of Section 3 play to seal the Wildcats’ fate.

Gateway (15-6, 7-3), which had lost three of its past five games, ended an up-and-down section season on a high note.

Latrobe, which dropped six straight and eight of its final nine, saw its streak of non-playoff seasons reach three. That is the longest drought in coach Brad Wetzel’s 23 seasons.

“No one said anything (about the Kiski Area result), but I think we all knew,” Wetzel said. “You could kind of feel it was our last go. There is a lesson here to not leave your fate in anyone else’s hands. We needed to take care of our own plate.”

Gateway scored only 17 points in the first half but managed to take a one-point lead into halftime.

For the Gators, the second quarter stood out like a doughnut at a salad bar: Latrobe 16, Gateway 0.

The win wasn’t quite the smelling salts the talented Gators needed, but it’s still a win.

“We weren’t thinking about revenge or anything like that,” Gateway coach Alvis Rogers said, referring to a 63-60 loss to Latrobe earlier in the season. “We wanted to stay healthy and play well. Get back on the Gateway train. Tonight had nothing to do with things in the past.

“That second quarter was like, here we go. But we hung in there.”

A much better third quarter for both teams materialized in the third, with Latrobe pulling ahead 39-38.

The Wildcats led into the middle of the fourth, with senior Ja’Tawn Williams scoring five straight points to make it 43-38.

The Gators answered with a 12-0 spurt. Senior Alex Lowry put back a miss for a 46-44 edge, and senior Bryson Pavlik hit a 3-pointer to put the Gators ahead 49-44.

The Gators remained composed after Pavlik received a technical foul with 2:29 to play.

Latrobe had trouble regaining the lead over the final three minutes.

Junior Max Butler closed the gap to 52-50 before senior Vito Campolo made two free throws.

Butler struck again, with a corner 3 to make it 54-53 with 25.1 seconds remaining.

Sophomore Mykel Bruce-McCrommon made one free throw before Latrobe’s final chance, a turnaround in the lane by Butler, missed at the buzzer.

“It wasn’t because of a lack of effort tonight,” Wetzel said. “Our defense (in the second quarter) was stifling. Our guys were going to go down swinging.”

Gateway was balanced on offense: Pavlik had 13 points, Campolo 11 and Lowry and Dunsmore added 10 apiece. Campolo had seven, and was 5 for 8 from the foul line in the fourth.

Junior Kyle McNeil led Latrobe with 16 points, Butler added 15 and Williams had 10.

Gateway has one more game, on Monday, against 6A Butler.

“Latrobe is a solid team,” Rogers said. “They play hard and run their sets well. I thought our defense took the game over down the stretch.

“We’re getting there. We have some things to clean up. I know that sounds strange this late in the season. We need to be us.”

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Gateway, Latrobe