Hempfield boys earn satisfying victory over Norwin in regular-season finale

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Friday, February 7, 2025 | 11:16 PM

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As Max Williams and his senior teammates left the floor with just over a minute to play Friday night, Hempfield interim boys basketball coach Mark Katarski told them to “take your time.”

He wanted them to absorb the moment as they checked out of their final game as Spartans — a one-sided Section 2-6A finale that saw Hempfield flatten punchless Norwin, 49-32, to end a disruptive season on a high note.

“We faced more adversity than any team,” said the 6-foot-7 Williams, who commanded attention under the basket all night and scored a game-high 20 points. “I think we needed that win, and we needed that game. This game meant a lot to us.”

Hempfield played its final eight games without head coach Bill Swan, who resigned amid an investigation into a complaint lodged against him last month. Details never were made public, and Hempfield played on with Katarski at the wheel.

The win broke a five-game losing streak and left players and coaches celebrating and lingering after the final buzzer in North Huntingdon — one collective exhale from a group that stayed together through the challenges.

“When you think about it,” how many teams get to finish a season with a win?” Katarski said. “In my 27 years of coaching, I never remember finishing with a win like this.”

To an uneducated fan, it was Hempfield (9-12, 4-10), not Norwin (10-11, 6-8) that looked like a WPIAL playoff team.

Just eight days earlier, Norwin won at Hempfied, 61-56, to help solidify its playoff berth.

But Norwin had already clinched — Hempfield had been eliminated — going into the rematch, which may have been more of a detriment than a blessing on a head-scratching senior night.

Norwin fell behind 13-0 early and 13-4 after the first quarter. It trailed 23-7 at halftime, missing its first 11 3-point attempts before improvements in the second half.

The hole was too deep to dig out of for the Knights, though, who are postseason-bound for the first time in three seasons but know a much better performance will be required to play on.

“There was a lack of movement; we want to attack downhill,” Norwin coach Cam Auld said. “But we didn’t do a good job of that. We weren’t cutting or coming off screens. Hempfield was more ready from the jump. We lacked energy.”

Williams had eight points in the first quarter and 12 in the first half to get the Spartans going.

The lead ballooned to 28-7 early in the third on a 3 from junior Danny Husenits, and Norwin cobbled the deficit to 37-24 early in the fourth with seven straight points by junior Stefano Giannikas.

Husenits finished with 10 points.

Norwin scored 15 points in the third after scraping just seven together in the first half.

“It’s an effort thing,” Auld said. “All of our coaches (on staff) will tell you, in a playoff game, you can’t just rely on things. You have to work for them.”

Senior Drew Gordon hit two 3s and had all eight of his points in the fourth to help Hempfield stay well ahead.

After junior Chris McKnight completed a three-point play for Norwin, Williams made back-to-back baskets to stretch the lead back to 20, at 49-29.

“I think we felt more connected today,” Katarski said. “We didn’t practice that well (Thursday). I had each guy talk about their favorite memory and had them give flowers to somebody. The question was, what is your why?

“Tonight was a game, 32 minutes. But they made a lifetime of memories.”

Hempfield’s nine wins are the most for the program since the Spartans went 12-6 in 2020-21.

They will graduate four seniors.

Norwin has only two seniors in Jeff Lenart and Alex Tyner, both of whom started Friday.

Junior Nate Kuch led Norwin with nine points, and junior Ryan Ewing scored seven off the bench.

“I am happy for our guys,” Katarski said. “It was an honor to coach these young men and have them call me coach.”

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

Tags: Hempfield, Norwin