High school basketball notebook: Tension between Franklin Regional-Highlands coaches ‘nothing personal’

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, January 26, 2018 | 3:56 PM

Tempers spilled over and led to five technical fouls in the second half Tuesday night when Franklin Regional's boys basketball team played at Highlands in a tension-filled showdown for first place in Section 3-5A.

Chippy from the start, the game flared up in the fourth quarter when Franklin Regional's Nick Leopold and Highlands' Luke Cochran were assessed double-technical fouls with 3 minutes, 33 seconds remaining.

Coaches from each side then stood up and began shouting at each other. They both had to sit the rest of the game, which had 52 fouls.

Nobody was ejected.

Franklin Regional's Nate Leopold also was called for a technical earlier in the half.

Both coaches said it was a heat-of-the-battle situation more than any bad blood.

Although, when the teams played Dec. 22 at Franklin Regional and the host Panthers won 70-46, there was a hard foul by Franklin Regional's Hunter Stonecheck on Highlands' Cochran.

“I'm going to defend my kids and stick up for them,” Franklin Regional coach Steve Scorpion said. “It was a physical game and things happen. We both knew what was at stake. It's nothing personal. I am passionate and so is (Stoczynski). In that type of game, things like that happen sometimes. It's nothing personal toward (Stoczynski).”

Highlands (11-3, 5-1) downed the No. 4-ranked Panthers (11-4, 5-1), 87-68, in Harrison Township for its ninth straight win.

“We dapped after the game in the (handshake) line like we do whenever we see each other,” Stoczynski said. “I think we both know it's all on the basketball court and nothing personal.”

Henderson nets 55

Monessen's Lyndon Henderson scored 55 points on Wednesday night, the highest scoring output of the season in the WPIAL and a school record.

Henderson, a 6-foot-2 junior guard, outscored the Greyhounds' opponent, host Geibel, in a 93-54 win. He made seven 3-pointers, 13 2-point field goals and 8 of 13 free throws.

Henderson came in averaging 20 points for the Class A No. 2 Greyhounds (6-7, 5-0 Section 2).

The previous school record was 53 by Josh Arnold in 2006.

The WPIAL single-game record is 71 points set by Larry Hardesty of Mohawk in 1959. Seven players have score 60 or more in WPIAL history.

Highlands' Micah Mason scored 64 in a game against Valley in 2011.

The staggering state record for points in a game is 114 by Bristol's Pete Cimino, according to pahoops.org. He attempted 79 shots and made 26 of 29 free throws against Palisades in 1960.

Henderson flirted with some of Westmoreland County's top performances.

Southmoreland's Eric Roslonski scored 61 and 57 during the 1991 season; Belle Vernon's Vince Graham had 60 against Penn-Trafford in 1995; Jim Neurohr of Greensburg Salem had 53 against Latrobe in 1972; B.B. Flenory of Valley had 52 against Norwin in 1976; Larry Ondako of Burrel had 52 in 1989; Arnold of Monessen had 51 in 2007; Jermaine Morgan of Jeannette scored 51 against Mt. Pleasant in 1989; and Ben McCauley of Yough had 50 against Southmoreland in 2003.

Konek update

Southmoreland girls coach Brian Pritts said junior Cali Konek will miss “minimal time” with a sprained MCL in her right knee.

“We're glad she avoided an ACL tear,” Pritts said. “Hopefully she will be back soon. She is such a tough kid. She didn't even want help coming off the court.”

Konek, one of the top-rated point guards in the country in her class, tweaked the knee 16 seconds into last Thursday's home game against Keystone Oaks when she fell to the floor after a 3-point attempt. She had the knee wrapped and played most of the game after a brief absence.

She is on crutches and will wear a brace when she returns.

She is averaging 17.9 points, 4.5 assists and 4.2 rebounds for the Scotties.

Konek, who has numerous Division I schools interested in her, transferred from Riverdale Baptist (Md.) where she played one season. She began her high school career at Imani Christian, where she averaged 45.4 points as a freshman.

HS reunions

This high school basketball season in Westmoreland County has been about getting reacquainted.

Another reunion happened Monday night at Franklin Regional when Courtney Callas, the girls head coach at Franklin Regional, went against her former coach, Armstrong coach Kirk Lorigan.

Lorigan coached Callas at Freeport.

It was their sixth meeting from opposing coaching boxes. Callas is 4-2 against Lorigan after the teams split their season series this year.

In 2003-04, Freeport made the WPIAL Class AA championship game with Callas a key guard.

A number of other on-court reunions this season:

• Penn-Trafford coach Jim Rocco went against his former team at Penn Hills.

• Latrobe assistant Ryan Yarosik went against Penn-Trafford, where he used to be the head coach.

• Former Yough head coach Wayne Greiser, now an assistant at Freeport, his alma mater, coached against his former team.

• New Hempfield girls coach Lindsy Muchnock led the Spartans against her alma mater at Latrobe.

• Franklin Regional first-year boys coach Steve Scorpion coached against a former college teammate, Westinghouse coach Eugene Wilson. The pair played together at Pitt-Johnstown.

• Greensburg Central Catholic boys coach Jim Nesser returned to coach against Jeannette, where he once led the Jayhawks to WPIAL and PIAA titles.

Jeannette assistant Dan Shipman was Nesser's assistant at Hempfield.

• Penn-Trafford boys assistant Gary Ingelido returned to Woodland Hills, where he was a long-time head coach.

• Jeannette guard A.J. Sharp and Greensburg Salem's Rylan (Bumoskey) Crise switched schools in the offseason, then went against each other in the Greensburg Salem holiday tournament.

Crise was not with the team for Tuesday's home game against Armstrong.

McGowan joins the club

Greensburg Salem senior guard Marvel McGowan eclipsed the 1,000-point mark last weekend in a loss to Gateway. He is the 11th player in program history to top the career milestone.

Other 1,000-point scorers from Westmoreland this season include Ligonier Valley junior Marrek Paola, Greensburg Salem's Megan Kallock and Franklin Regional's Isi Palmone, who also played at Woodland Hills.

GCC makeup games

Greensburg Central Catholic had to reschedule a pair of games after a pipe broke inside the coaches' room Monday, causing water damage to the Centurions' home court. There will be three games on Saturday at GCC, at the school's lower level auxiliary gym.

The GCC girls will take on Serra Catholic at 2 p.m. in one makeup game, while the GCC boys host Leechburg at 7:30.

The Leechburg-GCC JV boys game will start at 6.

Road trip

The Norwin girls' team bus must use up a lot of fuel. Of the Knights' 21 scheduled games, 14 are away.

In December, Norwin played six tournament showcase games at North Allegheny and only one game at home.

Norwin, seeking its 16th consecutive WPIAL playoff berth, will have four of its final five games at home.

George Guido contributed. Bill Beckner Jr. is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.

Tags: Franklin Regional, Greensburg C.C., Greensburg Salem, Highlands, Monessen, Southmoreland