Highlands storms back to beat Penn Hills in WPIAL quarterfinals

By: George Guido
Thursday, February 24, 2022 | 9:31 PM

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The Highlands Golden Rams erased a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit and held Penn Hills scoreless over the last 3 minutes, 43 seconds of the game to pull out a thrilling 51-49 victory Thursday night at Penn Hills.

The Indians had leads of 41-31 and 43-33, but junior Jimmy Kunst came up big for Highlands, scoring 11 of his 17 points in the final period of the Class 5A quarterfinal.

Kunst hit a mid-range jumper with 1:47 left to tie the score 49-49. The three-year starter followed that with a baseline drive with 52 seconds to go, and the Golden Rams had to turn back three Penn Hills possessions in the final 30 seconds to prevail.

“Like I told the guys during the time outs, it’s win and advance,” Golden Rams coach Corey Dotchin said. “We stuck together, and this is why we play a tough schedule like Quaker Valley, Sto-Rox, Allderdice and Montour. All of those games prepared us for this moment.”

Fifth-seeded Highlands (18-6) will move on to semifinal play Monday against Laurel Highlands at a site and time to be determined. Penn Hills, seeded fourth, has an 18-5 record and is hoping for a Highlands win to be pulled into the PIAA tournament.

After Kunst’s final basket, Tim Bottoms launched a 3-point try that missed, and Kunst gathered the rebound. Kunst missed a free throw, and Jaden Dugger rebounded. Daemar Kelly missed a shot, and Bradyn Foster rebounded and was fouled with 5.3 seconds left. Foster missed, and Penn Hills had a final chance after a timeout.

But Noah Barren, who led the Indians with 13 points, missed a shot and Kunst batted the ball away as time expired.

“We just knew we could come back,” Kunst said. “We had to hit our shots and play together as a team. It was tough at times. We had those droughts, but we just shared the ball and hustled and rebounded.”

Highlands, after taking a 21-10 lead with 25 seconds to go in the first quarter, failed to get a basket for the remainder of the half. A free throw by Kunst provided the only Highlands scoring for the second quarter while Penn Hills got hot.

Kelly’s basket off a turnover gave the Indians a 23-22 lead. Then, holding for the final shot of the half, Bottoms hit a 3-pointer to give Penn Hills a 26-22 lead at the intermission.

Highlands mounted a comeback in the third quarter as Cam Reigard hit a trey then later was fouled behind the arc. The sophomore guard hit all three free throws to give the Golden Rams a short-lived 31-29 lead with 4:08 to go in the third period.

“Cam’s a great shooter, and he put the time in,” Dotchin said. “Before the game today, he spent about 45 minutes in the gym putting up about 400 shots and some free throws. He has all the confidence in the world when he has an open shot.”

Highlands, however, failed to score for the rest of the third, enduring a 4:51 dry spell before the big rally.

“We’ve shot well all year,” Kunst said “We have little hiccups here and there. We proved in the second half if you keep shooting, something’s going to fall.”

Reigard had 12 points and led the Golden Rams with seven rebounds. Kelly had 12 points for the Indians, and Dugger had 12 rebounds.

Highlands outrebounded Penn Hills, 39-29.

Tags: Highlands, Penn Hills