Hot-shooting New Castle tops Mt. Lebanon, returns to WPIAL finals for 6th time in 7 years
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Tuesday, February 28, 2023 | 10:51 PM
New Castle’s Da’Jaun Young celebrates with Isaiah Boice and Nick Wallace after defeating Mt. Lebanon in their WPIAL Class 6A semifinal on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at North Allegheny.
New Castle’s Jonathan Anderson scores between Mt. Lebanon’s Michael Pfeuffer and Brody Barber during their WPIAL Class 6A semifinal on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at North Allegheny.
New Castle’s Jonathan Anderson celebrates after being fouled while scoring against Mt. Lebanon during their WPIAL Class 6A semifinal on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at North Allegheny.
New Castle’s Isaiah Boice shoots a three-pointer against Mt. Lebanon during their WPIAL Class 6A semifinal on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at North Allegheny.
New Castle’s Isaiah Boice celebrates after hitting a three-pointer against Mt. Lebanon during their WPIAL Class 6A semifinal on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at North Allegheny.
New Castle’s Ralphie Blundo shoots a three-pointer against Mt. Lebanon during their WPIAL Class 6A semifinal on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at North Allegheny.
New Castle’s Ralphie Blundo celebrates after hitting a three-pointer against Mt. Lebanon during their WPIAL Class 6A semifinal on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at North Allegheny.
New Castle’s Nick Wallace battles Mt. Lebanon’s Riley Farabaugh for possession during their WPIAL Class 6A semifinal on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at North Allegheny.
New Castle’s Isaiah Boice scores past Mt. Lebanon’s Lucas Garofoli during their WPIAL Class 6A semifinal on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at North Allegheny.
New Castle’s Isaiah Boice shoots a three-pointer against Mt. Lebanon during their WPIAL Class 6A semifinal on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at North Allegheny.
New Castle’s Da’Jaun Young scores past Mt. Lebanon’s Brody Barber during their WPIAL Class 6A semifinal on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at North Allegheny.
New Castle’s Da’Jaun Young celebrates after defeating Mt. Lebanon in their WPIAL Class 6A semifinal on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at North Allegheny.
The first quarter was too low-scoring for Isaiah Boice’s comfort, so the New Castle senior got to work.
The Red Hurricanes’ top shooter started the second quarter with three 3-pointers in a row, consecutive shots that ignited the offense as top-seeded New Castle ran away with a 58-42 victory over No. 3 Mt. Lebanon in a WPIAL Class 6A semifinal Tuesday night at North Allegheny.
Tied 7-7 after one quarter, New Castle sprinted to a 29-12 lead by halftime and had a 26-point lead in the fourth.
“We needed to pull away,” Boice said. “We didn’t want to stay close and make it a two-point game at the end. We wanted none of that, so we locked in, put up some good shots and played good defense.”
Mt. Lebanon has a knack for controlling the ball when playing with a lead, but New Castle took that option away.
The Red Hurricanes went 5 for 5 from 3-point range in the second quarter with three from Boice and two from sophomore Ralphie Blundo. In all, the team made seven of its first 10 shots from beyond the arc.
Boice and Jonathan Anderson tied with a team-high 16 points and Blundo had 12.
“That ball has got to go in to win,” New Castle coach Ralph Blundo said. “We obviously shot it well in the second quarter. That created a little space and allowed us to spread the floor a little against them. I thought we played really good basketball from that point forward.”
The win takes New Castle (22-2) to the WPIAL finals for the sixth time in seven years. No. 3 Central Catholic (15-9) awaits the Red Hurricanes in the championship game at 7 p.m. Saturday at Petersen Events Center.
For New Castle, it’s a chance to ease the memory of last year’s Class 5A final, where the team lost to Laurel Highlands on a last-second foul shot in double-overtime.
“I wish it would go away, but it hasn’t,” Blundo said. “That one was tough, just kind of the way it ended. … We wanted to get back there and these guys wanted another opportunity at it.”
Said Boice: “We’re hungry, especially all of the seniors, we didn’t want to go out losing again. We want to win, so we’re putting our all into this one.”
New Castle and Central Catholic are from the same section and split two regular-season matchups this winter. Central Catholic won the first, 56-45, and New Castle won the rematch, 67-53.
“We had two really good basketball games against them,” Blundo said. “I think they’re playing their best basketball right now. It’ll be a great game.”
Mt. Lebanon (16-8) was trying to reach the finals for the third time in five seasons. Instead, the Blue Devils will play Upper St. Clair in a third-place game Thursday at a site and time to be announced. Only the winner advances to the state playoffs.
Brody Barber scored a team-high 15 points for Mt. Lebanon with 13 in the fourth quarter, but the Blue Devils were already down by 22.
New Castle led 42-20 after three quarters in a game largely decided away from the rim. Mt. Lebanon couldn’t match New Castle’s hot 3-point shooting.
The Blue Devils missed 19 of their first 22 shots from beyond the arc.
“They can shoot it,” Blundo said. “It’s not like they’re not a good-shooting basketball team. I think we can take some of the credit for that. We defended well, but they’re capable of lighting it up. We’re fortunate it didn’t happen tonight.”
Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.
Tags: Mt. lebanon, New Castle
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