In ‘physical, intense’ battle, Upper St. Clair gets past Central Catholic into state semifinals

By: Don Rebel
Saturday, March 14, 2026 | 7:17 PM

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Back in December, Central Catholic handed Upper St. Clair its only blemish of the season.

In the rubber game of the season series between the two Section 2-6A co-champs three months later, the Panthers made sure the Vikings would not deliver a fatal blow to their near-perfect season.

Three-time WPIAL champion USC took the lead for good late in the first quarter and held on to defeat Central Catholic, 52-46, in a PIAA Class 6A quarterfinal before a big crowd Saturday at Peters Township.

“That was a very, very physical, intense high school basketball game between two teams that know each other really well,” Upper St. Clair coach Danny Holzer said. “We’ve battled then seven or eight times in the last couple of years. It’s what we expected, for sure.

“Our guys were really gritty the entire game. I thought we played really well defensively and made the plays on offense to win the game.”

Both the Panthers and Vikings are known for their defense this season.

Central Catholic allowed a Class 6A-best 37 points per game while Upper St. Clair yielded only 43.5 points per game.

While both teams shined on defense, the inability to consistently score the basketball hurt the Vikings.

“I’m really not sure, after I rewatch the film and figure out why the shots that were great looks, open looks, the ones that were worked on, just didn’t fall,” Central Catholic coach Brian Urso said. “That’s basketball, I think early we were great, but we just needed someone to step up to hit another one.”

The first quarter was a close, back-and-forth affair reminiscent of the first two games where the Vikings won by two points in overtime and the Panthers by one point in January.

Late in the opening quarter, USC senior Jake Foster nailed a 3-pointer that turned out to put the Panthers up to stay, 12-11.

That bucket was the only points scored in the first quarter by Foster, but things changed in the second, when he scored nine of his 16 points.

“Both teams were playing such good defense,” Holzer said. “Once (Foster) settled in, he’s as good as anybody. He’s a tremendous guard. He’s a competitor. He can score. He can handle. He does so much for us. Once he got settled in, I knew we were in good shape.”

Panthers junior Ryan Robbins was held in check for the most part by the Vikings defense, but he still managed a double-double with 17 rebounds and 12 points, six of which came in the second quarter.

“He’s as advertised,” Urso said. “He does a good job using his body and he’s smart. He knows when to be aggressive and when to hold back. He’s tough to move. The game plan was to attack him and not be intimidated by his size and we did.”

Upper St. Clair led at the half by six points but built on that with a 5-0 run for its biggest lead of the game late in the third quarter, 39-30.

However, Central Catholic scored seven of the final eight points of the third to pull to within three points after three, 40-37.

USC senior Luke Marchinsky hit a big 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter that seemed to calm that Panthers down and swing the momentum back their way.

“Luke Marchinsky was terrific,” Holzer said. “He made so many big shots, and he has gotten better as the year has gone on. That (shot) changed the momentum that we had lost just like that, so that was really, really big.”

Marchinsky ended up with a career-high 22 points.

“I thought Luke played great,” Robbins said. “His ability to attack the defense is great for our team. He also plays with a ton of poise, and he doesn’t make mistakes that often. He is really reliable.”

Down eight points late in the fourth, Vikings senior Owen Campfield connected on a 3, but Central Catholic only scored three more points the rest of the game with Marchinsky hitting three free throws down the stretch to ice the victory.

Central Catholic ends a successful season with a final record of 24-4.

Senior Enzo Khalil scored 17 points and junior Jack Stoessel added 11 points.

“There’s not a dry eye in that locker room,” Urso said. “Our guys really played their butts off, and I’m so proud to be their coach. Credit to Upper St. Clair.”

The Upper St. Clair winning streak is 23 in a row as the Panther improve to 27-1 this season.

They have reached the PIAA semifinals for the second year in a row, the first time the program has ever done that.

“I thought our game was as physical as it gets,” Robbins said. “Our team was really gritty and definitely fought hard to pull out the win.”

Tags: Central Catholic, Upper St. Clair