Kiski Area boys down Penn Hills for 1st section title since 2012-13
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Friday, February 7, 2025 | 10:46 PM
Kiski Area coach Corey Smith celebrates with Amaree Gonzalez after beating Penn Hills on Friday.
Kiski Area’s Amaree Gonzalez scores past Penn Hills’ Aiden Thompson and Cam Glenn on Friday.
Kiski Area’s Tyler McDermott (15) and Carson Heinle pick up Amaree Gonzalez after a basket against Penn Hills on Friday.
Kiski Area’s Jacob Musselman scores over Penn Hills’ Cam Glenn on Friday.
Penn Hills’ Ahmod Brown blocks the shot of Kiski Area’s Carson Heinle on Friday.
Kiski Area’s Tyler McDermott blocks the shot of Penn Hills’ Cody Hunt on Friday.
Kiski Area’s Carson Heinle grabs a rebound from Penn Hills’ Ahmod Brown on Friday.
Kiski Area’s Amaree Gonzalez blocks the shot of Penn Hills’ Todd Bishop on Friday.
Kiski Area boys basketball’s section-championship drought is over.
The Cavaliers captured the outright Section 2-5A championship Friday night, their first section title since 2012-13, with a 68-61 victory at Penn Hills.
“It means so much that we worked so hard for this,” said Kiski Area coach Corey Smith, who won section titles at Kiski as a player in 2000 and 2002.
“That was a goal since I got here. Every day I come up to that gym, and I look at that section-title banner. This community is so supportive, and these kids work so hard day-in and day-out. I owe it to them. I owe it to my JV team because they are important for this team, too. They go hard every single day and make (the varsity guy) work. I am just so excited and so proud of my boys right now.”
The Cavaliers players celebrated their section-title clinching victory by soaking Smith with the contents of the water bucket in the locker room.
“This is amazing. It is such a surreal feeling,” said senior Colin Keller who scored 22 points with five 3-pointers in the victory.
“Going into the season, this was a big goal for us.”
Amaree Gonzalez also scored 22 points for Kiski Area, and Jacob Musselman added 13 points.
Carson Heinle and Tyler McDermott were strong on the boards with nine and eight rebounds, respectively.
Four players tallied double digits in points for Penn Hills. Calix Clark scored 16, Cam Glenn had 4, Amon Hawthorne added 15 before fouling out with 4 minutes, 7 seconds left in the fourth, and Cody Hunt scored 10.
Kiski Area improved to 14-6 overall and concluded section play at 11-1. The Cavaliers also completed a season sweep of the Indians, having also triumphed 68-53 on Jan. 14.
Penn Hills ended its section slate at 10-2. It fell to 10-9 overall.
The game was intense for all 32 minutes in front of a spirited collection of supporters for both teams.
“We were able to keep our poise the whole game and make play after play,” Keller said. “We have some great guys on this team. We just hung together and played for each other. It was a great win.”
Kiski Area fought off Penn Hills’ attempts to erase its six-point halftime lead.
Musselman converted a layup for the Cavaliers at the third-quarter buzzer to give Kiski a 49-41 advantage heading to the fourth.
The Cavaliers led by 11 with 4:06 left, but the Indians kept battling.
Penn Hills cut the Kiski lead to 61-55 on a 3-pointer from Glenn with 1:11 left in regulation.
But in the end, Kiski was just too much.
The Cavaliers went 12 of 14 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter and were 22 of 27 for the game.
Penn Hills and Kiski Area will find out their WPIAL first-round opponents Monday afternoon as the playoff committee releases the Class 5A brackets.
Then Indians and Cavaliers then will close out the regular season with nonsection road contests. Penn Hills will visit West Mifflin, and Kiski will take on Burrell.
Neither team could establish a sizable lead in the first quarter as they worked to establish a secure footing at both ends of the court.
Keller drained a pair of 3-pointers to lead the Cavaliers over the first eight minutes. The long-range field goals gave Kiski leads of 7-4 and 10-8.
A jumper from Clark with a minute left in the quarter allowed Penn Hills to tie the score at 10.
The back-and-forth, intense play continued through the second quarter. The lead changed five times in the first five minutes of the frame.
Kiski built its biggest lead of the first half — 11 at 31-20 — with a 13-3 run punctuated by a layup and a 3-point play from Gonzalez.
But Penn Hills cut into the lead in the final minute. Glenn sank a pair of free throws, and Hawthorne nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to draw the Indians to within 31-25 as the teams headed to their locker rooms.
Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.
Tags: Kiski Area, Penn Hills
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