Mohawk jumps out fast, defeats undermanned Southmoreland in boys 3A quarterfinals

By: Josh Rizzo
Friday, February 21, 2025 | 9:35 PM

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Mohawk boys basketball junior guard Bobby Fadden sat back and waited for Vinny Pezzuolo, Blake Logan and Joey Nail to cause chaos. The Warriors wanted to make life difficult on an undermanned Southmoreland squad during a WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinal Friday night at North Catholic High School.

Mohawk took advantage of a devastating first four minutes to pick up a 55-38 win and march onto the semifinals for the second consecutive season. The third-seeded Warriors will play the winner of South Allegheny and Ellwood City on Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.

“Our goal to start every game is to get their coach to call the first timeout,” said Fadden, who scored a game-high 22 points. “Joey, Vinny and Blake Logan have been getting their hands on things all year. We knew we had to pressure them in the frontcourt. That’s exactly what we did.”

No. 6 Southmoreland (18-6) was missing guard Stanley Chapman, who was out with an ankle injury. The Scotties’ lineup became even thinner when Brady Sherbondy injured his ankle during the first half.

“It changed the game plan a little bit,” Southmoreland coach Frank Muccino said. “Then the younger kids have to get settled in. They did a good job midway through the second quarter, and it was basically an even game until the end when we started fouling.”

Mohawk (19-5) benefited from excellent defense and shooting early.

Blake Logan scored the game’s first basket on an offensive rebound after collecting a miss by Drew Wrona. The Warriors, who never trailed, followed with a pair of 3-pointers from Wrona and Fadden to stretch the lead to 13-3 with 4 minutes, 10 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Mohawk coach Mike O’Lare said Mohawk executed its game plan well.

“We played that way all year,” O’Lare said. “Tuesday night against Waynesburg, we weren’t sharp. Came out with a different energy that we had played most of the year with. We made some shots that allowed us to get into our pressure. We were active with our hands and our feet.”

Southmoreland fell behind 23-9 by the end of the first quarter. Noah Felentzer found his footing in the second quarter. He scored six of his team-high 16 points.

“We had to settle in,” Muccino said. “It took us a while to adjust to the way the game was called. There were some charges that took us out of our aggressive nature. We started to play passive and got in steady foul trouble early.”

The pace of the game slowed significantly after the chaotic first few minutes. That left the Scotties without enough possessions to take a serious bite out of the lead.

Southmoreland trailed by 15 at halftime and 13 entering the fourth quarter. The Scotties never got the lead below 11 points after the half.

“You can’t give that big cushion early,” Muccino said. “They started to shoot with confidence and shoot with ease. I don’t know if we came out tight, but we didn’t come out well.”

Wrona also finished with 13 points for the Warriors. Mohawk, which graduated six seniors from last year’s team that reached the semifinals, is happy to get another opportunity with a different group of players.

“I knew we were going to be good, but it was going to be a struggle to get here,” Fadden said. “With me being the only one with playoff experience, Drew played a little bit in the state playoffs. I knew we would grind it out.”

We focus every week on our defense and ball pressure.”

Tags: Mohawk, Southmoreland