Montour holds off Belle Vernon, advances to WPIAL championship game

By: Jeremy Sellew
Saturday, February 26, 2022 | 3:25 PM

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For the second straight season, Belle Vernon’s chase for an elusive WPIAL title ended in the semifinals.

No. 2 seed Montour withstood a few surges by the Leopards to come away with a 64-53 win in a Class 4A game Saturday at Bethel Park, denying Belle Vernon coach Joe Salvino his 700th career win.

“We know they want to get a game up into the high 60s and 70s, but we’re going to grind you,” Montour coach Bill Minear said. “We did a great job executing our gameplan. They’re a different team than we faced before with (Quinton) Martin in there, but I thought we did a great job on neutralizing him and keeping (Devin) Whitlock off balance.”

The teams went blow for blow in the first quarter as Montour ended the opening frame with a 12-10 lead, but a familiar struggle cost the Leopards in the second quarter.

“It’s the slow start. We’ve struggled with that all year at times,” said Salvino, whose team did qualify for the PIAA tournament by reaching the semifinals. “We missed so many layups, and we didn’t shoot our foul shots well at all early. It gave them momentum and put us in a tough position.”

The Spartans (20-4) started the second quarter on a 10-0 run to push their lead to 22-10. While the Leopards managed to come back, their efforts weren’t enough to get the lead.

“It was just enough that we could never get over that hump,” Salvino said. “Every time we had a chance, something would happen, whether it was a foul or a turnover.”

Tyriq Eleam was the fulcrum for the Spartans offense in the second quarter and the game.

He finished with 17 points, including the first five of the 10-0 run.

“I thought Eleam controlled the game. He played a big role for us,” Minear said. “He did a great job on the glass and contained Martin under the basket. He really found his groove in the second quarter.”

Dante Deltondo ended the spurt for the Spartans with a big 3-pointer before Salvino called a timeout to allow his team to regroup.

Freshman Alonzo Wade scored his opening basket to give the Leopards their first bucket of the second quarter with 2:38 remaining.

The Leopards’ pressure defense allowed them to end the half with an 8-2 run to pull to within 24-18 at the half.

“We talked about trying to do a little too much, and we have a habit of doing that sometimes,” Salvino said.

Belle Vernon’s Devin Whitlock, who finished with 15 points, started the second half with a three-point play to cut the lead to three before Deltondo answered with a 3-pointer. Just under a minute later, the Leopards scored the next five, the last a 3-pointer by Daniel Gordon that cut the lead to one. He led the Leopards (19-4) with a team-high 16.

“We were forced to go into a zone because of foul trouble,” Minear said. “We were fronting Gordon the entire game, and he hit that 3 when we went to zone.”

Deltondo answered again by banking in a floater to give his team a 29-26 lead.

Back and forth they went until Eleam scored inside and sophomore Jake Wolfe drove for a basket and followed it with a big 3-pointer to make it 40-32.

Martin was able to finally get his first basket of the second half when he beat the buzzer at the end of the third with a layup. He finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

“I think there were times we missed chances to get the ball in deep,” Salvino said. “But they have quality ballplayers and did a good job defending the post.”

The Leopards started the fourth with five straight points, bringing their fans to their feet as they cut the lead to 42-41, but again, the Spartans had an answer.

Diuan Pinkett, who finished with 15 points, scored on a putback and Wolfe buried another triple to make it 47-41.

The Spartans led 51-44 after another Eleam basket and were able to hold off one more late push by Belle Vernon.

Gordon hit another 3, and Martin and Whitlock went 2 for 4 from the line to make it 51-49.

For the game, the Leopards were 16 of 25 from the line.

“In the second half we shot much better from there, but late when we needed them, we couldn’t get them to fall,” Salvino said.

Wade, who finished with 10, scored off a steal to cut it to 53-51 with two minutes to go, but Pinkett scored the next four to make it 57-51 with 1:15 to go.

His three-point play with 58 seconds remaining sealed the Leopards’ fate and thrust the Spartans into a WPIAL championship game rematch with unbeaten Quaker Valley.

“People always say it’s hard to beat a team three times, but they just beat Lincoln Park three times,” Minear said with a laugh.

“I thought the key for us tonight was Eleam and some of the plays our sophomores and freshman made. I couldn’t be prouder of those kids.”

Tags: Belle Vernon, Montour