Montour takes care of business in PIAA 1st round, sets up rematch with Chartiers Valley

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, March 7, 2025 | 11:47 PM

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The only trap Friday night was the defense Montour sprung on its opponent.

Montour’s Kaleb Platz scored 28 points, and three teammates scored in double figures as the Spartans opened the state playoffs with a 68-49 victory over visiting Milton Hershey in PIAA Class 5A.

Clearly, this was no trap game.

Lurking in the next round was a rematch with WPIAL champion Chartiers Valley, the team that stunned Montour in the semifinals. Milton Hershey (17-10) was only the seventh-place team from District 3. But Montour didn’t get caught looking ahead.

“We knew what was ahead of us,” said Platz, who went 9 for 13 shooting with four 3s. “We just had to take care of business at home.”

Montour (26-2) had a 16-point lead by halftime. Ama Sow scored 13 points, and Colton Straight and Trey Hopper added 10 points each.

A strong shooting night helped the Spartans, who went 10 for 23 from beyond the 3-point arc. Milton Hershey was 0 for 7.

“I don’t know if they shoot the ball that well every game, but they do in the film I’ve seen,” Milton Hershey coach Scott Rooney said. “They’re just dangerous.”

Now, all focus shifts to Tuesday.

Montour faces Chartiers Valley (23-3) at a site and time to be announced. It’s the fourth matchup this season between the section rivals.

The Spartans won twice in the regular season and were seeded first in the WPIAL playoffs. Yet Chartiers Valley won, 47-44, when they met Feb. 25 in the WPIAL semifinals.

“They caught us on a bad, bad night,” Platz said. “They got the best of us. We’re going to see them again Tuesday. We’re going to be ready.”

Montour coach Bill Minear said his team already survived a so-called “trap game” in the WPIAL consolation bracket, so he wasn’t concerned about that happening against Milton Hershey.

After its semifinal loss, Montour regrouped two days later to beat Mars in a third-place game that didn’t start well.

“What I really like about the (consolation bracket) is you have a game to get that out,” Minear said. “The first quarter against Mars, we were down 19-8. You get to see your character. Are we going to fold or are we going to pull it together? We pulled it together.”

Montour’s biggest deficit this time was three.

The Spartans trailed 12-9 before A.J. Alston and Platz made consecutive 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds of the first quarter. Their shots began an 18-2 run that stretched into the second quarter and let the Spartans pull away.

They mixed three different press defenses and forced Milton Hershey into six turnovers in less than two minutes. Montour led 27-14 after a layup by Platz with 5:35 left until halftime.

“They kept calling timeouts, giving us time to change defenses,” Platz said. “They didn’t like the pressure. They were throwing deep passes and weren’t connecting.”

Milton Hershey played without junior Khalif Turner, its point guard and leading scorer. That surely made a difference when Montour alternated between a 1-2-2, a 2-1-2 and a 2-2-1 zone.

Montour outscored Milton Hershey 25-12 in the second quarter to lead 40-24 at half.

“Maybe we had visions of the big guy all over the place,” Rooney said of the 6-foot-8 Sow. “We started throwing the ball too high. I don’t know if nerves got the best of us there.”

Sophomore Dylan Crawford led Milton Hershey with 14 points. Senior Joshua Sessoms and 6-6 sophomore Abdou Diene added 12 apiece.

Montour’s lead peaked at 22 points late in the third quarter. A 3-pointer by Platz put the Spartans ahead 58-36.

Minear said a couple of the defenses they deployed at times Friday weren’t shown much all season.

“At this point in the season, everybody knows everything you do,” he said. “So, if you have stuff you haven’t used, this is the time to use it.”

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.

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