New Castle duo delivers winning basket in final second in Class 6A semifinal vs. Central Catholic

By: Paul Schofield
Monday, February 23, 2026 | 10:50 PM

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New Castle boys basketball coach Ralph Blundo has faith in his freshman point guard Marino Graham to make a play.

With New Castle and Central Catholic tied Monday night, Blundo put the ball in Graham’s hands.

“I was supposed to put up the last shot,” Graham said.

But Graham stumbled at the foul line trying to drive to the hoop. After fumbling the ball, he was able to dish a pass to senior Damian Harrison on the baseline.

Harrison, who scored nine of his 14 points in the final quarter, hit the game-winning layup with four-tenths of a second left and added a free throw to help New Castle to a thrilling, 52-49 victory in the WPIAL Class 6A semifinals.

The victory puts the Hurricanes back in the WPIAL championship game against Upper St. Clair at 9 p.m. Friday at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center.

The Panthers defeated Seneca Valley, 41-35, on Monday. They are the defending champions. They defeated the Red Hurricanes, 65-43, last year.

“Damian told me he would be ready if I needed help,” Graham said. “I knew where he was.”

Graham finished with a career-high 19 points.

“I saw Marino fumble the ball, so I looked for the pass,” Harrison said. “He made a great play.”

New Castle (23-1) also got 14 points from sophomore Kai Cox.

“That was a well-played game by both teams,” Blundo said. “There were a lot of great players on the floor. We were able just to make one more play than they did.”

Both teams played fast in the first half.

Cox scored nine points in the first quarter as the Red Hurricanes took a 16-14 lead.

Enzo Khalil led Central Catholic (21-3) in the opening quarter, scoring 12 of his game-high 23 points.

Graham scored six points and Chase Lemmon and Harrison hit 3-pointers as New Castle led 34-32 at halftime.

Blundo decided to slow down the pace in the second half because of foul trouble.

“We needed to spread things out,” Blundo said. “Marino did a great job controlling the tempo.”

Central Catholic, despite falling behind by five, tied the score 38-38 on two free throws by Danny Haller.

Graham’s twisting layup at the buzzer gave New Castle a 41-38 lead heading into the final eight minutes.

The game stayed close throughout the fourth quarter, but two free throws by Jack Stoessel and a layup by Christian Williams tied the score 49-49 with 1:21 left. Williams finished with 10 points.

Blundo decided to work for the last shot, and Harrison delivered.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Central Catholic, New Castle