New Castle loses late lead, falls to Cathedral Prep in overtime
By:
Friday, March 19, 2021 | 9:02 PM
New Castle’s Mike Wells shoots over Cathedral Prep’s Liam Galla, as time expires in overtime of their PIAA Class 5A quarterfinal on Friday, March 19, 2021, at New Castle High School. Prep won, 52-50.
Cathedral Prep’s Khali Horton pressures New Castle’s Mike Wells into a turnover during the fourth quarter of their PIAA Class 5A quarterfinal on Friday, March 19, 2021, at New Castle High School.
New Castle head coach Ralph Blundo talks with Sheldon Cox after he fouled out of their PIAA Class 5A quarterfinal against Cathedral Prep on Friday, March 19, 2021, at New Castle High School.
New Castle’s Mike Wells drives to the basket against Cathedral Prep’s Liam Galla during their PIAA Class 5A quarterfinal on Friday, March 19, 2021, at New Castle High School.
New Castle’s Sheldon Cox scores against Cathedral Prep’s Liam Galla during their PIAA Class 5A quarterfinal on Friday, March 19, 2021, at New Castle High School.
New Castle’s Mike Wells fouls Cathedral Prep’s Will Innes late in overtime of their PIAA Class 5A quarterfinal on Friday, March 19, 2021, at New Castle High School.
New Castle’s Mike Wells scores past Cathedral Prep’s Liam Galla and Khali Horton during overtime of their PIAA Class 5A quarterfinal on Friday, March 19, 2021, at New Castle High School.
New Castle’s Michael Graham drives to the basket against Cathedral Prep’s Ethan King-Vincent during their PIAA Class 5A quarterfinal on Friday, March 19, 2021, at New Castle High School.
New Castle’s Sheldon Cox (11) and Isaiah Boice pressure Cathedral Prep’s Will Innes during their PIAA Class 5A quarterfinal on Friday, March 19, 2021, at New Castle High School.
Cathedral Prep’s Liam Galla scores over New Castle’s Michael Graham (1) and Isaiah Boice in the final seconds to send the game to overtime in their PIAA Class 5A quarterfinal on Friday, March 19, 2021, at New Castle High School.
New Castle’s Sheldon Cox sits on the bench next to Andrae Jackson after fouling out in overtime of their PIAA Class 5A quarterfina against Cathedral Prep on Friday, March 19, 2021, at New Castle High School.
For New Castle, the fourth quarter ticked away too slowly and overtime went by too fast.
The Red Hurricanes lost a seven-point lead late in regulation, and in overtime saw their potential tying basket waved off after the buzzer Friday night as Erie’s Cathedral Prep won 52-50 in the PIAA Class 5A quarterfinals.
Six days after winning a WPIAL title, their time ran out.
“We just didn’t quite play good enough,” New Castle coach Ralph Blundo said. “You’ve got to credit Prep. They’re the best defensive team we played all year. There’s no question about that.”
In the final 6 seconds of overtime, New Castle raced the length of the floor, setting up junior Mike Wells for a contested runner that missed. Teammate Mike Graham scored on the offensive rebound but the clock had already reached zeroes, so his shot didn’t count.
Combined in the fourth quarter and overtime, there were six ties and seven lead changes.
New Castle’s put-back at the buzzer was a second late. #HSSN pic.twitter.com/QVfc5Ryt7J
— Chris Harlan (@CHarlan_Trib) March 20, 2021
Sheldon Cox led New Castle (21-3) with 18 points, including four free throws in overtime, but the senior fouled out with about two minutes left.
Wells added 13 points.
“We thought the game would be a dogfight like this,” Blundo said. “Their on-ball defense was really good. They stayed in front pretty good. And foul trouble by Sheldon for the majority of the game certainly didn’t help.”
Cox, the team’s leading scorer, had two fouls in the first half and drew his third a minute after halftime. His fourth foul came with about 3 minutes left in the third.
New Castle scored a season-low 50 points, more than 20 below its average.
Cathedral Prep was determined to defend the 3-point line and took away New Castle’s outside shots. The Red Hurricanes went 5 for 16 from beyond the arc with none made in the fourth quarter or overtime.
“Just looking at the tape, I’d probably say 75% of their shots come from 3-pointers,” Prep coach Steve Piotrowicz said. “So running them off the line was huge.”
District 10 champion Cathedral Prep (17-7) advanced to face District 3’s Lower Dauphin on Monday. Khali Horton, a 6-foot-5 sophomore, led Prep with 16 points, and senior Will Innes had 14.
New Castle had led 44-37 with 90 seconds left in the fourth but couldn’t hold the lead. Cathedral Prep scored seven consecutive points, including a turnaround jumper in the lane by senior Liam Galla to force overtime.
The tying shot came on an inbounds play from underneath the basket.
“We just needed to get one stop there at the end with four seconds to go,” Blundo said. “A basic out-of-bounds and didn’t get it. When I saw it was going to be a bad matchup on the switch, I tried to call a timeout and the refs didn’t hear me.
“It seemed like there was a lot of that kind of stuff — not the refs’ fault — but a lot of those little things like that tonight didn’t go our way.”
New Castle is headed to overtime after Cathedral Prep hits this shot to tie #HSSN #PIAA pic.twitter.com/jYhArmSMOz
— Chris Harlan (@CHarlan_Trib) March 19, 2021
Late in the fourth quarter, Innes was the first to eat away at New Castle’s seven-point lead, making a 3-pointer with 84 seconds left. After New Castle sophomore Jonathan Anderson missed the front of a one-and-one, Innes scored again, this time on a layup with 32 seconds left.
With the lead down to two, Wells had the ball stolen with 21 seconds left. That led to Galla’s jumper with 4 seconds left that forced a 44-44 tie.
Overtime was tied at 46, 47 and 50.
With 54 seconds left in OT, Wells dove for a loose ball, landed on Innes and was called for an intentional foul. Innes made one of two free throws to lead 51-50, and Cathedral Prep kept possession.
“I didn’t think it was a good call, but I don’t make those decisions,” Blundo said. “I felt like in a game like this, I don’t think you make that call.”
New Castle was forced then to foul, and Prep went 1 for 4 in the final 21 seconds. Galla made one of two and Tavion Spencer missed twice.
That provided New Castle with chances. Isaiah Boice missed a potential go-ahead 3-pointer with 6 seconds left, and Wells missed his runner at the buzzer.
“This is disappointing,” Blundo said. “But you’re in the quarterfinals, and you’re playing against a good team.”
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.
Tags: New Castle
More High School Basketball
• After championship season, Norwin girls looking for ‘best 5’ to make another run• New coach hopes to make talent stand out for Norwin boys
• New coach looks to carry on Mt. Pleasant girls basketball tradition of toughness
• Mt. Pleasant boys to embark on ‘refocusing year’ after starters graduate
• Plum girls planning to think fast, play fast to help replace graduated top scorer
