No. 3 Moon boys push past Franklin Regional in Class 5A quarterfinals

By: Bill Beckner
Thursday, February 21, 2019 | 1:30 AM

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Franklin Regional and Moon had to wait a few extra minutes to take the court Friday night while the crowd from the first game of the playoff doubleheader cleared out at West Allegheny.

Moon wouldn’t get out of the Panthers’ way, either.

In a matchup of defensive-minded teams, the third-seeded Tigers put together an unswerving effort on that side of the basketball and pushed past No. 6 Franklin Regional, 64-48, in a WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinal.

Moon (22-1) advances to play No. 2 Penn Hills (20-3) on Tuesday in the semifinals.

“We executed the game plan real well,” said Moon 6-foot-6 junior forward Donovan Johnson, who had seven rebounds. “It was just stopping buckets, stopping buckets, that’s all coach has been preaching for the past couple days. He knew it would be a low-possession game. He knew we had to grind it out on defense and the offense would take care of itself.”

Franklin Regional (17-7) managed just one field goal in the third quarter and Moon strung together an 11-0 run from the third into the early part of the fourth to take command for good.

“Moon did a nice job of taking us out of what we like to do,” Franklin Regional coach Steve Scorpion said. “They denied the wings the ball. We adjusted to it well in the first half. But we played more sideline to sideline in the second half, almost like we panicked.”

The Panthers now need Moon to get to the WPIAL finals to qualify for the PIAA playoffs.

Moon had a first-round bye but did not look rusty in its return to the court.

Johnson scored a game-high 22 points to lead four Tigers in double figures.

“We knew their whole team can score,” Johnson said of the Panthers. “We just had to guard our man and help and stick to our defensive principles we’ve been working on tonight.”

Johnson, who has offers from Duquesne, George Washington, USC-Upstate, Akron, and interest from many others, made a free throw with 4:28 to play to give the Tigers their largest lead, at 51-36.

Franklin Regional, in the quarterfinals for the third consecutive season, had won two of its last three meetings against the Tigers in the postseason.

“That ends the curse,” a Moon assistant said.

Last year, the Panthers slipped past Moon, 28-26, in the quarterfinals at North Hills.

The teams had more points than that by halftime this time, when it looked like the Panthers would have a shot at advancing a game closer to another trip to the WPIAL finals.

“We had the looks,” Scorpion said. “We just didn’t make shots. It was tough playing a road game in the playoffs. This was a home game for Moon. But we thrived on it. Moon is a good team, and the thing about them is everybody knows their roles.”

This was a matchup of two of the top defensive teams in 5A.

Moon came in allowing 46.3 points, Franklin Regional, 47.4.

Pressure caused problems for both sides, but more so for the Panthers in the third when they could not put the ball in the basket.

Jioni Smith added 12 points and six assists, while Connor Ryan and Austin Ryan had 11 each.

Johnson had six quick points out of the gate for Moon, and the Tigers led by eight early, at 14-6, following a 3-pointer from Connor Ryan.

But the Panthers quickly closed the gap and took a 15-14 lead on a layup by Thomas Merante off a steal by 6-foot-7 Johnny O’Toole.

Moon led most of the second quarter, stretching it to seven (30-23) on a layup by Taru Jones off a nifty, no-look pass from Smith.

Franklin Regional ended the half, however, on a 7-2 run to cut it to 32-30 by the half.

Merante’s 3 from the top of the key tied it 30-30.

Merante led the Panthers with 15 and Nick Leopold had 13.

Moon had just five players score. Jones finished with eight.

Logan Summerhill had eight for Franklin Regional.

The Tigers shot 11 for 24 from the free-throw line.

Tags: Franklin Regional, Moon