North Catholic takes control of section race with frantic, 1-point win over Knoch
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Tuesday, February 4, 2025 | 10:16 PM
The WPIAL’s tightest section race remains so thanks to a game that couldn’t get much closer.
North Catholic’s Owen Maddalon blocked a shot with six-tenths on the clock Tuesday night, the last act in the frantic final seconds as the Trojans defeated visiting Knoch, 54-53, in a battle for first place in Section 1-4A.
“It got a little bit tense at the end,” said North Catholic coach Jim Rocco, whose team clinched at least a share of the section title yet could still finish in a three-way tie.
The last 4.3 seconds included a foul on a missed 3-point shot, a 5-second turnover on an inbounds play and a jump ball with 1.8 seconds left — all plays that went against North Catholic. They led to one last possession for Knoch and a last-second defensive stand by North Catholic to win.
“We just weathered the storm,” Rocco said. “High school kids are high school kids. We as adults do a lot of dumb things. High school kids do too. We did some crazy things, but you’ve just got to weather the storm.
“They’re resilient.”
Final: North Catholic 54, Knoch 53
With 1.8 left, North Catholic makes a defensive stand to win #HSSN pic.twitter.com/Arns98Yyf4
— Chris Harlan (@CHarlan_Trib) February 5, 2025
The victory gave North Catholic (15-5, 10-1) an edge in the section title race, but a chance remains for a three-way tie involving Knoch (14-6, 9-2) and Deer Lakes (16-4, 9-2).
North Catholic visits Deer Lakes on Friday. The Trojans won 61-46 over Deer Lakes on Jan. 14 and would clinch the section title outright with another win.
“It’ll be a fun environment,” Rocco said.
This section already has produced its share.
Knoch defeated North Catholic, 61-56, when they met Jan. 10. Knoch also split its section series against Deer Lakes, losing by seven and winning by three.
“I know for us, the four games (vs. North Catholic and Deer Lakes) have been absolute physical wars,” Knoch coach Alan Bauman said. “Great coaching staff. Really good players. Dynamic players. Physical basketball. Unfortunately, tonight we came up that one play short.”
Knoch had held a nine-point lead in the third quarter, but that vanished when North Catholic sparked a 14-2 run that extended into the fourth. A tie-breaking 3 by junior Jude Rottmann gave North Catholic a 46-43 lead with 5:35 left. The Trojans scored nine straight points in one stretch.
Knoch made one basket in a 7-minute span.
“It comes down to we’ve got to hit some open shots,” Bauman said. “We missed layups in the third quarter when we had a chance to extend (the lead) out. We missed some putbacks. We missed wide-open 3s. Credit to North, they didn’t.”
Jason Fredericks led North Catholic with 17 points, including a tying layup early in the fourth quarter and a foul-line jumper with 3 minutes left to lead by five.
Rottmann scored 13 points.
North Catholic went 6 for 6 shooting in the fourth. A layup off an inbounds play by Eli Stofko with 44 seconds left gave the Trojans a 54-51 lead.
“Less is more. You don’t say a whole lot,” Rocco said of his late-game approach. “We have certain principles that we play by. We’re not a group that’s going to run some miraculous stuff that we never do. The thing that Eli scored on, that wasn’t a coach’s call. That’s how we play.”
Knoch’s shooters turned cold late. The Knights went 3 for 8 shooting in the fourth quarter and 1 for 11 on 3-pointers after halftime. Jackson Bauman had a team-high 16 points.
North Catholic led 18-14 after one quarter, but Knoch took leads of 32-26 at halftime and 43-39 after three.
A steal and layup by Bauman with 1:08 left narrowed North Catholic’s lead to 52-51. After a North Catholic basket by Stofko, Bauman was fouled on a 3-pointer and made 2 of 3 free throws with 4.3 seconds left.
But Knoch couldn’t erase North Catholic’s one-point lead.
“We’ve been struggling to close games,” Bauman said. “We have six losses. Five of them we’ve been leading in the fourth quarter. We’ve got to do something about that as we go into the playoffs.”
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: Knoch, North Catholic
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