Norwin basketball enjoying success in summer tournaments

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Saturday, July 5, 2025 | 12:01 AM

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Just reaching a championship game isn’t as fulfilling as winning one, but Norwin will enjoy its recent tournament run just the same.

The Knights boys varsity team made the championship game of the fifth annual Tre Cunningham Memorial Basketball Tournament before falling to Imani Christian, 66-57, in the title game.

The teams are WPIAL Class 6A section opponents. Norwin fell to the Saints in their first section matchup last year, 73-26, before nearly upsetting them in a much closer rematch, 59-58.

“Getting to any team championship at any event is a good thing,” Norwin coach Cam Auld said. “We fought through some adversity in the Jeannette game and they battled back. We were more us against Indiana.”

Norwin, which finished 3-2 for the three-day tournament that honors late three-sport athlete Cunningham, got 19 points from Mario Csukas, 16 from Stefano Giannikas and 11 from Nate Kuch in the final.

All three players are incoming seniors. The Knights’ eight-man rotation from last year played in the Jeannette event.

The Knights clipped host Jeannette, 45-40, in the quarterfinals before an impressive 54-40 win over Indiana in the semis.

Jeannette, seeking its first title in the tournament, lost two key players to ankle injuries in Jayce Powell and Xavier Odorisio-Farrow.

Many considered Imani Christian, a WPIAL and PIAA Class A champion in 2023 and ‘24, a pre-tournament favorite, and the Saints played like it, spreading the floor and moving the ball with rotation and kick-outs.

Donovan Gordon opened the scoring with a layup off the jump ball and Aiden Laux’s tip dunk gave the Saints early momentum.

Kuch hit a 3 for Norwin to cut the lead to 28-24 late in the first half before Imani Christian took a 35-25 lead into halftime.

Threes from Csukas and Kuch got the Knights within five three times in the second half, and Colton Ustazewski scored off a turnover with 7:33 remaining to cut it to 51-48.

Imani responded to just about every Norwin run and never gave up control.

Norwin, which was set to play Hempfield in the Greensburg YMCA summer league semifinals, made nine 3s.

“Our postgame talk was centered on the effort our guys gave today,” Auld said. “Both teams played three games today. That’s not an excuse, but it’s tough. We’ve been playing a ton of basketball.

“If a couple bounces go your way, it might be a different game. If you’re within eight with two minutes to go, you’re still in it.”

Norwin is primed to return nine seniors, including Alex Graney, who did not play in the Cunningham tournament, as well as Chris McKnight, Dom Kantz, Max Levendowsky, Noah Carney and Jon Tapocik.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

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