Path to the Pete Recaps From Thursday 2/25

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, February 25, 2016 | 11:37 PM

While there were a couple of games that were for seeding only, most of the eleven games were win and advance to the state playoffs, lose and hang up the uniforms for good. This was the second straight year that the WPIAL held consolation round games to determine the order and qualifiers for the PIAA postseason. However with expansion next year to six classifications, the WPIAL will go back to the old follow the leader. Anyway, here are the recaps form the final night of consolation basketball game sin the WPIAL.

A special thanks to Mark Uriah, Kyle Dawson, Bob Orkwis, Steve Nagler, Dennis Fischer, Greg Kuntz, Bob Gregg, James Dotson, Matt Vandriak and Don Rebel for their help on these recaps.

BOYS WPIAL CLASS AAAA Consolation Finals:

Bethel Park Black Hawks 75 – Chartiers Valley Colts 64 
The Black Hawks jumped out to an early 11-0 lead and never looked back as they earned a PIAA Quad-A boys basketball state playoff berth while ending the season for the 2015 WPIAL Class AAAA champion Colts. Bethel Park beat Chartiers Valley at their own game. lighting it up from behind the arc and getting to a lot of loose balls. The Hawks hit on eleven 3-pointers with Josh Duda connecting on five and Chance Wright on four 3-point shots. Meanwhile, the Colts only hit on four 3-point shots. Bethel Park led 16-11 after one and 36-30 at halftime. However the Hawks quickly increased their lead to double digits in the third quarter and the Colts never got closer than six points the rest of the way. Dude led all scorers with 31 points while three others also hit double digits for BP including 14 for Wright and 13 points each for Jake Dixon and Levi Metheny. Ross Wilkerson and senior Eddie Flohr led Chartiers Valley with 22 points each in the final game for both Flohr and fellow senior Joey Antonucci. The Colts, who beat the Black Hawks twice during the regular season, end their season with a record of 20-6. Bethel Park improves to 19-7 and will play the WPIAL champion, either Pine-Richland or North Hills in the First Round of the PIAA Playoffs next Saturday. 

BOYS WPIAL CLASS AAA Consolation Finals:

West Mifflin Titans 93 – Hampton Talbots 90
The West Mifflin Titans have earned the fifth seed out of District 7 in the upcoming PIAA Triple A boys basketball tournament with a hard-fought 93-90 win over the Hampton Talbots, who will be seeded sixth, on Thursday night at North Allegheny High School.  In a game with non-stop thrills, the Talbots held a 21-20 lead at the end of the first eight minutes.  But the Titans sprinted out to a 13 point lead late in the second quarter before settling for a 44-36 advantage at the half.  Hampton returned the favor to start the third period racing to a 10 point lead midway through the quarter before West Mifflin (15-8) closed the gap to trail 68-64 with eight minutes to play.  The Titans outscored the Talbots 29-22 in the final stanza to win by three.  West Mifflin was led by seniors Karlyn Garner with 31 points, Ken Rouse-Strothers with 29, including seven three point field goals, Josh Long with 13, and junior Deyten Hill with 10.  Hampton (17-9) was paced by juniors Antonio Ionadi with 32 points, Nick Schuit with 18, Kyle Reese with 16, and Mark Shehedy with 11.  Both teams will next play in the first round of the state tournament at sites and times to be determined over the weekend.

BOYS WPIAL CLASS AAA 7th Place Consolation:

Steel Valley Ironmen 49 – West Allegheny Indians 47 
There was no quit in Steel Valley in this PIAA play in at Peters Township.  The Ironmen battled back from double digit deficits in both the 3rd and 4th quarters to secure the final District 7 playoff birth in the Class-AAA state tournament.  After a tied first quarter, the Indians started to pull away in the 2nd quarter, leading by as many as 8 points before Steel Valley cut the deficit to 25-21 at halftime.  West Allegheny would stretch their lead to 37-27 in the 3rd quarter, before the Ironmen closed the quarter on a 7-0 run, capped by Ryan McCallister’s 3-pointer at the buzzer.  West Allegheny would build their lead back to 10 in the 4th quarter as well, but the Ironmen soared back one more time.  Down 47-46, McCallister came through again, netting another big 3 point shot in the game’s final minute to give Steel Valley a 49-47 lead.  After both teams missed free throws, West Allegheny had one more chance in the game’s final seconds.  But Amonte Strothers blocked Jared Lanni’s 3-pointer with :05 seconds remaining, and the Ironmen held on for the win.  Steel Valley’s Ja’Mier Fletcher led all scorers with 13 points.  Kenny White led West Allegheny with 12 points, while Terence Stephens added 10.  West Allegheny finishes the season at 12-13, while Steel Valley will move onto the PIAA playoffs for the first time since 2002.  The Ironmen improved to 17-7 with the win, and will play the winner of WPIAL title game between Beaver Falls and Highlands in the PIAA first round.

BOYS WPIAL CLASS AA Consolation Finals:

Washington Little Prexies 50 – Quaker Valley Quakers 49 
Not only trailing by 9 points with less than three minutes to play, but scoreless for 8-1/2 minutes, Wash High rallied to score 12 of the final 14 points to down Quaker Valley, 50-49, earning a fifth-place spot in Double-A boys action.  The Little Prexies (19-7) will open PIAA play at the District 10 champion (Greenville/Fairview) next Saturday.  The Quakers (20-6) will travel into District 6 to play their champion (Bellwood-Antis/West Branch).  Both teams seemed to start the game in a hurry, sprinting up and down the court in a back-and-forth opening quarter.  Quaker Valley ultimately opened up an 8-point lead early in the second, thanks in part to three treys by Coletrane Washington and two more from Wolf Moser.  Matt Popeck’s three-ball was part of Washington’s 7-0 response in the middle of the period that saw the Quakers in front, 28-27, at intermission.  Markel Pulliam, whose 22 points led all scorers, grab a quick deuce to open the second half, giving WHS its first lead since the middle of the opening quarter, and a quick turnover gave the Little Prexies a three-point lead less than a minute into the third.  Following a QV timeout, the tempo slowed dramatically for both teams with just 11 points combined over the final 5 minutes of the quarter.  After WHS tied the game 38-all with 3:29 to play, a Washington turnover led to the only points through the end of the period.  Quaker Valley held the ball for much of that time, but couldn’t get more than two points out of the 3-1/2 minutes.  QV scored the first 6 points of the fourth to lead by 8, then returned to the hold/freeze approach.  Nearly three minutes later, Colin Hill’s 1-for-2 trip to the foul line put the Quakers up 47-40.  Anthony Popeck and Pulliam hit two free throws and a field goal each, plus field goals by Isaiah Robinson and Matt Popeck gave Washington a three-point lead with 38 seconds to play.  Amos Luptak, who lead Quaker Valley with 14 points, got his last on a wild play in the lane, cutting the margin to 1 with 28 seconds.  Twice, the Quakers got the ball back, up the floor and couldn’t regain the advantage.  Anthony Popeck had 10 points for the winners.  Moser finished with 11 for Quaker Valley.

BOYS WPIAL CLASS A Consolation Finals:

Eden Christian Academy Royals 54 – Clairton Bears 48 
Basketball can be weird at times and Thursday night at Peters Township High School, it was weird in the way of Eden Christian, the co-section 1 champions with Sewickley Academy in Class A, having everything going in the even quarter and down the stretch and seemingly nothing in the odd quarters, that were dominated by the Bears of Clairton in what turned out a 54-48 win for the Warriors and put them in as the final representative from Class A in the WPIAL to the state playoffs. For Clairton, Pitt football recruit Aaron Mathews led the offensive attack with 17 points while freshman guard Khori Fusco added eight of his own. Eden Christian was paced by a 27-point outing by sophomore David Ritchie that included 15 points from the charity stripe. Ritchie shot 15-16 from the line with his only miss coming in the second quarter and was a perfect 10-10 to put the game away in the late stages of the fourth quarter. The Bears will graduate four players including Uri Meyers and Mathews as well as Jyleel Hall and Tony Paolicelli and finish 16-5 on the season after winning a shared section 4 title. As for the Warriors, it’s on to the PIAA tournament and a date in the first round next week as they look to keep the ball rolling in a very successful season thusfar for Todd Aiken’s team still early in its existence in the WPIAL. For Eden Christian, it’s their second straight PIAA Tournament berth after being the Cinderella of the WPIAL Class A playoffs last season. Eden Christian Academy will enter the state playoffs with a 20-4 overall record.

GIRLS WPIAL CLASS AAAA Consolation Finals:

Mount Lebanon Blue Devils 57 – Canon-McMillan Big Macs 50 
Kate Sramac scored 10 of her game-high 23 points in the fourth quarter as Mt. Lebanon pulled away from Canon-McMillan over final seven minute, beating the Big Macs, 57-50, claiming the final Quad-A girls berth out of the WPIAL.  The Blue Devils (16-9) have now won six of the last seven games, 13 of the last 16, and return to the PIAA tournament after missing last year.  Canon-McMillan’s season ends at 16-9.  The Blue Devils put several runs together early on, taking advantage of numerous CM turnovers.  Mt. Lebanon got eight points in the opening quarter from Maura Wallace, including two three-pointers.  Sramac put up 8 points in the second, also draining a pair of treys, the first pushing the ML advantage to 25-12 with three minutes to play before intermission. Canon-McMillan mounted a furious comeback, outscoring the Blue Devils 16-3 over the next five minutes, tying the game at 28-all early in the third.  The lead changed hands six times over the final four minutes of the third, but what proved to be a tactical error by CM enabled Mt. Lebanon to get the lead for good in the final seconds of the period.  With a one-point lead and 90 seconds to play in the third, the Big Macs tried to sit on the ball, holding the ball for a final shot.  Cheyenne Trest had dribble trouble on the left wing that brought a double-team by ML.  When Trest got the ball to Rebecca Turney, she immediately passed to the right wing, but too high.  Tamara Mathis saved the errant pass, but through it right back for a lay-up and one by Sramac.  The Blue Devils never trailed again, eventually building a 9-point cushion. Twice, the Big Macs trimmed the deficit to four but could get no closer.  Wallace finished with 18 for Mt. Lebanon, McKenzie Bushee added 10 for the Blue Devils who will open PIAA play next Friday against the WPIAL champion (Norwin/North Allegheny).  Trest, who struggled from the floor most of the night, finish with 14 points.  Mathis has 13 for the Big Macs.  The teams combined to go 32-39 at the foul line, each canning 16 free throws.

GIRLS WPIAL CLASS AAA Consolation Finals:

Blackhawk Cougars 53 – South Park Eagles 52 
Both of these teams came into the game knowing they had already clinched a spot in the PIAA Class AAA Girls playoff field, so the stakes at hand for the winner were the 5th seed from the WPIAL and the 6th seed for the loser. For South Park, there was also a chance to erase its final loss of last season, a 73-49 defeat in the 1st round of the State Playoffs to Blackhawk. The Cougars were looking for some momentum to begin the daunting task of defending their back-to-back PIAA Triple-A titles as a lower seed. The contest at North Allegheny High School was tight throughout, tied at halftime and Blackhawk sweated out several late opportunities from the Eagles to win the game by one point. South Park had a 6-point lead in the 1st quarter which was the biggest for either team on the night. The score was 24-24 at the break and the Eagles led 37-36 after the third quarter. After getting a turnover with under a minute to go in the game, South Park trailed 53-51 and had several chances to tie or take the lead. But Alyssa Greer missed the back end of a two shot foul, Brittany Andrews missed the front end of a one-and-one and senior Allison McGrath missed a pair of free throws after getting an offensive rebound to keep possession for the Eagles. As is usually the case, the three-point field goal was a weapon for Blackhawk, specifically for guard Madison Amalia. The junior netted a game-high 18 points connecting six times from behind the arc. Junior Breanna Hoover was the only other Cougar in double figures, finishing with 16 points. Senior Mariah Evans contributed 8 points, 12 rebounds and a pair of blocks to help Blackhawk improve to (19-7) on the season. Three Eagles posted double digit numbers in the loss. Andrews, a junior,  recorded a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds in the game. McGrath finished with 13 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks while Greer added 12 points in a losing effort for South Park. The 5-11 McGrath, who will play collegiately at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, finishes the WPIAL portion of her career with 1,845 career points. The loss dropped South Park’s record to (19-7). It’s onto the Road to Hershey for both teams. Blackhawk gets the #5 seed form District 7 and the Cougars will play the winner of the District 10 Championship Game between Villa Maria and Mercyhurst Prep. Those two teams will play Saturday Night at 6 PM at Gannon University. South Park will await the loser of the WPIAL Girls AAA Championship game Saturday Afternoon at 3 PM at the Petersen Events Center. Top seeded South Fayette takes on second seeded Trinity, with the loser becoming the #2 team from District 7 in the State Tournament. The Class AAA Girls State Playoffs will begin on Saturday March 5th.

GIRLS WPIAL CLASS AAA 7th Place Consolation:

Ambridge Bridgers 50 – Chartiers Valley Colts 43 
The Ambridge Bridgers used late defensive pressure and clutch foul shooting down the stretch to edge the Chartiers Valley Colts to gain the 7th seed in the Class AAA Girls PIAA playoffs.  Down 36-31 heading into the 4th quarter, the Bridgers outscored the Colts 19-7 in the final eight minutes to gain victory and avoid a third straight loss and an end to their season.  Sara Fischer led Ambridge, scoring 20 points on the evening.  Abbey Antolic (12 points) and Sydney Rabold (10 points) also scored in double figures for the Bridgers.  The Colts were led by Gabby Legister who scored 13 points off the bench.  Mackenzie Wagner scored 10 points for Chartiers Valley.  With the win, Ambridge heads into the PIAA playoffs with a 21-5 record.  The Colts’ season ends with a record of 15-11.

GIRLS WPIAL CLASS AA Consolation Finals:

Neshannock Lancers 44 – Burrell Buccaneers 42 
Defense wins championships. While Thursday night’s game between the Lady Lancers and the Lady Buccaneers was not for a WPIAL championship, it sure had the feel of a title game. Neshannock’s defensive strength started strong and finished stronger in a 44-42 victory over Burrell in the Class AA Consolation bracket. Both teams started with a defense-first mentality, with Neshannock leading 6-3 at the end of the first quarter. Burrell would bounce back in the second quarter, and after an Eliza Oswalt three pointer at the buzzer, the Lady Bucs took a 17-12 lead at the half.  The offenses finally arrived in the third quarter, with both teams matching or surpassing their first half scores in the third stanza alone. Burrell doubled their score in the third quarter, scoring 17 points coming out of the locker room. Brooke Smith had nine of her 11 points in the third quarter, and Natalie Myers scored 7 of her team high 13 points in the period as well.  The YSU commit was held to just one point in the first half. Neshannock also turned up the scoring after the intermission, led by Carmie Matarazzo’s 10 points in the third quarter. Matarazzo scored her team’s first five points in the first half and also scored the first five points of the second half for the Lancers. Burrell still held a 34-30 lead after three quarters, and expanded the lead to 39-32 with 6:00 left in the contest. From there, the defense stepped up huge for Neshannock Coach Luanne Grybowski, holding Burrell without a basket for over five minutes and sparking a 9-0 Lancer run and giving Neshannock a 41-39 lead. Aidan Noga and Stephanie Paras each had steals which led to breakaway layups as a part of the Lancer run.  With 1:18 left, Oswalt struck again from downtown to give Burrell the lead back at 42-41. Neshannock would drive down, miss two shots, but get two offensive rebounds before Bella Burrelli’s  put-back with 48 seconds left put the Lancers back up 43-42. The Lancer defense finished the job, forcing one more turnover in the waning seconds. Paras hit one of two free throws with eight seconds left, and Myers’s game-winning three point attempt at the buzzer fell short. Matarazzo had a career night, finishing with 24 points and 10 rebounds for the Lancers. She had yet to post double-digit points in the playoffs before Thursday night. Burrelli and Noga each scored 8 points for Neshannock. Noga also registered 5 steals.  Myers finished with a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds. She also contributed four steals for the Lady Bucs. Smith followed with 11 points, while Oswalt contributed 9 points and 9 rebounds.  Neshannock receives the 5-seed out of the WPIAL and will take on the District 6 champion (Bishop McCort or Merion Center) in the PIAA playoffs, while Burrell with take on the District 6 runner-up (Harbor Creek or West Middlesex) in the state tournament. Good luck to both the Lady Lancers and the Lady Bucs on the Road to Hershey!

GIRLS WPIAL CLASS AA 7th Place Consolation:

Chartiers-Houston Buccaneers 58 – Riverside Panthers 42 
The Chartiers Houston girls basketball team captured 7th place in the WPIAL and the final double-A girls spot in  the PIAA playoffs with a 58-42 win over Riverside Thursday night at Canon McMillan. The Buccaneers built an 11-point halftime lead, 27-16. But with Jala Walker and Jules Vulcano both on the bench in the third quarter with four fouls, the Panthers pulled to within four, 35-31. Riverside had its share of foul trouble as well. Abbey Matico and Jordan Annarumo both fouled out in the fourth quarter. Chartiers Houston got strong bench play to hold the lead and eventually pull away for the victory. Cassidy Stollar led Chartiers Houston with 13 points. Madison  Simpson added 12 and Jala Walker 11 to lead the Bucs (18-8) into the state playoffs. Sydney Wolfled all scorers with 17 for Riverside (20-6).

GIRLS WPIAL CLASS A Consolation Finals:

Winchester Thurston Bears 39 – Riverview Raiders 34 
Defense was the name of the game in this matchup with a spot in the 1st Round of the PIAA State Playoffs hanging in the balance.  There was not a whole lot of scoring in the 1st quarter, and it would be safe to say that there were more combined turnovers than points as both the Riverview Raiders and the WT Bears struggled to take care of the basketball.  The Raiders had a 6-4 edge at the conclusion of 1 period.  Throughout the 1st half, the Raiders playing stifling defense, holding Bears’ star Center Ayanna Townsend to just 4 points, at times double- and triple-teaming her in the low post.  Meanwhile, Sadie Buchser of the Raiders had the hot hand as she had 12 of Riverview’s 19 points.  Riverview led by 9 at the break, 19-10.  Although the Raiders continued to hold the lead at the end of 3, WT would chip away little by little as Bears’ Coach Monica Williams’ halftime adjustments would pay off, and Townsend would find open spaces in the Raiders’ defense.  Although Buchser went ice-cold in the 2nd half, going scoreless, Molly Kennedy (10) and Ariel Rafferty (8) did their best to hold off the WT onslaught, but to no avail.  The Bears took the lead for good midway through the 4th, and Townsend, with great support from Kayla Small both offensively and defensively, would lead the way with 18 of her 22 in the 2nd half.  Small had just 8 points, but she did her damage with 7 rebounds and a number of both blocks and steals.  The Winchester-Thurston Bears will go to the 1st Round of the PIAA State Playoffs with a 39-34 victory over the Riverview Raiders, and they will play the District 9 Champion.  WT’s record now stands at 14-11 while Riverview’s season is over at  15-10.