Penn Hills boys learn from past losses to climb all the way to top of WPIAL mountain

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, March 12, 2023 | 11:01 AM

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Make no mistake, Penn Hills senior guard Noah Barren appreciated the pomp and circumstance. The Indians boys basketball team was treated to the full cycle of congratulations after winning its sixth WPIAL title.

Penn Hills, which beat Peters Township, 70-65, on March 2 at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center to win the Class 5A crown, was welcomed back to the high school with an escort from firetrucks and support from the community.

“It felt good,” said Barren, who scored a team-high 22 points against Peters Township. “It hadn’t happened in a few years. We are going to enjoy this moment and move on.”

Penn Hills, which won the district for the first time since 2018, was fueled to grab more by how last season went. The Indians had high hopes in the WPIAL playoffs last year, only to take a surprising loss to Highlands in the quarterfinals.

While Penn Hills rallied to make a run to the PIAA quarterfinals, third-year Indians coach Chris Giles reevaluated how the team would approach this season.

“I think it was motivation not only for the players but from a coaching perspective,” Giles said. “We felt like we had a strong team and had underachieved. The coaches and players, myself included, had to look in the mirror and figure out what we were doing. We didn’t want to go down the same path.”

Penn Hills (21-3) lost two of its first five games before closing the regular season by winning 14 of 15 to win Section 2. After surviving an ugly first-round contest with Trinity, the Indians reached the title game by beating Mars and North Hills by double figures.

The Indians were defensive stalwarts throughout the season. Penn Hills limited its opponents to an average of 45 points per game.

“We needed to stay together and help out on defense,” Barren said. “We had to help every play. We didn’t want to have any mental lapses.”

Much like any team that wins a championship, strong performances came from the players casual observers would recognize like Quinnipiac commit Daemar Kelly, who scored 21 points in the title game, and Julian Dugger, who is being recruited to play college football.

But in the semifinals against North Hills, Penn Hills got a big assist from Lamire Redman, who made five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points.

Before the win over North Hills, Penn Hills had only made 14% of its 3-point attempts in the prior four games.

“It’s not necessarily part of our identity to shoot 3s,” Giles said. “But I say all the time we will have kids who make sacrifices for the team. We have kids who can make 3s. I trust the kids. They are in the gym, getting shots up before and after practice. I tell them to take what the defense gives us.”

The Indians, who were scheduled to open the state playoffs with a matchup against District 9’s DuBois, the results of which were too late for this edition, are hoping to keep exploiting good matchups throughout the state playoffs. There’s still a lot left to do.

Winning the WPIAL isn’t where Barren hopes the story ends.

“It was a good experience, but I feel we have more to accomplish,” Barren said.

Tags: Penn Hills