Pine-Richland notebook: Basketball teams set for playoff openers

By: Jerin Steele
Sunday, February 18, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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The Pine-Richland boys basketball team needed a tiebreaker, but the Rams will return to the playoffs after a one-year absence.

The Rams received the No. 8 seed in the WPIAL Class 6A bracket and will travel to play top seed Mt. Lebanon on Feb. 23.

Pine-Richland finished in a tie for fourth place in Section 1-6A with New Castle and Seneca Valley at 3-7 but had the best overall record in head-to-head matchups. The Rams were 3-1, while the other two finished 2-2.

A 54-44 overtime victory at Seneca Valley on Feb. 2 proved pivotal. Vasile Balouris led the Rams with 15 points and Andrew Mendelovich scored 12.

It was their only win in their last 10 games. They’ll enter the playoffs on a four-game losing streak.

Under the direction of veteran coach Joey David, Mt. Lebanon had the best overall record in Class 6A this season at 18-4 and went 9-1 to win the Section 2 title.

The Blue Devils have won eight of their last 10 games, with their only two losses coming against Peters Township and Moon, which are both top seeds in the Class 5A bracket.

Rams girls learn opponent

Pine-Richland girls basketball is the seventh seed in the WPIAL Class 6A bracket and will open the postseason at No. 2 Peters Township on Feb. 22.

It’ll be a rematch of an early season nonsection matchup which Peters Township won 55-46. The Rams were without second leading scorer Cate Gentile in that game.

Madison Zavasky, a 1,000-point scorer and IUP recruit, and Gentile have paced a Rams team that has only nine healthy players.

Pine-Richland has played well down the stretch, going 3-2 in its last five games with wins over Seneca Valley, Beaver and North Catholic. Their two losses came on a buzzer beater against Butler and to top-seeded Norwin, in a game where they led at halftime.

Peters Township is 21-1 and won the Section 2-6A title, but saw its bid for an unbeaten regular season end in a 44-41 upset by Canon-McMillan in the section finale.

That loss likely cost the Indians the top seed. They ended the regular season with the best offense, scoring 57 points per game.

National Signing Day

There were 10 Pine-Richland athletes who participated in the February National Signing Day period, inking their letters of intent to play in college.

Six football players — Giovanni “JL” Aiello (Susquehanna), Nate Brown (Gannon), James Cardinalli (Navy), Evan Johnson (Duquesne), Ethan Pillar (Mercyhurst) and Jonathan Smith (Clarion) — signed.

Pillar (running back) and Smith (guard) were first-team All-Northeast Conference in Class 5A offensive performers and Johnson (linebacker) was on the first-team defense.

Baseball players who signed are Nathan Kush (Denison) and Danny Pedersen (Penn State Behrend).

Nicholas Hartwick will compete in track and field at Slippery Rock and Ariana Anderson will continue her swimming career at Ohio Northern.

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

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