Scholastic Notebook – 01/27/2017

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, January 27, 2017 | 1:41 PM

If A.J. Myers and Cameron Hanley ever get together and grab a bite to eat, it would only be appropriate if they went to Applebee’s, just so they could order off the 2 for $20 menu.

Myers and Hanley are members of the Chartiers-Houston boys basketball team. On the menu that is the leading scorers list for the WPIAL, Myers and Hanley are the only 2 for 20 you can find.

Myers, a 6-foot-1 senior guard, is averaging 26 points a game. He is the sixth-leading scorer in the WPIAL. Hanley, a 6-foot junior guard, is averaging 21.7. No other WPIAL team has two players averaging 20.

While Myers and Hanley are a most unusual combo, they are the main reasons for a rather unusual season at Chartiers-Houston. The Buccaneers are 15-2 overall and in first place in WPIAL Class 2A Section 2 with a 7-0 record. They have a two-game lead over both Fort Cherry and California. It would take a pretty big collapse for Char-Houston not to at least tie for the section title.

If the Buccaneers win a section, it would be the first in school history. They have five section games remaining.

Biega to Retire

There was pretty big news this week concerning one of the most successful coaches in WPIAL boys basketball.

Doug Biega, who has won four WPIAL championships at Beaver Falls, informed school officials on Tuesday that he will be retiring at the end of the season.

Biega is only 46, but said he is retiring and not resigning. He claimed family reasons for his decision. Biega and his wife have a 7-year-old son.

Biega said he will miss practices maybe the most and trying to prepare a defensive plan to slow down an excellent team.

“The thing I won’t miss is Christmas day, having to shut things down with my family because we have practice the next morning, of practicing on New Year’s Day or Thanksgiving Day,” said Biega. “That was an impetus in my decision. I want to do be able to do more things with my family.

“I’m adamant about retiring and not resigning. I didn’t want to make the mistake of retiring to an empty house. If I would’ve held on 10 years, my son would be going to college and I would retire to an empty house. When he goes to college, I’ll be 55. Maybe I can do something else then.”

Besides his four WPIAL titles, Biega also won two PIAA titles. He also lost in a WPIAL title game four times and a PIAA final twice. He has won close to 80 percent of his games. This year’s team is 6-7, but Biega’s record is 378-115.

“I have absolutely nothing negative to say, but I will say the amount of energy it takes to win 80 percent of your games is a huge amount of energy,” said Biega. “That’s hard to maintain. I won’t say my tank is empty, but eventually you need to pause and put some gas in it.”

Cummings Close to 2,000

Lincoln Park’s Nelly Cummings is the second-leading scorer in the WPIAL this year and he is now only 48 points away from scoring 2,000 for his career. He would be only the 28^th player in WPIAL history to score 2,000 points.

Johnson Still Ineligible

Jeannette won’t be getting Anthony Johnson back.

Johnson’s story has some twists and turns, but the bottom line is he will not play again this season for the Jayhawks.

Johnson is a talented sophomore who averaged 27 points in the four games he played for Jeannette. He transferred from Allderdice shortly before the season. The WPIAL decided to have a hearing with Johnson after he played the four games, and the WPIAL ruled him ineligible, claiming he transferred from Allderdice for athletic reasons.

Johnson appealed the WPIAL’s ruling to the PIAA, but after a hearing in Mechanicsburg Wednesday, the PIAA upheld the WPIAL decision and ruled Johnson ineligible the rest of the season.

At issue is a PIAA rule that says a student-athlete can be ruled ineligible if he transfers schools to avoid punishment or penalties at a previous school. Johnson was removed from Allderdice’s team shortly before the season and then transferred.

Johnson has a history of changing schools. Jeannette is the fourth school that he has attended in a year-and-a-half. He started at Chartiers Valley as a freshman, transferred and played some for Lincoln Park last year, before leaving that team before the season ended and then transferred to Allderdice in the spring.

Only the Boys are Perfect

It had been a perfect season for Pine-Richland basketball as both the boys and girls teams headed into this week with perfect records. It is extremely unusual for a school to have undefeated boys and girls teams so late into the season.

Well only the Pine-Richland boys are now undefeated. The girls lost their first game Thursday night to North Allegheny, 55-49.

Wagner Resigns

Someone else will take a shot at giving Baldwin a winning football team. Pete Wagner resigned as coach after four seasons.

Wagner had a 10-27 record. Baldwin hasn’t had a winning season since 2003. The Highlanders were 2-7 this past season.

LOI Day

Letter-of-intent day for high school senior football players is Wednesday. That is the first day they can sign with a college.

So far, 21 players from the WPIAL have made verbal commitments to NCAA Division I-A schools. A few more players who will probably go I-A have not committed.

Pitt has four recruits from the WPIAL and Penn State two. The four headed to Pitt are Steel Valley’s Paris Ford, Upper St. Clair’s Gabe Houy, Neshannock’s Tyler Sear and Pine-Richland’s Grant Carrigan.

The two from the WPIAL headed to Penn State are Clairton’s Lamont Wade and Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s C.J. Thorpe. In fact, Wade already is at Penn State. He graduated early and is enrolled for the spring semester.

Tags: Baldwin, Chartiers-Houston, Clairton, Jeannette, Lincoln Park, Upper St. Clair