Thrill of victory for Seneca Valley, agony of defeat for Hempfield in 6A quarterfinals

By: Ted Sarneso
Thursday, February 19, 2026 | 10:32 PM

This one hurt.

With the Hempfield basketball players leaving with tears in their eyes — but their heads held high — coach Austin Butler knew this was a tough, rare feeling for his players.

“To our guys’ credit, they hadn’t ever been in a position like this, and I thought they fought, gave everything they had tonight. We just came up short,” Butler said after his team’s 45-44 quarterfinal loss to Seneca Valley in the WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinals.

In a game where the Spartans (15-8) led for 28 minutes, 58 seconds, it was the Raiders (14-9) who pulled the rug out in the final moment on a pair of free throws from senior guard Andrew Omasits.

“I told the team that it was going to come down to every single possession, the little things were going to matter,” Omasits said while surrounded by teammates and fans after the game.

Added Seneca Valley coach Kevin Trost: “It feels great. It wasn’t pretty. We grinded, and it was a hard-fought game. Our kids are resilient. We tell them to keep swinging no matter what. We did tonight, and it paid off in the end.”

The game was tightly contested throughout, with plenty of action and physical play, but the bulk of the highlights came in the last 1:35.

Hempfield took possession of the ball with 2:45 to go in the game and held the ball without a shot for more than a minute when Luke Williams sank a pair of free throws to give Hempfield a 38-32 lead. It was the game’s first points in almost 6 minutes.

Seneca Valley answered on a 3-pointer from Ryan Priester before going on a foul streak to preserve time on the clock.

First, Dan Husenits made a pair, then Trevor Donsen made two after Seneca Valley’s Owen Congdon made a bucket while being fouled and hit his free throw.

Congdon would miss a pair of free throws after Donsen made his, and Husenits missed one of two for a 43-38 Hempfield lead.

Omasits converted a pair of free throws before Husenits made one of two again, leaving Hempfield with a 44-40 lead with 19 seconds to go.

“Offensive execution was perfect. We made them foul us, and we got to the free-throw line,” Butler said.

“We were just one shot, one rebound, one free throw away from coming out on the other end. It sucks, but it’s something the young guys will learn from.”

The Raiders’ Jaxon Householder sank a huge 3-pointer after Omasits missed a layup. Omasits got his own rebound and found Householder open in the corner, cutting Hempfield’s lead to 44-43.

“We always talk about defending and rebounding,” said Trost. “Those are our core principles. We rebounded well tonight and that made a big difference between winning and losing.”

With 6.7 seconds left, Husenits — who led all scorers with 17 points — went to line again but missed both free throws, opening the door for the Raiders to have a chance.

On the inbounds, Omasits motored down the court, beating the Spartans to the basket, put up a shot and was fouled. He headed to the free-throw line with 1.8 seconds left with the game in the balance.

“I think that pressure is a privilege,” said Omasits, who finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

“Not a lot of people can handle that situation, but I’m one of those guys. I strive in those opportunities.”

He sank both free throws, and as Hempfield heaved one last desperation shot as time expired, fans flooded the court to celebrate the win.

Ryan Priester scored 12 points, and Owen Congdon tallied 10 for the Raiders.

Lucas Simmons added 15 for Hempfield.

Seneca Valley, who allowed opponents to score just 44.9 points a game on the season, held Hempfield way below its season average of 58.2 points per game.

“It’s tough,” Butler said. “Some nights it just doesn’t go your way. It was one of those nights that we got good looks, we didn’t make them, but were still in the position to win the game. Credit to Seneca Valley for fighting back.”

The Raiders, after being outscored in the first three quarters, edged Hempfield, 20-12, in the fourth.

Hempfield’s man defense allowed Seneca Valley to penetrate early in the game, but made it difficult for the Raiders to finish at the hoop. But their persistence paid off later in the game.

“We had a hard time scoring around the rim,” Trost said. “Hempfield is a little longer, and we didn’t finish well in the paint. I was glad we kept going inside and later on we got buckets under the basket.”

For much of the first half, Seneca Valley looked to be out of sorts defensively — not switching on screens — and offensively — players not sure of what set to run — but were much sharper coming out of the locker room after halftime.

“I felt like we needed to settle down,” Trost added. “We prepared well coming in. I thought we needed to settle down, get back to our fundamentals and we would be okay.”

The Spartans held an 11-8 lead at the end of the first quarter behind seven points from Husenits.

Hempfield went to the free-throw six times in the first half and made 9 of 12, and Seneca Valley made 5 of 7. In the second half, Hempfield was 8 of 15 and Seneca was 7 of 11.

Aided by their free-throw shooting and six first-half turnovers for the Raiders, the Spartans went into halftime up 24-19.

The third quarter belonged to Simmons as he scored six of his 15 points in the frame to lead the Spartan attack.

Both teams scored six points until the final seconds when Simmons grabbed a rebound and found Husenits at the top of the key for a jumper and a 32-25 lead at the end of three.

Seneca Valley advances to the semifinals to face top-seeded Upper St. Clair on Monday night at a site and time to be determined.

“We’re going to be playing a very good opponent next round,” Trost said. “This time of year, we’re glad to keep playing. We have a good group of kids and winning gives us more time with them, which is what I really want.”

Tags: Hempfield, Seneca Valley