Shady Side Academy, Fox Chapel knock off rust at holiday tournament

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, December 30, 2017 | 11:00 PM

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Shady Side Academy hosted the Peter Sauer Memorial Tournament from Dec. 27-29 with six teams entered in the round robin. On Dec. 27, Carson Cohen scored 22 points as Fox Chapel (4-3) beat Armstrong, 59-48, and Shady Side Academy (6-1) edged Seneca Valley, 54-52, in overtime led by the heroics of Grady Munroe. Munroe scored five of his game-high 23 points in overtime.

“I was really pleased with how our guys played,” SSA coach David Vadnais said. “We got contributions from a number of guys with nine of them scoring. We continue to rely on our depth to get us through close games. Grady hit some big shots for us, especially late in the game. He also got a couple important rebounds and played good defense.

“He is not afraid of big situations. It's nice to have a guy that wants the ball late in games. Mike George, Peter McIlroy and Dan Counihan did a great job inside for us. They kept us even on the boards, which was a key for us going into the game,” Vadnais said. “Individually they didn't score a lot of points, but together they got us the points we needed. Overall, we were proud of the effort our guys gave. Now we need to find a way to do it again against Armstrong.”

Fox Chapel coach Zach Skrinjar was also happy with his team's play in the opening round.

“It's always a challenge to be off for a few days and then play an afternoon game, but we did a nice job responding and shaking off some of the rust. The game was a slower tempo, which we were fine with,” Skrinjar said. “We knew Armstrong would play a zone and be disciplined on the offensive end. In the second half, we were able to share the basketball more and create open looks for our shooters. To our credit, we knocked them down at critical times.”

The Foxes lost to Cumberland Valley, 57-54, on Dec. 28.

“We had control of the game in the fourth quarter,” Skrinjar said. “But careless turnovers on our part allowed them back in the game, and they took advantage of it.

“It was very uncharacteristic of us but, unfortunately, it happened. This team is still searching for an identity. Even in our win in the first round, we made too many unforced errors and we were too slow on offense and defense. We aren't playing with the effort and energy needed to win close games. We need to resolve this quickly. We took two steps back against Cumberland.”

The Indians fared no better than the Foxes on Day 2 as they lost to Armstrong, 62-58, in overtime. Armstrong led 13-6 after the first quarter. Munroe got hot in the second quarter as he scored 15 of his team-leading 19 points and SSA grabbed a 27-21 halftime lead.

“We allowed them to hang around, and they made plays,” Vadnais said. “They made some key free throws in overtime. We had chances to take the lead, but we couldn't get our shots to fall. I'm proud that we never gave up, but we have to put teams away when we have the opportunity. I need to do a better job in fourth quarters.”

Marty Stewart is a freelance writer.

Tags: Fox Chapel