South Allegheny boys basketball team reaches PIAA semifinals

By: Jose Negron
Wednesday, March 16, 2022 | 9:40 PM

Heading into the program’s first state quarterfinal appearance, South Allegheny boys basketball coach Tony DiCenzo knew his team was in need of a strong offensive performance.

“When we are going well, it’s because our offense is clicking in all phases,” DiCenzo said earlier this week. “If we do the things we need to do offensively, things should fall into place.”

The offensive showing wasn’t pretty for all 32 minutes, but a late surge helped the cause.

And now South Allegheny is heading to the state semifinals for the first time in program history.

The Gladiators played their usual brand of shutdown defense and took things up a notch offensively in the fourth quarter, turning a three-point edge into a 53-41 victory over Bishop Guilfoyle in the PIAA Class 3A quarterfinals at Armstrong High School.

“This one reminds me of every other game I coach where we defend our butts off, make them earn and then score the ball well before going into lulls where we don’t score it well,” DiCenzo said Wednesday. “Bryce (Epps) was a little frustrated early because he wasn’t scoring the ball. We kept telling him to be patient and that we were going to need him to step up.”

When SA (20-7) needed him most, Epps answered the call down.

With his team leading 38-35 with just over four minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Epps hit a big 3 to push the Gladiators’ advantage to six. Over the next two minutes, he went to the free-throw line four times and sank each attempt to give SA a 10-point edge. The Gladiators outscored the Marauders (22-7) by a 15-6 margin in the final 4:12 to secure the win.

Epps finished with a game-high 23 points, including 19 in the second half, and finished with a career-high 10 rebounds. He also went 8 for 8 from the charity stripe, including 6 for 6 in the final three minutes of the game.

“I struggled in the first quarter with a couple of turnovers and some bad shot selection,” Epps said. “My teammates believed in me, though. They picked me up and told me to keep shooting. They all trusted me, and I thank them for that.”

South Allegheny failed to convert on its first five shot attempts.

Bishop Guilfoyle built a 6-0 lead during that span before buckets by Michael Michalski and Carlos Melvin got things going for the Gladiators.

After a jumper by Matthew Woolridge, Dillion Hynes scored five straight points during a 7-1 run that gave SA an 11-9 cushion after one. Hynes finished with 10 points.

South Allegheny’s defense held the Marauders without a field goal until the 3:42 mark in the second quarter.

Up until then, the second belonged to Michalski and the Gladiators, who went on an 11-1 run to extend their lead to 22-10 with 3:54 on the clock. Michalski had six of his 10 points to lead SA during its early spurt.

“If Bryce isn’t scoring, we really look to Mike to make things happen for us,” DiCenzo said. “He’s been great over the last month and a half, and that’s what we expect out of him.”

Patrick Haigh ended Bishop Guilfoyle’s drought from the field, draining an inside jumper to cut the lead to 22-12. He scored 7 of his 10 first-half points during a 10-4 run in the final 3:42. Patrick Haigh’s late buckets helped the Marauders trim their deficit to 26-20 heading into halftime.

“That’s also a sign of every other game that I’ve coached here. We get out to a big lead in the first half, relinquish it and somehow have to find a way to hold teams off,” DiCenzo said. “We had to finish the half with Mike on the bench and, to survive that being up by six, we felt like we were in a good spot.”

After going down by eight early in the third quarter, the Marauders came storming back behind the brotherly duo of Patrick and Jude Haigh. The pair scored all eight points during an 8-3 spurt that cut the SA lead to 31-28 before a media timeout with under four minutes left.

Patrick Haigh led Bishop Guilfoyle with 16 points, and Jude Haigh added 14.

“We always talk about the first three minutes of the second half being the most important,” DiCenzo said. “We knew they were going to come back at us, we just had to withstand it.”

Nearly two minutes went off the clock without a basket before a bucket inside by Karson Kiesewetter and a free throw from Jayce Hettinger tied things up at 31-31.

SA didn’t waver, however.

Epps scored five of the last six points on a 3-pointer and a pair of shots from the free-throw line to give the Gladiators a 36-32 lead heading into the fourth.

“All season long, we’ve known what we’re capable of,” Epps said. “We bought into what our coaches have told us all year, we came out and played our hardest every single game, and it’s definitely paid off for us.”

South Allegheny now prepares for a state semifinal matchup with Aliquippa on Saturday at a site and time to be determined.

The Gladiators defeated the Quips in last year’s WPIAL semifinals.

“We played them in the semis last year, but the stakes are a lot higher now,” Epps said. “We’re coming for them, and we’re going to be ready.”

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