Southmoreland boys warm up, top Waynesburg to clinch section title

By: Dave Mackall
Friday, January 31, 2025 | 11:12 PM

When Southmoreland, the unbeaten Section 4-3A leader in boys basketball, stepped onto its home floor Friday night for the opening tip against runner-up Waynesburg Central, Scotties coach Frank Muccino wasn’t expecting a chilly start.

Southmoreland was ice-cold.

But despite trailing for much of the game, the Scotties, behind Noah Felentzer’s 28 points, rallied to beat the Raiders, 58-51, in overtime to clinch the program’s first section title since 1992.

Perhaps Muccino would’ve wanted to grab the ball and shoot it himself after watching Southmoreland’s early futility.

But he might’ve had a tough time because he was coaching with his right arm in a sling following rotator cuff surgery Jan. 21.

“I wouldn’t have been very useful,” he said. “You know, we had a good day in practice (Thursday). I thought we were ready to go. We didn’t come out that way. I don’t know of very many shots we hit in the first half.”

Three, to be exact — two in the first quarter and one in the second — and the Scotties scored a grand total of 12 points before intermission.

Down by as many as 14 and trailing 23-12 at halftime, Southmoreland (15-4, 8-0) turned up its offense in the second half, erasing a 13-point, third-quarter deficit to defeat Waynesburg Central (8-10, 6-2).

“We just told them at halftime, ‘We’re better than this,’ ” Muccino said. “ ‘We’ve been better than this all year.’ ”

Felentzer scored all but three of his 28 points in the second half and overtime to spark the Scotties’ comeback.

“It’s hard to win on the road in the section,” said first-year Waynesburg Central coach Mike Juliano, who previously served as a girls assistant at Cameron (W.Va.) for two of the three consecutive years the school won Class A championships.

“No. 1 against No. 2 in the section, and I think you saw just that tonight,” he said. “They’ve got a really good player (in Felentzer) who made just enough plays to get the job done. He knocked down a couple shots, and we had some turnovers late that kind of bit us in the back.”

Felentzer’s long 3-pointer from the top of the key with 22 seconds left in regulation tied the score at 46-46, and Waynesburg couldn’t get two potentially winning shots to fall in the closing seconds before the game went to overtime.

In overtime, Southmoreland took the lead for good on Brady Sherbondy’s 3-pointer with 36 seconds left, triggering a game-ending 8-0 run that included 5 of 6 free throws in the final 8 seconds.

Sherbondy added 11 points for Southmoreland.

“He hit a big shot there,” Muccino said. “I’m probably the toughest on him, and he just keeps coming back for more. I’m really proud of him.”

Cole Headlee led Waynesburg Central with 17 points. Alex Eck contributed 13, and Dane Woods added 11 for the Raiders.

“The experience we had tonight is going to help us,” Juliano said.

Both teams have qualified for the WPIAL playoffs.

“It’s not where we set our sights at the beginning of the year,” Juliano said. “There’s disappointment and discouragement. … We’re trying to build the culture of this program. We’re not going to hang our hats on just making the playoffs every year. It’s exciting for now, something we’ll celebrate. But we feel we have more work to do.”

Tags: Southmoreland, Waynesburg