Upper St. Clair shakes off slow start, rolls past Woodland Hills into Class 6A semifinals

By: Don Rebel
Thursday, February 20, 2025 | 11:09 PM

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At first glance, it would appear the 13-day layoff for WPIAL Class 6A boys basketball top seed Upper St. Clair played a role in the very slow start to its quarterfinal playoff game against visiting Woodland Hills on Thursday.

Whatever the case, the Panthers were able to find their scoring touch and slowly pull away from the Wolverines, 63-41.

Both teams struggled in the opening eight minutes, missing shots from the perimeter as well as layups and putbacks.

The opening quarter ended with Upper St. Clair leading Woodland Hills by the paltry score of 4-3.

However, USC coach Danny Holzer did not think rust had anything to do with his team’s blah start on offense.

“Not at all, because (the layoff) was the same type of thing we faced last year. We kept it to the script of the same thing we did last year,” he said.

“They’re high school kids, and it was a playoff basketball game. Even though we are a veteran team, we had some jitters and missed a couple of layups. Fortunately, our defense kept us in it until we loosened up and hit a couple of shots.”

Both teams picked up the offense in the second quarter.

In fact, the Panthers and Wolverines combined for nine points in the first 90 seconds of the second quarter after scoring only seven points in the entire first stanza.

With the score even at 8-8, the Panthers went on a 7-0 run that put them in front for good.

There was concern three minutes into the game for USC when 6-foot-10 senior forward Tyler Robbins had his hands on a defensive rebound, rolled an ankle and fell to the floor. He walked off on his own but was a spectator the rest of the first quarter.

However, when he returned to start the second, he was a “big” reason why the Panthers took control by outscoring the Wolverines 21-12 in the quarter.

The USC guards were able to distribute the basketball to him down on the blocks where he was impossible to stop.

On defense, he blocked shots, altered shooting angles and created several turnovers with his long reach.

“He’s a game changer for us,” Holzer said. “He does a really good job with his body and his length so he’s not making contact and picking up fouls.

“We have a lot of different components to our defense. I think we pressure the ball well and do a good job of defending people’s actions. Plus we always have Tyler to take care of the paint area.”

The Panthers had four players in double-digit scoring led by Tyler Robbins with 17 points. Senior guard Nico Gidas was perfect at the foul line and hit two 3-pointers to finish with 14 points.

Younger brother Ryan Robbins had a strong third quarter, scoring all but two of his 11 points, and senior forward Kaamil Jackson tallied 11 points as well.

Electric Wolverines junior guard Scoop Smith led all scorers with 22 points, leaving him 12 points shy of 1,000 for his career.

He’ll have to wait until next year for that milestone as Woodland Hills’ season — and five-game winning streak — ends with a 12-12 record.

Upper St. Clair returns to the 6A final four for the third straight year and the fifth time in six years this decade.

The Panthers will battle No. 5 Central Catholic (14-9) for the third time this season Monday at a site to be determined.

The Panthers beat the Vikings twice this season, winning at home in December, 46-31, and on the road in mid-January, 57-43.

Tags: Upper St. Clair, Woodland Hills