Westmoreland boys basketball notebook: Top matchups on tap at holiday tournaments

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Thursday, December 26, 2019 | 8:57 PM

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Christmas time means holiday basketball tournaments, and there are a few notable ones in the area Friday and Saturday.

Two local round-robin events to watch will be at Penn-Trafford and Greensburg Salem.

The Penn-Trafford Holiday Tournament, which has girls and boys games (two of each Friday and Saturday), features Norwin (6-1) against McKeesport (4-2) at 11 a.m. Friday, with Penn-Trafford (6-1) facing Franklin Regional (3-5) at 5 p.m.

On Saturday, Norwin plays Franklin Regional at 1 p.m., followed by Penn-Trafford vs. McKeesport at 3.

At the Greensburg Salem Holiday Classic, there will be four games each day.

Friday’s schedule has Laurel Highlands (3-3) vs. Mt. Pleasant (4-3) at 3:30 p.m.; Washington (5-0) vs. Connellsville (2-4) at 5; Hempfield (4-4) vs. Bishop Guilfoyle (4-0) at 6:30; and Greensburg Central Catholic (4-2) vs. Greensburg Salem (1-6) at 8.

Saturday has Bishop Guilfoyle and Laurel Highlands at noon, Mt. Pleasant vs. Connellsville at 1:30, Greensburg Central Catholic vs. Washington at 3 and Greensburg Salem vs. Hempfield at 4:30.

Hempfield defeated Greensburg Salem, 74-59, in the season-opening Hempfield Spartan Tip-off Tournament.

Southmoreland, Belle Vernon and Yough are at the Charleroi Tournament, which will have a champion and loser’s bracket.

Jeannette is hosting a four-team round-robin tournament with Serra Catholic, Valley and Indiana. It started Thursday.

P-T playing well

Penn-Trafford is sitting in a nice position heading into the holiday break with a 6-1 record (1-0 in Section 3-6A).

The Warriors’ only loss came against Central Virginia at the KSA Tournament in Orlando, Fla.

With just one senior in point guard Zach Rocco, the Warriors weren’t expected to be this good, this early. But they are playing with energy and sharing the basketball well.

Rocco is among the WPIAL leaders in scoring with 20.6 points per game. He scored 28 against David Douglas (Ore.) at the KSA Tournament and is over 800 points for his career.

No one ranked?

It’s been a while since no Westmoreland boys teams have been ranked by the Tribune-Review, but that is the case so far this year.

Of the 18 teams in the county, only six took a winning record into Friday: Penn-Trafford (6-1), Norwin (6-1), Mt. Pleasant (4-3), Belle Vernon (4-3), Greensburg Central Catholic (4-2) and Ligonier Valley (6-2), which plays in District 6.

Twelve of the teams have at least four losses.

Jeannette hits 100

Jeannette hit the century mark last week when it toppled Bentworth, 107-47, in a Section 2-2A game.

Six Jayhawks scored in double figures, led by sophomore Anton Good with a season-high 20 points.

The Jayhawks had not reached 100 points since Jan. 26, 2007, against East Allegheny (102-50).

Four WPIAL boys teams have topped 100 points in a game this season. The others are Bethel Park (107), Clairton (104) and Trinity (100).

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Derry Area, Greensburg C.C., Greensburg Salem, Hempfield, Jeannette, Norwin, Penn-Trafford