Westmoreland County boys basketball notebook: Greensburg Central Catholic savors signature win

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Thursday, February 1, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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Greensburg Central Catholic made a splash at the Shootout at Seton Hill last weekend, posting one of the most impressive regular-season wins in coach Christian Hyland’s five-year tenure.

GCC (18-2), the No. 2-ranked team in Class 2A, took complete control in the second half and raced past Class 5A No. 2 Gateway, 63-42.

Gateway was ranked No. 1 earlier in the season.

GCC has not lost in 2024 (9-0).

In a game tied 25-25 at halftime, GCC erupted for a 19-5 third quarter run and humbled the sliding Gators, who did not have a player score in double figures.

GCC senior guard Tyree Turner, though, continued to show why he is one of the top all-around players in the WPIAL this season, scoring 26 points.

Franco Alvarez added 19, including a rare 3-pointer and a near-slam dunk.

“In terms of a confidence builder, yes, it’s the statement win we’ve been looking for,” Hyland said. “Now we can’t let our heads blow up. We have to keep playing hard. This is not the cherry on top.”

Playoff spots

Heading into this week’s action, only six boys teams from Westmoreland County had secured WPIAL playoff berths.

They are Franklin Regional in Class 5A, Burrell, Yough and Mt. Pleasant in 3A, GCC in 2A and Monessen in A.

Upset special

Three county teams pulled off upsets Tuesday to potentially shake up the rankings.

In Class 5A, Penn-Trafford edged past No. 2 Gateway, 54-52; Belle Vernon dumped 4A No. 3 Uniontown, 69-65; and Yough handed No. 4 Washington its first loss, 43-35, in 3A.

Papuga gets 1,000

Senior Nate Papuga became the fifth member of the 1,000-point club at Derry when he reached the milestone Tuesday in a 77-29 win at Apollo-Ridge.

Papuga finished with 33 points, giving him 1,001. That mark is fifth all-time at Derry behind Ryan DeMary (1,328), Daniel Schall (1,149), Stanley Falinski (1,061) and Richard Falinski (1,022).

Papuga is the fourth county player to reach 1,000 this season, joining Tyree Turner of GCC, Macky Bennis of Burrell and Isaiah Gonzalez of Kiski Area.

Hollick goes off

Ligonier Valley junior guard Parker Hollick had a career night Tuesday as the Rams won 83-73 at Valley.

Hollick made a school-record 11 3-pointers and finished a point shy of the team’s single-game scoring record with 43 points.

The Rams made 18 3s for the game, with Mike Wisniewski connecting on four and Brian Wisniewski hitting three.

Hollick and Michael Marinchak had shared the 3s record with seven.

Marinchak had 44 points in a game.

Hollick and Marinchak are the only players in the program to score 40 points since the merger with Laurel Valley in 2010.

More for Zion

Junior guard Zion Moore has been at Belle Vernon for only two seasons, but that’s all the time it took him to score 1,000 points at the school.

Moore, who began his high school career at Ringgold, hit the milestone Tuesday in a 69-65 win over No. 3 Uniontown when he poured in 25 points. (He added eight assists in the upset.)

Moore now has 1,410 career points, including the 406 he had at Ringgold.

Angus battles through

After he came out of the locker room on the lower level of the McKenna Center, Brady Angus hardly could walk up the steps to leave Seton Hill last weekend during the Shootout at Seton Hill.

The senior guard had just given his all in a 66-50 victory over Mt. Pleasant, but he was clearly in pain.

“He hasn’t even been practicing,” Derry coach Tom Esposito said. “He might get some shots up, but we try to rest him.”

Angus has been battling shin splints all season, so Derry doesn’t try to overdo it with his minutes.

“The kid is just a testament to what it’s all about,” Esposito said. “He’s a Derry kid. He’s a tough kid.”

Angus sat out Tuesday’s game against Apollo-Ridge.

Masked man

Watch Southmoreland play, and it’s tough to miss senior guard Wyatt Richter. He’s the guy with the face mask.

Richter took a shot to the nose Dec. 21 against Ringgold and has been wearing the protective mask since. His nose isn’t broken, but he doesn’t want to take any chances.

“It’s been good wearing it, but the rubber paddings on it keep falling off and that’s the only problem I have with it,” Richter said. “The good aspect about it is that when I get hit in the nose, it doesn’t hurt as bad.”

Double trouble

McKeesport and Latrobe produced a thriller Tuesday that wasn’t short on double-digit scorers. In fact, there were eight of them in the Tigers’ 84-77 win in overtime. They were Lamont Perkins (32), Dominique Cochran (18), Keith Spell (15) and Brian Jones (10) for McKeesport, and Max Butler (25), Ian DeCerb (17), John Wetzel (15) and Kyle McNeil (11) for Latrobe.

Layups

As of Monday, only six of the 18 teams in Class A have winning records. They were Rochester (11-5), Monessen (13-3), Jefferson-Morgan (12-6), West Greene (10-5), Neighborhood Academy (12-4) and Aquinas Academy (11-5). … Esposito needs three wins to break Ken Grote’s record for career wins at Derry. Esposito is 146-173 over two stints (1999-2008, 2018-24). Grote finished 148-120 from 1958-68. … The WPIAL section season ends Feb. 10, and playoff pairings will be announced Feb. 12.

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

Tags: Belle Vernon, Derry Area, Franklin Regional, Greensburg C.C., Ligonier Valley, Monessen, Mt. Pleasant, Southmoreland, Yough