Westmoreland County boys basketball notebook: Norwin dials up long-distance offense

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Thursday, January 9, 2025 | 11:01 AM

Purchase Photo Options

Norwin’s offense has picked up at times this season, and the Knights can give you three good reasons why.

The team doesn’t settle for 3-pointers, it thrives on them.

The Knights made a concerted effort to get more quality looks on offense under first-year coach Cam Auld, and so far, they have not misfired on their approach.

The proof is in two games: Juniors Stefano Giannikas and Mario Csukas each made seven 3-pointers in separate wins.

Giannikas made seven shots from deep and scored 23 points in a 64-42 victory against Valley, whereas Csukas connected on seven 3s in a 61-49 win over South Fayette.

Auld was known for being a proficient perimeter shooter when he played for Norwin — and Waynesburg University — so the style is no surprise. But Auld said the 3-point potency is not altogether by design. It’s more like something the Knights have earned.

“It’s really not something that we put a number to, like I feel like you see a lot in today’s game,” Auld said. “Teams want to shoot ‘X’ amount of 3s. That’s not what we do. Our goal every possession is to touch the paint, and when you can do that, more times than not, you get the defense to collapse, which leads to open in-rhythm 3s.”

Auld said the Knights attempt about 15 3s a game — not a huge number, but it can be meaningful when making half of them.

“We talk about being in rhythm and building energy with the ball,” Auld said, “so that by the time it makes it around, everything is positive, which hopefully leads to more makes.

“We feel pretty comfortable with just about all the guys we play taking (3s). Some lights are greener than others, but we are confident with all our guys shooting it.”

The highlight of the season to this point happened last Friday.

Chris McKnight hit a key 3 in overtime as Norwin upset No. 5 Mt. Lebanon, 51-49, in overtime, Auld’s signature win so far. McKnight also made an important layup late and scored 21 points.

Nate Kuch had a key block to seal the win.

“These guys grew up tonight,” Auld said after the game.

It was just the second home game for Norwin all season.

“Twenty-six practices and two games (at home),” Auld said.

Butler nears 1,000

Latrobe’s Max Butler could join his three older brothers as 1,000-point scorers. That is a feat that has never happened in Westmoreland County and could be the first occurrence of four brothers reaching 1,000 points in WPIAL history.

The senior guard needs fewer than 100 points to reach the milestone.

Austin Butler is Latrobe’s all-time leading boys scorer with 1,905 points, Landon Butler scored 1,185 and Bryce Butler had 1,157.

Only one player from Westmoreland County, Burrell’s Tucker Bitar, has reached the 1,000-point milestone this season.

Salvino keeps winning

Belle Vernon coach Joe Salvino is alone in second place on the all-time WPIAL boys basketball list for coaching wins with 731.

The question now is: Can the veteran coach get to No. 1? Salvino, who coached 34 years at Monessen and seven at Belle Vernon, trails Don Graham, who won 801 games during his storied tenure at North Catholic.

Salvino, 73, needs 70 wins, which means he’d need to stick around for another several years.

“I don’t know,” Salvino said. “It’s something I look at each year. We’ll see what happens after this season.”

Derry aisle

Derry (8-3, 5-0) won for the sixth time in seven games Tuesday with a 68-38 victory over Yough, opening a game-and-a-half lead over Elizabeth Forward (9-3, 3-1) in Section 3-4A.

The Trojans are holding opponents to 48.9 points, the fifth-best defensive average in 4A.

Derry’s Stanley Rajkovich, a 6-foot-7 sophomore forward who plays like a guard, continues to impress.

In last week’s 76-57 win at West Mifflin, Rajkovich poured in 32 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for the Section 3-4A-leading Derry.

O’Rourke to SVC

Greensburg Central Catholic senior Brady O’Rourke will continue his playing career at Saint Vincent.

O’Rourke, a second-year starter, is a 6-foot-5 swing guard. His father, Tim, also played at Saint Vincent.

Moore’s dunk

Social media was alive with clicks Tuesday when Belle Vernon senior guard Zion Moore posted a clip of his alley-oop slam dunk against East Allegheny. Moore takes an alley-oop pass from under the basket on an inbounds play and delivers a one-hand stuff over a defender to send the crowd, and his teammates, into a frenzy.

🚀 pic.twitter.com/Vn1Y19n0xd

— Zion Moore (@ZionMoore34) January 8, 2025

Friday night live

The big county game to watch Friday night is in Class 2A where the top two teams in the classification meet in a first-place clash in Section 1 with No. 2 Greensburg Central Catholic (11-1, 5-0) visiting No. 1 Jeannette (11-0, 5-0).

Jeannette is the only undefeated team in WPIAL boys basketball.

The Jayhawks are ranked No. 3 in the state, and GCC is No. 4.

Other local section games to watch Friday include:

Section 2-6A: Canon-McMillan (2-9, 0-5) at Norwin (6-6, 2-3); Hempfield (7-5, 2-3) at Upper St. Clair (12-1, 5-0)

Section 1-5A: Gateway (5-6, 3-2) at Penn-Trafford (5-5, 2-3); Latrobe (12-1, 4-1) at McKeesport (4-8, 2-3); Franklin Regional (5-7, 1-4) at Albert Gallatin (7-5, 2-3)

Section 3-4A: Greensburg Salem (3-7, 2-2) at Belle Vernon (9-4, 4-1)

Section 4-3A: Mt. Pleasant (0-12, 0-3) at Southmoreland (9-2, 2-0)

Section 2-A: Monessen (6-4, 1-2) at St. Joseph (6-5, 2-1)

Layups

Seven players scored in double figures in Southmoreland’s 72-62 win over Waynesburg on Tuesday. Noah Felentzer had 24 points, Ty Whoric had 15, Brady Sherbondy 12 and Stanley Chapman 11 for Southmoreland. Cole Headlee led Waynesburg with 18, Alex VanSickle had 17 and Alex Eck 10. … Six players reached double digits when Belle Vernon downed East Allegheny, 85-60. For Belle Vernon, it was Moore with 25 points, Tommy Davis with 20 and Trevor Kovatch with 13. Cedrick Mack had 20, Christ Portis 13 and Jayden Patterson 13 for East Allegheny. … Only two players from Franklin Regional have scored in double figures this season: Connor Crossey and Jonah Johnston. … Latrobe and Southmoreland each have won seven straight games.

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

Tags: Franklin Regional, Greensburg C.C., Greensburg Salem, Hempfield, Jeannette, Latrobe, Monessen, Norwin