Westmoreland high school basketball notebook: Jeannette seeking another championship

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, February 15, 2018 | 6:42 PM

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Jeannette is ready to get serious about basketball.

After a regular season of stops and starts because of injuries and inconsistent lineups, celebrations and championship ring fundraising from a football season that still glows, the boys basketball team wants to start its own legacy.

“It's our time,” Jayhawks coach Adrian Batts said. “Football is behind us now, and it's time to concentrate on us winning a title.”

Celebrating WPIAL and PIAA football championships is not a bad thing and certainly not a distraction, but it may have, at times, overshadowed a pretty good basketball team that could make inroads to its own trophy.

The on-court talent and athleticism is there. Now, Batts wants focus to follow suit. Basketball focus.

Jeannette (18-3), seeded No. 3 in the WPIAL Class 2A bracket, has a first-round bye and won't play its quarterfinal game until next Friday.

It gets the winner of Frazier (9-12) and Shenango (14-8).

“I hope we're excited and hungry to play our first game,” Batts said. “I want us to come out healthy and ready for the playoffs.”

Batts knows the team's fanbase makes the full switch from football to basketball in the playoffs. More people, those unsatisfied by runaway section wins, come out of the woodwork. He hopes the Jayhawks can give them something to cheer about.

“If you win or tie in Jeannette, they love you,” Batts said with a smile. “They want championships.”

The top two seeds in 2A are Sewickley Academy (18-4) and OLSH (20-2).

Family tree

Latrobe has its basketball families. The names are woven into the fabric of the boys and girls programs.

Mueseler, Fenton, Biss, Wetzel, Butler … the list goes on. Each has something unique.

But mention the name Graytok and one trait comes to mind: scoring. With senior guard Laura Graytok topping 1,500 career points this season, she and her two brothers have combined to eclipse the 4,000-point mark. Brian Graytok graduated from Greensburg Central Catholic with 1,408 points, while Sean Graytok netted 1,123 playing at Latrobe.

Brian moved on to play at Washington & Jefferson, where he is a senior, while Sean plays for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy team. He is a sophomore.

Laura, who takes 1,549 points into the playoffs, has committed to play at American in Washington, D.C.

Stone in playoffs

Former Southmoreland standout Brandon Stone has helped The Christ School in Arden, N.C., reach the NCISAA Class 3A prep school playoffs.

The third-seeded Greenies (22-12) host No. 6 High Point (13-13) at 1 p.m. Saturday. Stone, a 6-foot-11 forward, is averaging 15 points and 11 rebounds. He narrowed his college choices to Pitt, Duquesne, Penn State and South Carolina.

Not Joshing

Norwin didn't make the WPIAL Class 6A boys basketball playoffs but that didn't stop the Knights (11-11) from winning two of their final three games, or senior guard Josh Ratesic from getting the ball in the basket. Ratesic poured in a career-high 37 points, including seven 3-pointers, to lead the Knights to a 65-57 win over Plum. The Allegheny recruit made 10 of 11 free throws.

Scoring titles

With the regular season just about complete, it's time to look at the area's scoring leaders.

Ligonier Valley junior center Marrek Paola appears to have the boys title in hand. He took a 25.1 points-per-game average into Thursday's regular-season finale against Homer-Center.

Greensburg Salem senior Marvel McGowan led all local WPIAL scorers at 23.7 ppg.

Greensburg Salem junior guard Megan Kallock (23.6) just edged Latrobe senior Laura Graytok (23.3) for the girls' lead.

Layups

Ligonier Valley senior Lexie Petrof needs just five points to reach 1,000 for her career. The third-seeded Rams (11-12) open the District 6 Class 3A playoffs at 7 p.m. Tuesday against host Tyrone (14-8). … Monessen leads all Westmoreland boys teams in playoff appearances with 62, followed by Jeannette (42), Norwin (40), Greensburg Salem (35) and Latrobe (34). The girls' top five is Greensburg Central Catholic (37), Hempfield (33), Norwin (30), Monessen (29) and Burrell (22). … The Propel Andrew Street boys finished 16-5 and won the Section 3-A title. Propel's second-year coach is Chris Giles, the all-time leading scorer at Seton Hill.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.