What to watch in WPIAL finals: North Hills boys, 3 others seek 1st basketball title

By: Chris Harlan
Thursday, March 3, 2022 | 12:27 AM

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North Hills senior Alex Smith and his older brother Nick have a strong sibling rivalry that carries over to the basketball court.

Here’s a debate they just can’t seem to finish: Whose high school team was better, Alex’s or Nick’s? The younger brother hopes to have the last word in that argument by winning a WPIAL title Saturday night.

“We always go back and forth,” Alex Smith said. “He says his team is better than us. I say we’d beat them by a lot. I think if we get this one, he’s got nothing else to say.”

How could you argue, if this year’s Indians win the first WPIAL title in program history? No. 1 North Hills (24-0) faces No. 2 Fox Chapel (23-1) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Petersen Events Center.

This will be North Hills’ first WPIAL finals appearance since Nick’s junior season in 2016, when the Indians lost to Pine-Richland, 73-50. Little brother Alex, then in sixth grade, sat behind the team bench at the Pete and still recalls the sadness felt afterward.

“I remember the buildup to it,” Alex Smith said, “and I remember talking to him after, and how disappointed he was. He wasn’t very talkative the next couple of days.”

A year later, North Hills went 19-7 and lost in the 2017 WPIAL semifinals, closing that championship window for the Indians. Nick Smith is now a senior starter for Nova Southeastern of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the top-ranked team in NCAA Division II basketball.

In the four seasons since his senior class graduated, North Hills went 4-17, 6-16, 8-13 and 4-10. But this year’s success isn’t a surprise.

“In ‘17, with all the success that we had had, some people looked (ahead) and said there’d be some rough times,” North Hills coach Buzz Gabos said. “Maybe we weren’t going to get back there right away, but this was the group we pinpointed — at least I did.”

The Indians have leaned on their experience and size, two keys for winning a WPIAL title. They start four seniors around sophomore Royce Parham, a 6-foot-7 star in the middle. Along with Smith, a 6-3 guard, the other senior starters are Will Blass (6-0), Matt Seidl (6-3) and Devin Burgess (6-4).

They won, 87-57, when they faced Fox Chapel in a season-opening tournament.

His older brother’s class wasn’t able to hang a championship banner, but Alex Smith hopes his finally can.

“The North Hills community, as you obviously see, shows out like crazy,” Smith said Tuesday, when fans filled North Allegheny’s gym to capacity. “It means everything. The fans deserve it. The community deserves it. It’s about time they get one.”

For Pete’s sake

The WPIAL basketball championships return to Pitt’s arena this winter after spending a year away from Petersen Events Center. The finals were played in high school gyms last season because of pandemic-related restrictions.

The 12 games are spread over three days. They’ll be livestreamed on TribLive HSSN.

Thursday’s games

• A boys: Bishop Canevin vs. Union at 5 p.m.

• 3A girls: North Catholic vs. Freedom at 7 p.m.

• 4A boys: Quaker Valley vs. Montour at 9 p.m.

Friday’s games

• 2A girls: OLSH vs. Neshannock at 3 p.m.

• 3A boys: Avonworth vs. Shady Side Academy at 5 p.m.

• 6A girls: Mt. Lebanon vs. Upper St. Clair at 7 p.m.

• 5A boys: Laurel Highlands vs. New Castle at 9 p.m.

Saturday’s games

• A girls: Bishop Canevin vs. Aquinas Academy at 11 a.m.

• 2A boys: OLSH vs. Fort Cherry at 1 p.m.

• 4A girls: Blackhawk vs. Knoch at 3 p.m.

• 5A girls: Chartiers Valley vs. South Fayette at 5 p.m.

• 6A boys: North Hills vs. Fox Chapel at 7 p.m.

Worth the wait?

The North Hills boys aren’t the only team in the finals that has dreamed for years about winning a WPIAL title. Like the Indians, the Freedom, Knoch and Aquinas Academy girls have never won a WPIAL title but will have a chance this week.

A few others have waited four decades or more since their last title.

The Fox Chapel boys won their only title in 1977, the Fort Cherry boys won in 1961, and the Avonworth boys won in 1959. Fox Chapel defeated Beaver Falls, 50-46; Fort Cherry beat Wampum, 77-56; and Avonworth topped McDonald, 77-63.

That win 61 years ago was Fort Cherry’s only appearance in the WPIAL finals. Avonworth was WPIAL runner-up in 1954 and ’62. Fox Chapel finished second in 1988 and ’98.

Back for more

The Chartiers Valley girls have repeated, three-peated and now will try to win their fourth WPIAL title in a row, a feat only five other girls teams have accomplished in league history.

Penn Hills owns the girls record for consecutive WPIAL titles with seven from 1986-92.

Chartiers Valley (24-1) is wildly talented. The Colts have three seniors committed to Division I schools in Aislin Malcolm (Pitt), Perri Page (Columbia) and Marian Turnbull (Northeastern). Two other seniors, sisters Hallie and Helene Cowan, are headed to Seton Hill, a Division II program.

On average, they’ve outscored opponents by more than 25 points per game. Malcolm averages 17.5 points, Paige 15.7 and Hallie Cowan 12.8. Their only loss this season was to host St. John Vianney, 95-66, during a December tournament in New Jersey. St. John Vianney (26-1) is alive in the New Jersey state playoffs.

Chartiers Valley is one of five defending WPIAL champions that made their way back to the finals this season. The others are the New Castle boys, OLSH boys, Bishop Canevin boys and Neshannock girls.

Twice as nice

Hanging one WPIAL championship banner is a treat for most schools. OLSH and Bishop Canevin have a chance to hang two banners in their gyms.

Those schools had both their boys and girls teams reach the WPIAL finals. It’s a remarkable accomplishment but not all that rare. OLSH already won both in 2019. Since the WPIAL started crowning girls champions in 1973, a school has won boys and girls titles in the same season 18 times.

In fact, Blackhawk (1996, ’99, 2000) and North Catholic (2009, ’17, ’20) won dual titles three separate times, while Vincentian (2013, ’18) and Aliquippa (1987, ’88) did it twice.

By the numbers

62 – Consecutive games won by the OLSH boys. The streak, which already stands as the longest in WPIAL history, is approaching the state record of 68 set by West Catholic in 1976-78. If the Chargers keep winning, they could tie the record by winning the state championship this year.

9 – Number of WPIAL titles North Catholic girls coach Molly Rottmann and Chartiers Valley girls coach Tim McConnell have each won. McConnell, who has six as CV’s boys coach, has won three in a row with the girls.

8 – Highest seed to reach the WPIAL finals this year. No. 8 Avonworth upset No. 1 Ellwood City in the Class 3A boys quarterfinals and No. 5 South Allegheny in the semifinals.

7-0 – New Castle coach Ralph Blundo’s career record in WPIAL finals. This is Blundo’s 12th season with the Red Hurricanes.

Familiarity in finals

Is there truth to the old adage that it’s hard to beat a team three times in one season?

There are a few teams that sure hope so, and a few others who surely don’t. Five of the WPIAL championship matchups involve teams from the same section and three of those matchups produced regular-season sweeps.

Among the boys finalists, Quaker Valley defeated Montour twice in Section 2-4A, winning 47-46 and 56-36. In the girls brackets, Chartiers Valley defeated South Fayette twice, and North Catholic won twice over Freedom.

Two other section battles are tied 1-1.

The Mt. Lebanon and Upper St. Clair girls split their regular-season series. Mt. Lebanon won the first game, 44-37, and USC won the rematch, 58-53. The OLSH and Neshannock girls also split. Neshannock won the first, 60-34, and OLSH won the rematch, 53-39.

Quotable

“Getting there is not enough, and they know that.” — Quaker Valley boys coach Mike Mastroianni on taking his team back to the finals. The Quakers finished as WPIAL runner-up in 2017, ‘18 and ‘19.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.