WPIAL Basketball Playoff Recaps for Tuesday, February 28th

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, February 28, 2012 | 10:14 PM

All four top-seeds are title game bound in Girls AAAA, Girls AA, Boys AAA and Boys A. Oakland Catholic, Seton-LaSalle, New Castle and Lincoln Park all advanced with double digit victories. However only one of the three defending champs in those classifications survived Semifinals Tuesday. Here are ALL the recaps from the eight Semifinals games in the four tournaments listed above.

A special THANKS goes out to Mark Schaas, Bob Barrickman, Dennis Fischer, Jim Frederick, Jake Miller, Don Rebel, Dan Zangrilli, Bob Orkwis and Greg Kuntz for their help on these recaps.

WPIAL BOYS CLASS AAA Semifinals:

New Castle Red Hurricane 72 – Beaver Bobcats 31  
(recap #1) The Red Hurricanes used a 30 point second quarter to continue their undefeated season with a mercy rule win over the Bobcats in the McDonald’s WPIAL Class AAA semifinals at North Allegheny High School. Shawn Anderson scored all of his 20 points in the first half as the Bobcats tried to push the basketball with New Castle with very little success. The CBanes led 19-8 after one, using 10 from Anderson and a big three from Anthony Richards. New Castle just dominated the early moments of the second, causing Beaver coach Andy Podbielski to use his second, third and fourth timeouts of the half. New Castle shot 20 of 37 from the field in the opening half, while Beaver was just 3 of 18, New Castle forced 19 turnovers with 15 steals in the half. Brandon Domenick hit a three with four minutes to play in the third to kick the mercy rule in. Malik Hooker scored 10 points and 10 rebounds for New Castle, Antonio Rudolph added 10 off the bench. Domenick dished out 7 assists. The Canes moved on despite a 1-10 shooting effort from Corey Eggleston, he had just 3 points, but dished out 6 assists. With the win, New Castle defeats their section rival for the third time this season, with wins of 81-48 and 84-68 during the season. New Castle enters the championship game undefeated for the first time since 2002, The Canes lost to Uniontown in both the WPIAL Championship and PIAA Western Final. It will be the eighth trip to the finals for New Castle, they have won seven championships. New Castle’s opponent will be the Hampton Talbots, the Canes defeated the Talbots 78-61 in early December at the Ne Ca Hi Field House. Beaver Falls to 18-7, in their first trip to the semi finals since 1987. Both teams will advance to the PIAA tournament.

(recap #2) Leading 12-8 late in the first quarter, New Castle went on an 11-0 run and beat Beaver convincingly, 72-31, in a AAA semifinal at North Allegheny High.  The Bobcats had no answer for the Red Hurricane’s full court pressure defense and torrid 3-point shooting in the first half.  The mercy rule kicked in during the third quarter as New Castle’s lead ballooned to 40.  Junior forward Shawn Anderson led all scorers with 22 points, all in the first half.  The Red Hurricane netted nine treys overall while improving to 25-0.  Austin Logan led Beaver with eight points, as the Bobcats bowed out of the WPIAL playoffs at 18-7.  It was New Castle’s third win of the season over its Section 2 foe.  Beaver reached the semifinals for only the second time in school history, the first coming in 1987.  The Red Hurricane will now play Hampton for the WPIAL championship on Friday at the A.J. Palumbo Center on the campus of Duquesne University.  Both New Castle and Beaver will begin PIAA playoff action on March 9.

Hampton Talbots 52 – Montour Spartans 42 
The #3 seeded Hampton Talbots advanced to the WPIAL Triple A boys basketball championship game for the third time in four years with a 52-42 upset win over the #2 seeded Montour Spartans in the semifinals at Chartiers Valley High School on Tuesday night.  The Talbots will meet the #1 seeded New Castle Red Hurricane, a 72-31 winner over #12 Beaver in the other Triple A semifinal game. Hampton led 12-9 at the end of the first quarter, extending its lead to as many as 10 points midway through the second period.  But Montour closed the gap and went into halftime with a one point advantage, 21-20.  The Talbots then took control in the early minutes the second half, going on to outscore the Spartans 18-2 to take a 38-23 lead at the end of the third period.  Montour outscored Hampton by five in the fourth period, but Hampton held on for the 10 point win. Hampton (22-3) was led by senior forward Mark Pilarski, who netted 18 points, sophomore forward Ryan Luther with 13, and freshman guard Dave Huber, who chipped in 10.  Montour (19-4) was paced by senior guard Dillon Buechel with 13 points and senior guard Devin Wilson, who scored 10. Montour's season is not over as the Spartans, along with Hampton, have qualified for the PIAA tournament, which will begin next week.

WPIAL BOYS CLASS A Semifinals:

Lincoln Park Leopards 82 – Vincentian Academy Royals 56 
Teams challenging Number 1 Seed Lincoln Park in the WPIAL Class A playoffs always have to be wary of the Leopards' size…….a frontline of 6-10…6-7..and 6-5.  However, when you add in a 6-0 shooting guard to the mix, it provides an almost unbeatable combination. Trey Hosack fired in a game-high 29 points as Lincoln Park drove past 5th seed Vincentian Academy 82-56 at North Hills High School in the Class A semi-finals.Hosack slashed his way inside to finish with 13 in the first half as the Leopards built a 41-21 lead and then nailed two treys after intermission to seal the deal as Liincoln Park won for the 21st time. He had plenty of help from his teammates as 6-7 sophomore Ryan Skovranko scored 16…6-10 Devontae Watson added 15 and 6-5 Jaylyn Cottrill nailed another 13 points to the effort. Add to that scoring the defense played by the winners especially in the first half and Lincoln Park moved to the WPIAL finals for a third straight year. Their diamond and one zone press forced the Royals into 12 lst quarter turnovers as Lincoln Park would build a lead of as much as 25 in the second half. The Royals' Chris Koryak, who came into the game averaging over 22 a game, was limited to 6 points with only a deuce in the first half. Sophomore Jim Kenna had 13..Paul Verardi 12 to lead the 20-4 Royals. Lincoln Park meets Cornell for the WPIAL Class A title this weekend at the Palumbo Center in Pittsburgh.

Cornell Raiders 57 – North Catholic Trojans 49  
In the first half North Catholic was dominant offensively and defensively. Working the ball till one shot. Cornell was unable to keep up with the fast pace and had to rely on the outside shooting due to the height advantage of the Trojans as NC led by ten after two quarters. But in the second half, Cornell came out with fire and defense. Showing a full court press which North Catholic had a hard time overcoming. The Trojans got into team foul trouble early on, putting the Raiders in the bonus early in the half, which Cornell took advantage of, going 23/27 from the line helping to wipe out a ten-point deficit as the Raiders outscored the Trojans 28-10 in the fourth quarter. Cornell was led by Dorian Maynard's 20 points while Corey Mackey added 13 and Dustin Goons 11. North Catholic was led by 22 points for Danny Savulchak with Brandt Gribbin adding 10 points.

WPIAL GIRLS CLASS AAAA Semifinals:

Oakland Catholic Eagles 58 – Baldwin Highlanders 41  
Oakland Catholic turned a two point lead after one quarter into a nine point bulge at halftime and never looked back in beating Baldwin by 17 points Tuesday night at North Allegheny High School. Leading 9-7 after one, the Eagles outscored the Highlanders 12-5 to take a 21-12 lead into the locker room. Jess Mrdjenovich hit on 6 of 10 shots from the field to lead all scorers with 19 points to Oakland Catholic while Bobbi Baker added 10 points as the top-seed Eagles improve to 24-1 and head to the WPIAL Girls Class AAAA title game against the Mount Lebanon Blue Devils. Baldwin was led in scoring by Mandi Johnston's 12 points while teammate Taylor Wentzel added 10 as the Highlanders wait for the start of the PIAA state playoffs as they fall to 17-7.

Mount Lebanon Blue Devils 49 – Upper St. Clair Panthers 33 
The Mount Lebanon Blue Devils held a lead of 26-14 at the half, but were outscored by 10 points in the third quarter and led by just two after three periods.  However, a 16-2 run to end the game pushed Lebo past Upper St. Clair 49-33 to advance to the Quad-A championship game for the fourth straight year on Wednesday night at Chartiers Valley High School.  Emma Pellicano and Christine Ehland each paced the Blue Devils with 11 points each. Jordan Serio had a game-high 13 points in a losing effort for the Panthers.

WPIAL GIRLS CLASS AA Semifinals:

Seton-LaSalle Rebels 78 – Keystone Oaks Golden Eagles 38  
The top seeded Rebels had no problems in defeating their section mates for the third time this season in this semi-final matchup at North Hills High School. Seton-LaSalle had defeated KO twice in Section 5-AA play this season, winning by 35 and 46 points. Early in his game, Keystone Oaks got a three-pointer from Taylor Brownlee to tie the score at 3-3. The Rebels proceeded to go on a 12-0 run and were never challenged the rest of the way. Sophomore forward Naje Gibson, who came into the game averaging 15.8 points per game, led all scorers with 24 points. Gibson, who has hit double figures in all three playoff wins for the Rebels, also pulled down 7 rebounds and added 5 blocked shots. Junior forward Natalie Piaggesi was equally impressive, scoring 15 points and adding 8 blocked shots. Duquesne University bound junior Angela Heintz finished with 12 points for Seton-LaSalle, just below her season average of 14.4 points per game. Heintz and Piaggesi have also hit double digits in points in the three playoff wins for the Seton-LaSalle. Freshman guard Cassidy Walsh was the fourth Rebel in double figures, netting 11 points to go with six rebounds. In all, nine Seton-LaSalle players wound up in the scoring column in the game. Brownlee, who had two three-pointers, led the Golden Eagles with 8 points. Seton-LaSalle has now won 44 straight games against WPIAL opponents. 13th seeded Keystone Oaks is now (19-7) on the season and the Golden Eagles will be one of 7 teams to represent the WPIAL in the PIAA Playoffs. Seton-LaSalle remains the only undefeated WPIAL team with a perfect (24-0) record. The trip the Class AA finals marks the fourth consecutive year that Seton-LaSalle has appeared in the championship game, winning last years title in convincing fashion over Jeannette. Second year head coach Dennis Squeglia is now (51-3) in his two years at the helm of Seton-LaSalle. It’s another section rematch for Seton-LaSalle on Friday night at the A.J. Palumbo Center, as the tournaments second seed, the Bishop Canevin Crusaders advanced to the championship game with a 63-52 win over a fourth Section 5-AA team Steel Valley. The (21-4) Crusaders lost twice to Seton-LaSalle during the regular season by scores of 68-60 and 61-50. The Battle to the Bluff concludes on Friday for girls Class AA with the tipoff time yet to be decided.

Bishop Canevin Crusaders 63 – Steel Valley Ironmen 52  
The WPIAL Girls' AA Semifinals were completely dominated by teams from Section 5.  One of the semis emanted from West Allegheny High School Tuesday night as the Steel Salley Ironmen battled the Bishop Canevin Crusaders.  The Crusaders have had Steel valley's number as of late, But the Ironmen got off too a fast start as they were working the 3-point shot to perfection.  Steel Vallery hit their first four 3-pointers of the game while confusing the Crusaders with their soft zone defense, forcing a number of turnovers.  In addition, the Ironmen were able to get both the Crusaders' Carly Forse and Erin Waskowiak into early foul trouble with 2 apiece.  The Ironmen led 21-13 after the 1st quarter of play.  In the 2nd, Forse would pick up her 3rd personal foul, and BC head coach Tim Joyce would implement a new game plan by which the Crusaders would slow down the tempo of the game, and it did not take long for the Crusaders methodical approach to pay off.  The Crusaders tightened their own defense, which led to points on the offensive side of the court.  BC would go on a 15-2 run in the 2nd, and there was a point where they held on to the ball for 3 1/2 minutes straight, passing it on occasion throughout the perimeter.  Bishop Canevin led at the break 28-23, and they would continue their domainance in the second half, outscoring SV, 23-9, mainly on the strength of 3-pointers by Johnie Olkosky and the great inside play of Forse and Waskowiak.  A valiant effort was still put up nonetheless by Steel Valley's C-C Dixon, who scored 18 of her 20 points in the 2nd half, but it was too little, too late.  Bishop Canevin (21-4) moves on the WPIAL Girls' Class AA Finals with a 62-52 victory and will face Seton-LaSalle for the crown on Friday at the A-J Palumbo Center.  Olkosky led the way for BC with 18 points, but she was well-supported by Waskowiak with 15, Celina DiPietro with 13, and Forse with 12.  Aisde from Dixon's 20, Steel Valley also got great performances from Ashley McCallister and Emily Olson, who each had 11 in the loss.  Sttel Valley's season is not over, however.  Despite the loss, which drops the Ironmen's record to 19-6, both BC and SV along with Seton-LaSalle and Keystone Oaks have qualified for the PIAA Girls' State Playoffs.