WPIAL Class 6A boys basketball championship breakdown: Upper St. Clair vs. Pine-Richland
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Friday, March 12, 2021 | 3:13 PM
Upper St. Clair’s Luke Gensler shoots a three-pointer during the third quarter of a WPIAL Class 6A semifinal against Butler on Tuesday, March 9, 2021, at Upper St. Clair High School.
WPIAL Class 6A boys basketball championship
No. 1 Upper St. Clair vs. No. 6 Pine-Richland
8 p.m. Friday at Peters Township
On the air: TribHSSN.TribLive.com (video stream)
Winner plays: District 6, 8 or 10 champion in PIAA quarterfinals, March 20
How they got here: Upper St. Clair defeated No. 17 Canon-McMillan, 54-39, in the first round; No. 9 Seneca Valley, 72-70, in the quarterfinals; and No. 5 Butler, 70-62, in the semifinals. Pine-Richland defeated No. 11 Peters Township, 79-67, in the first round; No. 3 Hempfield, 65-61, in the quarterfinals; and No. 2 Fox Chapel, 76-63, in the semifinals.
Starting lineups
Upper St. Clair (19-1)
Coach: Danny Holzer
No., Player, Pos., Ht., Yr.
4, Ethan Dahlem, G, 5-10, Sr.
5, John Sukernek, G, 5-11, Sr.
11, David Pantelis, G, 6-1, Sr.
22, Luke Gensler, G, 6-0, Sr.
25, Luke Banbury, G, 6-2, Sr.
Pine-Richland (14-5)
Coach: Bob Petcash
No., Player, Pos., Ht., Yr.
1, Eli Jochem, G, 6-0, Sr.
2, Andrew Alexander, G, 5-10, Jr.
5, Joey Petcash, G, 6-3, Sr.
11, Luke Shanahan, G, 6-4, Jr.
34, Joey Dudkowski, G, 6-3, Jr.
Title-game history: Each team has won two WPIAL titles. Upper St. Clair won in 1996 and 2005. Pine-Richland won consecutive titles in 2016-17.
Notable: Pine-Richland and Upper St. both ranked among the top-scoring offenses in WPIAL Class 6A. Pine-Richland averages 70.4 points per game and USC averages 70.3. Both teams have balanced scoring with multiple players in double figures. USC’s Gensler, Banbury and Pantelis all average between 15 and 16 points. Likewise, for Pine-Richland, Shanahan averages 16.2, Dudkowski 16.1 and Petcash 15.6. USC has won 13 games in a row since a two-point loss to Fox Chapel on Jan. 22. Pine-Richland lost to Upper St. Clair, 62-59, in last year’s WPIAL quarterfinals. USC has now reached the finals four times under Holzer, who’s in his 26th season as the team’s coach. Along with their two titles, the Panthers were runners-up in 2003. Bob Petcash is in his first season as Pine-Richland’s coach. He was an assistant on Jeff Ackermann’s staff when the Rams reached the WPIAL finals three years in a row in 2016-18 and won two titles. He was promoted before the season to replace Ackermann.
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.
Tags: Pine-Richland, Upper St. Clair
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