WPIAL well-represented at USA 3 vs. 3 basketball competition

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, March 23, 2018 | 5:06 PM

A number of WPIAL players will be in Colorado Springs over the weekend to compete in the USA Basketball 3×3 U18 National Championships.

The tournaments are played at the United States Olympic Training Center. Teams consist of four players each — think of them as mini AAU teams — and games are three-on-three.

There are 12 boys teams and 11 girls teams that will open pool play on Saturday morning. Quarterfinals, semis and the championships will be Sunday.

Latrobe's high-scoring duo of Reed Fenton and Bryce Butler will team up for team Western PA Elite.

Team Cubs Hoops has Freeport's Isiah Bauman, Geoff Helm of Greensburg Central Catholic, Belle Vernon's Cam Nusser, and Stephen Watson of The Kiski School, while Hampton's Isaac DeGregorio and Ryan Meis of Bethel Park will play for Team Alpha.

Pine-Richland's Dan Petcash and Ethan Porterfield of Sharon were going to play with Butler and Fenton but had to withdraw when their PIAA playoff games were moved because of this week's snowstorm.

Pine-Richland plays Roman Catholic at 1 p.m. Saturday at Chambersburg in the Class 6A semifinals, while Sharon takes on Imhotep Charter at 8 p.m. Monday in the 4A championship game in Hershey.

Michael Palmer of Mt. Lebanon and Thomas Melonja of Lincoln Park replaced Petcash and Porterfield.

On the girls side, Team Bruins features Maggie Moore of Southmoreland, Bethel Park's Maria Cerro, Jenna Clark of Thomas Jefferson, and Gillian Piccolino of Keystone Oaks.

Ambridge's Aniya Walker is on team Northeast Ohio Elite.

The halfcourt games are decided when a team gets to 21 points — or the highest-scoring team wins after 10 minutes of play. Teams get a point for each basket inside the 3-point line but shots behind the arc are worth two points.

This is the seventh year for the boys competition and sixth for the girls.

Here's the full boys' rosters and the girls' rosters :

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

Tags: Ambridge, Belle Vernon, Bethel Park, Freeport, Greensburg C.C., Hampton, Keystone Oaks, Latrobe, Mt. lebanon, Pine-Richland, Southmoreland, Thomas Jefferson