OLSH boys fall short to Bishop Guilfoyle in PIAA Class 2A semifinals

By: George Guido
Tuesday, March 19, 2019 | 10:11 PM

Losing a tooth wasn’t going to stop the path to Hershey for Bishop Guilfoyle’s Luke Ruggery.

The senior guard and St. Francis (Pa.) recruit lost a front tooth driving to the hoop in the second quarter of Tuesday’s PIAA Class 2A semifinal boys basketball game.

He gave the tooth to his mother to put in a vial and played effectively the rest of way as the Marauders won a heartstopper, 62-61, over WPIAL champion Our Lady of the Sacred Heart before a packed house at Kiski Area High School.

Ruggery tallied 21 points — 11 after his mishap — as Bishop Guilfoyle (27-2) will seek its first PIAA boys title at 2 p.m. Friday against Math, Civics & Science at the Giant Center.

“It was just an unfortunate thing,” Ruggery said. “I got hit with an elbow from a teammate, Michael Montecalvo, as I was going to hoop. I felt it come out and I said I’d just play without a tooth the rest of the way.”

“He’s going to need oral surgery, probably in the morning,” Marauders coach Chris Drenning said. “He said he wasn’t coming out of the game and didn’t care what anyone said.”

Tuesday marked the first time Bishop Guilfoyle had been to the PIAA semifinals since 1974, and Ruggery almost ended up on the other side of history.

He missed a foul shot with 6.1 seconds to go. Austin Wigley grabbed the rebound for OLSH and headed downcourt. He got a shot off from a deep angle to the right that rimmed just before the buzzer sounded.

“My heart sank,” Ruggery said. “He was going the whole way down there, and I was just praying, praying, praying. I just want to thank God for getting me through everything, my (back) injury and all.”

“I can’t complain,” Chargers coach Mike Rodriguez said. “That (shot) could have gone our way. It’s almost like karma. Last year, we were down by one, Austin took a shot with a second left and it goes. This year it wasn’t our turn.”

OLSH finished at 26-3.

The Chargers got a bad break moments earlier.

After Ricco Tate missed a foul shot with 7.3 seconds to go, the second try was stopped after a Chargers lane violation, giving Guilfoyle the ball near the OLSH hoop. The Chargers’ defense tried for a steal, but the ball went out of bounds off an official, allowing the Marauders to maintain possession.

Ruggery was fouled on the inbounds with 6.1 left and missed the shot.

After a closely-contested first half, Bishop Guilfoyle surged to a 45-36 lead before Rodriguez called a pivotal time out.

“I just had to stop the bleeding,” Rodriguez said. “They didn’t panic. I was the one panicking. Our motto is composure and we lost it there, but got it back. We just wanted to get shots going toward the basket to start our comeback. We switched up defense quite a bit. We played at a slightly slower pace, and that got our transition going.”

Sophomore Dante Spadafora, who finished with 27 points, led the Chargers comeback, along with Jake DiMichele. Tate’s tip-in and two free throws soon after put OLSH ahead, 50-45, completing a 14-0 run.

The Chargers led 52-47 after three quarters. A 3-point basket by Jessiah Witherspoon, playing with four personal fouls, gave the Marauders the lead for good with 2:01 left.

“First of all, let’s credit Our Lady of the Sacred Heart,” Drenning said. “They’re a great team. It was a game of runs. We got a nine-point lead, and I thought we took terrible shots, and I told them we have to get back to running our stuff.”

Ruggery and Witherspoon, who scored 17 points, led Guilfoyle in rebounds with seven each.

OLSH made it to the state finals last year before losing to Philadelphia Constitution.

“I’m proud of our guys,” Rodriguez said. “This year we’re WPIAL champs, state semifinalists, our football team won the WPIAL, this is the most decorated senior class in our history.”

Jake DiMichele finished with 14 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for OLSH.

Tags: Our Lady of the Sacred Heart