Rochester boys hold off Leechburg in WPIAL Class A semifinals

By: George Guido
Tuesday, March 9, 2021 | 9:24 PM

Rochester continued its boys basketball rags-to-riches story Tuesday night.

But it wasn’t without a major challenge from Leechburg.

Winless a year ago, the Rams are headed for the WPIAL Class A title game after a 58-55 home semifinal victory.

Second-seeded Rochester (14-4) will play No. 1 Bishop Canevin at 8 p.m. Friday at North Allegheny.

Rams junior J.D. Azulay made a major mistake in the game’s final minute. But he atoned for it with a steal and four free throws to pull out the victory.

Down 49-40 to start the fourth quarter, Leechburg rallied and had a chance to take the lead with 31 seconds to go. After Dylan Cook’s steal brought the Blue Devils within 54-52, Eli Rich batted a Rochester pass to Cook at midcourt. In frustration, Azulay grabbed Cook for an intentional foul.

Cook sank the second of two free throws, and Leechburg got the ball out of bounds to the left of its hoop. Shortly after the inbounds play, Azulay grabbed a loose ball in the middle of the key and canned two free throws with 14.3 seconds to go.

Cook was fouled along the sideline by Azulay before the Blue Devils senior could launch a 3-pointer and, instead, made two free throws. A missed foul shot by Parker Lyons was rebounded by Rich, and the ball was batted out of bounds. After a conference, the officials ruled the ball went off Rich, and two more foul shots by Azulay after the inbounds play gave the Rams their final margin.

“I just wanted to make up for my stupid foul,” Azulay said. “I didn’t realize the foul would cost two shots and a possession. As for the steal, I just went out there and played basketball.”

Blue Devils coach Damian Davies was surprised his team was awarded the ball on the baseline after the intentional foul.

“I was already calling out sideout play, and at the very end, they changed it,” Davies said. “We got the ball where we wanted to with Eli. That’s the play we ran, but it didn’t work out there.”

First-year Rams coach Sean Keaton wasn’t surprised by the close call.

Said Keaton: “I’ll tell you what, it took 32 minutes to beat them. You look at their games, they’ve been down all year, double-digits versus Eden (Christian) and they took it into double overtime. I told our guys in preparation for tonight it was going to be 32 minutes that we were going to have to compete and fight.”

It was a game of runs. Rochester started on a 10-0 surge only to see Leechburg score the next 11 points.

On an inbounds play with 1.5 seconds left in the third quarter, the Rams managed to get an inbounds pass to Azulay, who fired in a shot from the corner to beat the buzzer and give Rochester a 49-40 lead.

But the Blue Devils scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter to tie the score.

“That’s how we like to play with frantic pressure and get turnovers,” Davies said. “But we started the game passively, and they knocked down some 3s, so we had to switch back to what we do.”

Leechburg then missed their next six shots if a waved-off basket on an offensive foul by Braylan Lovelace is included.

“J.D. has really elevated his game,” Keaton said. “He was already doing well in the regular season, but he’s really taken this team on his back.”

Sophomore guard Jerome Mullins chipped in with 17 points, including a basket to break the 49-49 tie.

Cook finished his stellar Leechburg career with 28 points, and Rich contributed 13 points and 14 rebounds. The Blue Devils finished 8-5.

Tags: Leechburg, Rochester