Steel Valley knocks out No. 4 Seton LaSalle with 1-2 punch in WPIAL playoff upset

By: Chris Harlan
Monday, February 21, 2022 | 11:24 PM

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Steel Valley’s Makhai Valentine wears No. 1 and teammate Cruce Brookins is No. 2, fitting for a combination that delivered a knockout punch Monday night.

Fourth-seeded Seton LaSalle was the heavyweight that fell. Brookins scored 30 points, Valentine had 23 and No. 13 seed Steel Valley pulled off a first-round upset behind the two juniors with a 70-62 victory in the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs at Fox Chapel.

The tandem started hot and scored 28 of the team’s first 35 points. They led by 13 at halftime and never trailed in the second half, finishing off the upset with driving layups in the fourth quarter.

“When we get No. 1 and No. 2 going downhill, we’re pretty doggone good,” Steel Valley coach Dale Chapman said. “They let them two get downhill.”

They’re similar in build, each around 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds. They’re physical players, can get to the rim with quickness and rebound as well as almost anyone their size. However, while Brookins scored most of his points in the paint Monday, Valentine showed his range with four 3-pointers.

“I’ve been telling people that with those two guys, they’ve got a good one-two punch,” Seton LaSalle coach Mark Walsh said. “They’re going to be a tough out in 3A. I knew that when the brackets came out. To me, it’s all about matchups and we weren’t able to match up with some of their quickness and athleticism at times.”

Steel Valley’s Greg Smith, a 6-5, 315-pound junior, added 12 points including 10 in the second half.

Seton LaSalle (17-4) played without leading scorer Connor Spratt, who was ineligible for the playoffs under PIAA transfer rules. Spratt, a 6-3 junior, was a 21-point scorer this season. The Rebels had defeated Steel Valley, 77-67, in a nonsection game Feb. 2 with Spratt in the lineup.

“Obviously, he’s a big part of our success this year, but we knew that (he’d miss the playoffs),” Walsh said. “We had different things we had worked on in the latter part of the season to go without him. Some other guys stepped up tonight, but we just didn’t have enough.”

Seton LaSalle sophomore John Wilkins scored 24 points, senior Emmett Harris had 12, and senior Alex Jones added 11.

The playoff win was Steel Valley’s first since 2016. The Ironmen (11-11) advance to a quarterfinal matchup Thursday at No. 5 South Allegheny (16-6), a section opponent they already beat once this year.

Steel Valley split its regular-season series with South Allegheny, losing 64-54 on Jan. 4, before winning the Jan. 27 rematch, 55-52. The Ironmen have a small roster with few double-digit scoring threats beyond Valentine and Brookins. But when those two scorers are playing like they did Monday, they’re a far better team than their fourth-place finish in Section 3 would suggest.

“A lot of people doubted us coming into this game, saying we were going to lose,” said Brookins, who has a West Virginia football offer. “We showed them what we could do.”

Steel Valley led 16-7 after the first quarter and 35-22 at half. Combined, Valentine and Brookins scored all 19 of Steel Valley’s points in the second quarter, including 13 by Valentine with three of his 3s.

Brookins finished with 15 first-half points.

“They feed off of each other. They like each other,” Chapman said. “They don’t worry about who had points or anything.”

Steel Valley’s largest second-half lead was 15 points after consecutive third-quarter baskets by Smith, the second coming on an offensive rebound. The Ironmen held onto the lead throughout the second half, but Seton LaSalle never let them pull away completely.

The Rebels closed the third quarter on a 12-4 run, narrowing Steel Valley’s lead to 51-44 after three.

Seton twice cut the margin down to six points late in the fourth. The first was on a layup by Jones with less than three minutes left, but Valentine answered immediately with a driving layup at the other end. With about 30 seconds left, the lead was again six, and this time Brookins answered with a layup.

“We lost in the first round two years in a row,” Valentine said. “We just wanted to come in here and get a win. It was a good team win. … The rest of the guys did what they had to do.”

But pointing to Brookins, Valentine added: “I needed his help the most.”

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: Seton La Salle, Steel Valley