Penn Hills boys get glimpse of bright future in playoff loss

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, February 25, 2024 | 11:01 AM

Penn Hills senior guard Robby Thomas wanted to find the right mental space for playing against rival Gateway in the first round of the WPIAL Class 5A postseason. The defending WPIAL champion Indians came into this postseason as a younger team that had something to prove.

“Honestly, we just needed to block out all the outside noise,” Thomas said.

While Penn Hills fell to the Gators, 70-59, the Indians saw what their future could look like. Amon Hawthorne led Penn Hills in scoring against Gateway with 21 points. He made 6 of 7 attempts from the 3-point line.

Hawthorne was named to second-team all-section by the Big 56. Thomas, who averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds per game, was the Indians’ only first-team selection. Lamire Redman was also a second-team choice, while Darien Roberson was chosen as an honorable mention.

“We have a lot of younger guys who played this year and got experience,” Penn Hills coach Chris Giles said. “It’s important for those guys to get exposure. Exposure is everything in life. When we get started again in the next couple of weeks or months, we don’t want complacency to set in. We want them to come in with a competitive edge.”

Thomas was an important cog for the Penn Hills’ machine. The Indians finished 14-8 overall and 6-4 in section. That was good enough to get Penn Hills a third-place finish in the section and back into the postseason.

Junior Cody Hunt and sophomore Calix Clark were two younger players who saw increased roles. Thomas said it was easier to help bring them along because they’ve been around the program for a long team.

Thomas had the challenge of transferring into a leadership role.

“What makes a good leader is leading by example,” Thomas said. “There were a lot of late nights in the gym and a lot of late nights doing film study.”

Giles said that Thomas impressed him with his resilience. Throughout the season, Thomas had to battle various ailments to stay on the court.

“He played throughout the season while he was hurt,” Giles said. “The greatest part about it was that he grew so much as a person with his leadership and how he conducted himself. I’m extremely proud of that.”

Thomas’ numbers increased because of how he was able to position himself on the court. He knew where he needed to be on the floor to be successful.

“I was hustling for rebounds and using my touch around the rim,” Thomas said.

Giles said that Penn Hills learned it needs to try to find a way to stay home for the first round of the playoffs. Going on the road makes things difficult. The Indians had split with the Gators in the regular season.

“You have to get home playoff games,” Giles said. “You have to get home games in the playoffs. It matters. The playoffs are about foul shots, layups and turning the ball over. We had some opportunities late in the game and didn’t convert.”

Tags: Penn Hills