Montour fends off Chartiers Valley rally with strong showing at free-throw line

By: Don Rebel
Tuesday, December 17, 2024 | 11:26 PM

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The Montour Spartans have a lot going for them.

They have experience with five senior starters, they have versatility with several playmakers that can fill different roles, and they have size with 6-foot-11 senior Ama Sow.

But the difference Tuesday night for the Spartans was their sweet touch down the stretch from the free-throw line.

Montour lost two double-digit leads and was locked in a tie game with 3:20 left in regulation when the Spartans connected on 12 straight free throws to win at Chartiers Valley, 66-60.

“We work on that every day,” Montour coach Bill Minear said. “We kind of changed our practice format to work on three things: 3-point shooting, ball handling and foul shooting. It’s really paid off so far.”

Despite playing in a raucous venue, Montour came out strong and built a double-digit lead in the first quarter before Chartiers Valley came back with a strong finish to the quarter to pull to within two possessions at 16-10.

The second quarter was very similar.

The Spartans built up a lead with quality shots and a solid half-court defense to take a 15-point advantage before the Colts ended the first half with a strong kick thanks to full court pressure on defense leading to Montour turnovers that cut the difference to seven points by halftime.

“I thought our guys on the court weren’t communicating with each other as far as who should be in what spots to break their pressure,” Minear said. “We weren’t getting into our sets quick enough.”

The second half was much closer, but Montour maintained its lead until two minutes into the fourth quarter when Chartiers Valley freshman Luca Federico broke a tie with a shot over Sow to put the Colts up, 48-47.

The lead did not last long as the Spartans answered with Sow getting an offensive putback plus a foul. It was one of 19 rebounds for Sow on the night.

“He’s improved that a lot since he’s been here,” Minear said. “He works out in the weight room a lot to improve his strength.”

There were seven lead changes down the stretch until A.J. Alston hit four free throws on two straight possessions to put the Spartans up for good, 58-57.

The Colts had two chances in the final 90 seconds to take the lead or tie the game up, but junior Julian Semplice missed on a drive and Federico misfired on a 3-point shot from the corner.

Senior Jayden Davis led Chariters Valley (1-1, 6-1) with 25 points while Semplice had 14 points and Federico added 11 off the bench.

Sow led Montour with 25 points while senior Colton Straight scored 14 and Kaleb Platz came off the bench to chip in 14 points as well.

“He’s a gamer,” Minear said of Platz. “He can shoot it, he can bring the ball up, and he has a very high sports IQ. You can give him paintball (gear) and he’ll figure out how to win.”

The win keeps Montour perfect through four games this season.

“When we did our review of last year and our playoff disappointment, we felt the two things we needed to get stronger at were handling the ball and our 3-point shooting,” Minear said. “We’ve really improved on that since last year.”

This was the Section 4-5A opener for the Spartans, who have two more section games before the holidays. They are home to Blackhawk on Friday and they play Lincoln Park at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Monday.

“I think we have some growth to do with communication and a little more discipline,” Minear said. “If we can close out quarters better, I think we’ll be real good.”

Tags: Chartiers Valley, Montour