Moon Beats Hampton for First WPIAL Boys Crown Since 2006

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, March 3, 2017 | 11:28 PM

The Moon Tigers and the Hampton Talbots met twice during the regular season in Class (5A) Section 2, with the Tigers winning both regular season conference games. The stakes for the third meeting were much higher, with the WPIAL Championship on the line at the Petersen Event Center, but the results were the same, as Moon defeated Hampton 69-62 to capture the school’s 4^th title.

Senior guard Mark Shehady scored the first 7 points for Hampton, but senior forward Jarrod Simmons answered with a big first quarter of his own, scoring 12 points 8 rebounds 2 assists and a block for the Tigers who led 23-11 at the end of one. “The 1^st quarter lead was a key,” said Moon head coach Adam Kaufman. “After that, they amped up the pressure and we didn’t execute very well.”

Simmons picked up his 2^nd foul and went to the bench for a rest at the 4:17 mark of the 2^nd quarter with Moon leading 32-24. The Talbots went on 6-0 run to cut the lead to 2 points. Moon led by a score of 38-33 at halftime and Hampton got within one-point of Moon several times in the second half, but could never take the lead. “Hampton’s a good team, coach Lasko has been in this game like 4,000 times. They are well coached, hard-nosed tough players. We told our kids just get to the next play. We needed some big stops and we got some of those in the stretch,” said Kaufman.

Senior guard Nick Castelveter, who scored 15 first-half points for Moon and is the Tigers second leading scorer, was held to just two points on two late free throws in the fourth quarter. Hampton had no answer for Simmons on the inside for Moon, as the Penn bound post player continued his monster playoff run, finishing with 22 points, 23 rebounds, 6 blocked shots, 3 assists and a steal to help the 2^nd seeded Tigers improve to (20-5) on the season.

Sophomore guard Connor Ryan also finished in double figures for Moon netting 13 points in the win. Simmons, who grew up in Moon Township and played there until junior high, played prep basketball at Cushing Academy in New England until this year. “That’s why he came back.” said Kaufman, “He led us to the championship.” Simmons averaged 24.7 points and 20.7 in the Tigers 3 playoff wins.

Case Western Reserve bound senior Antonio Ionadi, who averages 21.5 points per game for Hampton, was impressive in defeat for the Talbots. Ionadi hit 5-three pointers and finished with a game-high 25 points while pulling down 5 rebounds for the 5^th seeded Talbots who are now (16-10). The senior Shehady added 16 points for Hampton. The gold medal is the third for Coach Kaufman who previously won WPIAL titles at Montour in 2011 and 2013.

Both the Talbots and the Tigers now move onto the PIAA Playoffs. Moon will be the top seed from the WPIAL in the (5A) tournament and will face the Franklin Regional Panther in the first round. Hampton is the #2 team from District 7 and will face the Mars Planets to open state play.

Score by Quarter:

Moon:                  23   15   14   16 = 69
Hampton:            11   22   14   15 = 62

High scorers:     
(M) Jarrod Simmons (22),Nick Castelveter (17), Connor Ryan (13)           

(H) Antonio Ionadi (25), Mark Shehady (16)

Tags: Hampton