WPIAL Basketball Playoffs – Tuesday 2/25 Recaps

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, February 26, 2014 | 12:02 AM

It was a banner night on MSA Sports…The highest scoring game in WPIAL playoff history, a pair of overtime games, a 12th-seed Cinderella stuns a top-ranked team, an undefeated team rallies to remain perfect and a team wins to clinch a sixth straight trip to Championship Weekend. Not bad for Semifinals Tuesday. Here are the recaps from the Boys AAA, Boys A, Girls AAAA and Girls AA Semifinals.

A special thanks to T.J. DiStefano, Paul Paterra, Randy Gore, Don Rebel, Josh Rowntree, Brian Mroziak and Bob Barrickman for their help on these recaps.

WPIAL CLASS AAA Semifinals:

Chartiers Valley Colts 71 – Uniontown Red Raiders 57 
Jarrad Tuite scored 18 of his game high 29 points in the 4th quarter as Chartiers Valley defeated Uniontown 71 to 57 in a Boys AAA Semi Final Round Game on Tuesday Night in front of an overflow capacity crowd at Baldwin High School to advance to the WPIAL Championship Game on Friday Night at the Palumbo Center against Central Valley.   The game was tied at 23 late in the 1st half before Freshman Ross Wilkerson hit a 3 at the first half buzzer for Chartiers Valley to give the Colts a 26 to 23 halftime lead.  Chartiers Valley would outscore Uniontown 45 to 34 in the 2nd half to pull away for the 71 to 57 win.   This is the 2nd straight year for the Colts in the AAA Final.  Mountour defeated Chartiers Valley in last years title game.  Eddie Flohr (15 points) and Matty McConnell (10 points) were also in double figures for the Colts.  Lyric Ellis and Jordan Pratt lead Uniontown with 15 points a piece.  While Xavier Ellis(14 points) was also in double figures for the Raiders.  Pratt’s 15 points allowed him to surpass Earl Minor and Ron Sepic on the Uniontown all time scoring list.  Pratt is now 10th all time at Uniontown with 1068 career points.  The Chartiers Valley win pulls Mars into the PIAA playoffs and ends Elizabeth Forward’s season.  Chartiers Valley is now 24-1 with the win heading into Friday’s WPIAL Title Game.  Uniontown drops to 21-2 with the loss.  If Chartiers Valley beats Central Valley Uniontown will play the loser of the District 10 title game in the PIAA Playoffs between Farrell and Erie East.  If Central Valley beats Char Valley Uniontown would play the winner of the District 9 title game between Punxsutawney and Clearfield.

Central Valley Warriors 68 – Thomas Jefferson Jaguars 59 in Overtime
In November, Thomas Jefferson faced Central Valley in a WPIAL Semifinals football game at Chartiers Valley High School as the Warriors edged the Jaguars 23-13. Tuesday night…same two teams, same venue, same round of the postseason and in the end, same results. Central Valley rallied to tie the game in regulation, then outscored Thomas Jefferson 15-6 in overtime to advance to their first ever WPIAL basketball championship game with a 9-point victory. The matchup between the #2 Warriors and #3 Jaguars was close throughout as CV led by one after one, by two points at the half and trailed by two after three quarters. At times, the game broke down to a battle of three-point shots between the Jaguars Zach Talley and the Warriors John George. Each of them hit five shots beyond the arc. Thomas Jefferson led by three in the final minute plus when they missed two golden chances to build the lead to five. First Eric Fairman missed a layup, then on their next possession after breaking the Warriors pressure, Chase Winovich missed on a short base line jumper, giving the Warriors the ball with under a minute left. George misfired on a three, but Matt Kline got the rebound and scored on the put back while he was fouled by Winovich, who fouled out with 28 seconds left. After Kline hit the free throw to tie, Central Valley stole the ball which led to a foul on Tony Gates, who hit both free throws to put CV up 55-53. After a TJ miss, Kline was fouled but missed the 1-and-1 free throw with 9 seconds left. TJ’s Charlie Scharbo got the rebound, went the length of the floor and scored with under two seconds left to tie the game and send it into overtime. In the OT, CV’s Kline scored 7 points while Michael Sims added 5 points as TJ faded. Kline had 19 points to lead the Warriors while George added 18 points and Sims chipped in 14 points. Talley led the Jaguars with 22 points while Fairman scored 11 points as Thomas Jefferson falls to 22-3 and will prepare for the state playoffs. Central Valley improves to 21-3 and will battle top-seed Chartiers Valley in the WPIAL Class AAA boys championship game on Friday night at Duquesne University.     

WPIAL CLASS A Semifinals:

Lincoln Park Leopards 75 – Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic Trojans 58 
Senior center Dominic Robb scored seven early points to give his Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic Trojans an early 7-2 lead, but number one seed Lincoln Park shrugged off the early deficit and coasted to a 75-58 victory in a Class A boys semifinal at Baldwin High School.  The Leopards led 14-13 after the first quarter and 34-27 at the half but used a 10-0 spurt early in the third quarter to take control.  Sophomore guard Maverick Rowan led the way with 35 points for Lincoln Park, the state’s number one ranked team in its class and winners of 18 straight games.  Senior forward Elijah Minnie and freshman guard Nellie Cummings added 16 each for the Leopards.  Robb led the Trojans with 26 points and senior guard Ryan Kirby chipped in with 13.  Lincoln Park, 24-1, led by as much as 24 points at 71-47 in the fourth.  The Leopards will make their fourth trip in five years to the WPIAL championship game on Friday against Monessen at the Palumbo Center on the campus of Duquesne University.  Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic fell to 15-10 and will compete in the PIAA playoffs which begin on March 7.

Monessen Greyhounds 110 – Vincentian Academy Royals 99 
In the highest scoring playoff game in WPIAL history, #3 Monessen (20-5) took down #2 Vincentian, 110-99, at Montour High School on Tuesday night. Monessen, which was plagued with foul trouble early and often and without talented Sophomore Lavelle Rush, received remarkable bench efforts from two freshmen, Justice Rice and Jaden Altomare. Rice scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed 6 rebounds, while Altomare added a career-high 18 points and 11 rebounds. Clintell Gillaspie, Monessen’s leading scorer, finished with 30 points and 10 rebounds, while Javon Brown scored 18 points for the Greyhounds, which advance to their third WPIAL Championship Game in four seasons. Vincentian (22-3), came into the game as the highest scoring team in the WPIAL in well over a decade, but struggled defensively all night. Despite forcing 26 turnovers and making several runs in the second half and even gaining a lead at several points, the Royals were hit hard by turnovers, giving the ball away 17 times. Vincentian was led by Jim Kenna’s 22 points and 7 rebounds. Jamison Nee added 19 points, Ryan Wolf scored 17, Jay Cortese scored 16 points and grabbed 14 rebounds and Kevin Fischer added 11 points for the Royals. Monessen out-rebounded Vincentian 50-36 and reached the free throw line often, finishing 25-of-34. Vincentian was no stranger to the line either, finishing 29-of-41 as both teams finished with 28 fouls apiece. In what will be a WPIAL Class A Championship chalked full of storylines, Monessen will meet #1 Lincoln Park (25-1) on Friday at 7pm at the AJ Palumbo Center. The 209 combined points is the most in WPIAL Playoff history, topping the 188 points scored in a 99-89 St. Joseph win over Union in 1979. Vincentian does advance to the PIAA Playoffs and will be either the third or fourth seed out of District 7.

WPIAL CLASS AAAA Semifinals:

Hempfield Spartans 60 – North Allegheny Tigers 44 
Senior Monica Burns scored a game-high 23 points and helped lift the Hempfield Spartans to a 60-44 win over the North Allegheny Lady Tigers in the WPIAL Semifinals on Tuesday night from Penn Hills High School. The loss snaps a 21-game winning streak for the top-seeded Lady Tigers and sets up an all Section 1 final between the Spartans and Penn-Trafford Warriors on Saturday at the A.J. Palumbo Center. As they have throughout the post-season, Hempfield leaped to an early lead against their opponent, opening up a 13-2 first quarter advantage over the Tigers.  The lead swelled to 16 points in the second quarter courtesy of a well-balanced Hempfield attack. Leah Knizner, Lexi Irwin, and Samantha Orie all netted six points apiece in the first half as Burns was more of a facilitator with her terrific passing. In the second half, Burns pumped in 15 points and held off the Tigers press with her adept ball handling. Trailing 40-20, North Allegheny built a third quarter charge and an 8-0 run to trim the deficit to 40-28 with over three minutes to play in the period. Junior Meg Morningstar came through with big minutes off the bench and finished the night with a team-high 12 points for the Tigers. The third quarter surge was not enough for NA however, as foul trouble for several key Tigers and Burns’ hot shooting quickly swayed the momentum back in the Spartans direction. Hempfield rolled in the fourth quarter for a 60-44 victory. Joining Burns in double figures was Knizner who finished with 12 and Irwin who tallied 10.  For North Allegheny, along with Morningstar’s 12 points, sophomore Taylor Lake added 11. North Allegheny falls to 22-2 on the season and will await its first round opponent on Friday, March 7 in the PIAA tournament. Hempfield improves to 17-8 on the campaign and will continue their post-season revenge tour against the Penn-Trafford Warriors.  The Spartans have avenged prior losses in every round of the playoffs and will take on a Penn-Trafford team that swept Hempfield in the regular season.

Penn-Trafford Warriors 44 – Fox Chapel Foxes 43 in Overtime
The #7 seed Penn Trafford Warriors had a successful first ever trip to the semifinals in school history as they beat the #3 seed Fox Chapel Foxes 44-43 in overtime Tuesday night at Penn Hills High School. The Warriors were led by Maria Palarino took the team on her back scoring 28 points in the contest. The Foxes led 11-10 after the first quarter but the Warriors would take the lead 24-22 into halftime. The second half was low scoring on both sides as the Warriors had 15 points and the Foxes scored 17. The two teams were tied at 31-31 after three. The key series in the fourth was a Taylor Cohen steal and score giving the Foxes a 39-37 lead, but on the next Penn Trafford possession Maria Palarino would take it the length of the court, get the score tying the game 39-39 at the end of regulation. Late in overtime the Warriors Casey Aunkst would miss the front end of one in one and Kayla Slovenec drive the length of the floor and miss the shot giving PT the 44-43 victory. The Warriors outscored the Foxes 5-4 in the extra frame. Besides Maria Palarino scoring 28 points, the Warriors only had three other players score. Kaila Simcoviak and Emma Mull with 6 points apiece and Katy Abreu with 4. The Foxes were led by Duke recruit Erin Mathias would had a quiet 15 points. Kayla Slovenec added 11. Penn Trafford improves to 19-6 and will meet fellow Section 1 foe #12 seed Hempfield Area Spartans Saturday night at the A.J. Palumbo Center in the Quad A championship game. Fox Chapel ends the season at 19-5.

WPIAL CLASS AA Semifinals:

Seton-LaSalle Rebels 62 – Bishop Canevin Crusaders 40 
Story on Front Page. Click on this link:
http://www.msasports.net/articles/wpial-semifinals-tuesday-spotlight-game-seton-lasalle-62-bishop-canevin-40

Burrell Buccaneers 51 – Greensburg Central Catholic Centurions 47 
In the battle of a team steeped in tradition and an undefeated squad searching for its first berth in the WPIAL championship game, the victory went to the 25-0 Burrell Lady Buccaneers. Burrell’s tremendous season continued in a game it trailed by as many as eight points in the first half. However, Burrell exploded in the second half outscoring GCC 29-21 over the final two quarters. The convincing second-half was buoyed by a 17-7 margin in the third quarter which saw Natalie Myers score 11 of Burrell’s points over the eight-minute time span. Keying the Burrell victory was the excellent all-around play of Sydney Bordonaro. The junior point guard paced Burrell with 21 points, which saw her connect on 11 of 15 free throws, 7 of 8 in the fourth quarter. Actually, Burrell was quite effective at the charity stripe, making 20 of 26 for the evening. But Bordonaro wasn’t just stellar in the point-scoring portion of the game, running the offense nicely and displaying tremendous ball-handling ability. Myers was the only other Lady Buc to score in double figures, notching 15 points. Greensburg Central Catholic (19-5) had two players in double figures, with Carolyn Appleby leading the way with 26 points, including four three-pointers. Leah Bisignani added 10 points. Only four Centurions got into the scoring column. Burrell will play Seton-LaSalle – which defeated defending WPIAL champ Bishop Canevin – in the WPIAL championship game. It will be a matchup of the tournament’s top two seeds.  Seton-LaSalle entered the tournament as the top seed. GCC will wait until the PIAA tournament to resume play.