Leechburg boys get first basketball playoff victory in seven years

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, February 20, 2018 | 10:42 PM

Fort Cherry stayed within striking distance of Leechburg for three quarters.

But a strong start for the Blue Devils in the fourth period paved the way to a 62-50 victory over the Rangers in an opening-round WPIAL Class 2A playoff game at North Hills Middle School.

Senior Christian Hack scored 20 points, and freshman Dylan Cook came off the bench to add 14 as Leechburg won its first WPIAL playoff game since a 2011 victory over Jefferson-Morgan.

The No. 8-seeded Blue Devils (14-6) advance to the quarterfinals against top-ranked Sewickley Academy on Friday at a site and time to be determined.

Leechburg led for all but 1 minute, 45 seconds of the game, holding a single-digit lead most of the time. But the Blue Devils started the fourth quarter with a 10-0 run to take a 51-32 lead.

“We wanted to keep our pace up in the second half and run, run, run,” Blue Devils coach Corey Smith said. “That's Leechburg basketball. I thought we could outrun them, which we did.”

The Blue Devils committed just three turnovers in the first half en route to a 32-23 advantage at the intermission. For the game, Fort Cherry committed 23 turnovers to Leechburg's eight.

“We scored a lot of transition points, but we missed a lot,” Smith said. “So we've got a lot of homework to do before we play Sewickley Academy.”

The Rangers, who saw their season end at 9-14, sliced the Blue Devils' lead to 36-32 on a basket by Nate Higham with 1:38 left in the third quarter but couldn't get any closer.

In one third-quarter stretch, Forth Cherry missed nine consecutive field goal attempts, including five in one sequence.

The win felt good for Hack, who was in fifth grade the last time his school won a playoff game.

“It's great. I love getting the win. We seniors get to play another game,” Hack said. “Let's get on and prepare for Sewickley Academy.”

Hack was 5 of 5 from the free-throw line and recorded four steals.

“They were playing a diamond-and-one on me in the first half,” Hack said. “We practiced it all week, and we knew it was coming. We had other people step up, and Dylan was the one to do it tonight.”

Cook gave his team a lift, coming off the bench to score 10 points in the second quarter.

“I told him he was getting in there earlier than he usually does,” Smith said. “He came in ready to go, and he played like a veteran instead of a freshman.”

Leechburg also made 12 of its last 13 free throws.

Jake Blumer led the Blue Devils with 11 rebounds, and Connor McDermott came off the bench to score 11 points.

Higham led the Rangers with 21 points, and junior Zach Vincenti had 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Fort Cherry, which was looking for its first playoff win since 1998, finished the season losing eight of its last nine.

George Guido is a freelance writer.

Tags: Fort Cherry, Leechburg