Penn Hills boys take down No. 1 Mt. Lebanon to earn spot in WPIAL Class 6A title game

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, February 28, 2018 | 9:51 PM

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A persistent Penn Hills is headed to “The Pete.”

Cory Fulton scored 18 points and No. 5 seed Penn Hills upset top-seeded Mt. Lebanon, 69-66, in overtime at Baldwin Wednesday night to advance to the WPIAL Class 6A boys basketball championship game.

The Indians (22-3) will face defending champion Pine-Richland (20-5) for the title at 9 p.m. Saturday at Petersen Events Center. The sixth-seeded Rams defeated No. 2 Woodland Hills, 65-61, at North Hills in the other semifinal.

“I kept telling our guys to just stay the course, keep the pressure on,” Penn Hills coach Dan DeRose said. “Real proud of them. I doubt that when this game started there were many people who thought we'd win.”

Daivon Stephens added 14 points and Myles Yarborough 10 for Penn Hills, which rallied from a 12-point first-half deficit.

The Indians, who trailed 34-24 at halftime and 54-50 after three quarters, took their first lead (60-59) with 3 minutes, 54 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter on a basket by Keyshawn Adams.

Mt. Lebanon (20-4) fell behind 62-60 but forced overtime on Michael Palmer's layup with 5 seconds left in regulation.

In overtime, Penn Hills made 5 of 8 free throws and outscored the Blue Devils, 7-4. Mt. Lebanon missed on a chance to tie it when Blaine Gartley's running 3-point shot bounced off the back of the iron at the buzzer.

Regardless of the outcome, both teams already had qualified for the PIAA playoffs. But, in the immediate aftermath, it was of little consolation to Mt. Lebanon coach Joe David.

“We'll move on,” he said. “I told our players there's still a lot of basketball to be played. We would like to be playing Saturday — it would have been fun — but it is what it is.

“I thought we blew it in the first half. We could have had a bigger lead, but we turned passive offensively. In the second half, we were going more east to west than north to south.”

All the while, Penn Hills was chipping away.

“Penn Hills played better than we did,” David said. “That's a good team. I thought they defended better than we did, and they certainly beat us on the boards.”

Though it didn't appear to be the Indians' night at the start as Mt. Lebanon dictated the pace and held a decided advantage.

The Blue Devils, who were led by Palmer's 22 points, bolted to a 21-12 first-quarter lead and stretched the margin to 29-17 early in the second before Penn Hills used a 7-0 run to close within five.

But Mt. Lebanon salvaged its 10-point halftime lead when Hayden Mitchell scrambled to a loose ball and banked in a turnaround jumper at the buzzer.

Mitchell added 11 points and Caden Hinckley 10 for Mt. Lebanon. The 6-foot-6 Hinckley was held scoreless in the fourth quarter and overtime.

“He did most of his damage in the first quarter,” DeRose said. “We did a good job of protecting the perimeter. Mt. Lebanon likes to shoot a ton of 3s. They want to shoot 3s. We made it tough for them.”

The Blue Devils made just three 3-point shots, well below their season average.

DeRose, who emerged from the Penn Hills locker room afterward soaked in Gatorade and with a towel around his neck, said the Indians weren't intimidated when they got down early, though he didn't feel comfortable for most of the night.

“We heard things before the game. We wondered why we were supposed to be worried about their pressure defense,” DeRose said. “They play great defense, but so do we. Our pressure defense in my mind is as good as anyone's in the WPIAL. The kids took it personal.”

Dave Mackall is a freelance writer.

Tags: Mt. lebanon, Penn Hills