Basketball
2013-2014 MSA Sports Male Athlete of the Year
June 26, 2014
Neshannock High School in Lawrence County was much more than a school for Ernie Burkes. To him, the place was like his own personal “four seasons” resort. Oh, don’t get the wrong idea. Neshannock was never a place Burkes went to relax. But it was where he always went to get his fix of sports – in all four seasons. Burkes would start football in late summer and play it into the fall. He would move to basketball in the winter. In the spring, it was on to baseball and track. Four seasons. Four sports. One incredible athlete. Now just call him Athlete of the Year. Burkes, a Neshannock senior, wins the MSA Sports Male Athlete of the Year for the 2013-14 school year. The winner is picked from the entire WPIAL and is selected by the MSA Sports staff.Scholastic Notebook – 06/03/2014
June 3, 2014
WPIAL baseball champions took it on the chin three times in the first round of the PIAA playoffs Monday. But history shows WPIAL champs often have trouble in the PIAA playoffs. Take a look at past years and the statistics say that WPIAL champs have only a slightly better than 25 percent chance of making it to a PIAA title game. The PIAA championships started with one class in 1977, expanded to two classes in 1979, three classes in 1999 and four classes in 2005. Since the PIAA playoffs started in 1977 and through last year, there were 96 WPIAL champs. Only 26 of those 96 teams (27 percent) made it to a PIAA title game.Scholastic Notebook – 05/23/3014
May 23, 2014
The perfect championships don’t happen often in WPIAL softball. But for the Deer Lakes Lancers, they’ve been in the perfect storm before. Deer Lakes is 18-0 and will play Beaver (15-0) for the Class AA championship Thursday at California University of Pennsylvania. It is only the third time in 17 years that a softball title game will match two undefeated teams. But it’s the second year in a row for Deer Lakes. In 2013, Deer Lakes and Riverside both took undefeated records into the title game before Riverside came away with a 5-1 victory. The only other time in the past 17 years that two undefeated teams met in a final was 1998 when Carmichaels beat Sto-Rox for the Class AA crown.Scholastic Notebook – 05/09/2014
May 9, 2014
With every zero that he puts on the scoreboard, Blackhawk senior pitcher Brendan McKay continues to climb the national list for the longest scoreless streak? That naturally brings up two questions: Is McKay anywhere near the national record and does he have a chance to break it before he graduates? The answers are yes and yes. McKay beat Montour, 3-0, earlier this week to stretch his scoreless streak to 58 innings, dating back to last season. That is the fourth-longest streak in U.S. high school history, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, the governing body of high school sports in the country.Scholastic Notebook – 05/02/2014
May 2, 2014
There are multi-sport athletes in the WPIAL who compete in more highly-visible sports than North Hills’ Noah Bostick. But as far as the number of sports and excelling in them, Bostick has few peers. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say Bostick is most one of the best all-around athletes in the WPIAL. He is a young man for all seasons – and then some. You don’t see many three-sport athletes these days at large schools. But Bostick is more than a three-sport athlete. He actually competes in four sports, and does well in all of them.Scholastic Notebook – 04/25/2014
April 25, 2014
Football is only four months away and basketball ended only last month. But the coaching wheels are turning in both sports. There were a number of coaching moves this week in the WPIAL, some of them noteworthy. Here are some coaching happenings this week. In football: * Deer Lakes turned to a former NFL player as its new coach. Steve Sciullo takes over a team that did not win a game last season. Sciullo graduated from Shaler in 1988 and then played at Marshall before playing offensive line in the NFL for a few seasons. He has been an assistant coach at Hampton. * Norwin hired Dave Brozeski. He has been an assistant at Norwin for the past 17 years.Scholastic Notebook – 04/20/2014
April 20, 2014
If you look at the three sports of football, basketball and baseball, Baldwin has been more like Baldloss the past few years. But finally, the baseball team is putting the win back in Baldwin. Things have been absolutely perfect so far this spring for the Baldwin baseball team. The Highlanders have a perfect 7-0 record after a 13-3 victory over Gateway on Saturday. This winning is new for the three teams of football, basketball and baseball at Baldwin. There hasn’t been a winning season in those three major sports since the basketball team went 14-8 in the 2009-10 season and the baseball team went 12-6 in the 2010 season. The football team hasn’t had a winning season since 2003.Scholastic Notebook – 04/11/2014
April 11, 2014
Have strong pitching and possess the ability to win close games. It sounds like the Pirates recipe for success this year and last. But it’s also the two main ingredients involved in the biggest turnaround stories so far in WPIAL baseball. The Butler Golden Tornado is one of the big surprises of the early season. Butler is 6-2 overall and in first place in Section 1 of Class AAAA. Section 1 also is home to perennial baseball powers North Allegheny and Seneca Valley. This is the same Butler team that went 2-16 last season and did not win a section game.Scholastic Notebook – 04/04/2014
April 4, 2014
It has been proven the Blackhawk baseball team is close to unbeatable when Brendan McKay pitches. That is the main reason the Cougars are the MSA Sports No. 1-ranked WPIAL Class AAA team. But the No. 1 question with Blackhawk remains what kind of team are the Cougars when McKay doesn’t pitch? It’s a natural question, especially after last season. McKay, one of the most successful pitchers in the WPIAL the past few decades, was 7-0 last year to lift his career record to 22-1. McKay was phenomenal, allowing only three runs and one earned run in 53 innings pitched. But the rest of the season, Blackhawk was 3-7.Scholastic Notebook – 03/28/2014
March 28, 2014
Baseball and softball teams were able to start playing games last week. But it’s never too early to look ahead – and there are two teams that have a chance to make history come late May. In baseball, Seneca Valley has been to the WPIAL Class AAAA championship game three years in a row, winning twice and losing last year. The Raiders could become the first WPIAL team in at least 70 years to make a championship game four years in a row. A check of WPIAL final game scores that go back to 1954, shows that no team has played in a championship game four consecutive years. Some teams have made it three years in a row. North Allegheny made it four of five years from 1990-94. Shaler made it four of five years from 1980-84.
2014 MSA Sports Boys Basketball All-Netters
March 23, 2014
Two teams that won WPIAL championships this season each have two players on the MSA Sports All-Netters boys basketball all-star team. New Castle won the WPIAL Class AAAA championship and Lincoln Park the Class A title. They each have a duo on the team, which is picked by the MSA Sports Staff. The All-Netters squad (first- and second-teams) are made up of the top 10 players in the WPIAL, regardless of position. The teams also includes three juniors and one sophomore. Introducing the 2014 All-Netters team. FIRST TEAM: PLAYER OF THE YEAR MALIK HOOKER, NEW CASTLE 6-1, Senior, Guard-forward
2014 MSA Sports Girls Basketball All-Netters
The MSA Sports All-Netters squad is going places in the future. Five of the 10 players on the all-star girls team have either signed or made verbal commitments to Division I colleges. Another has around a dozen Division I scholarship offers. The team also has some youth. Four juniors and a sophomore are on the squad, which was picked by the MSA Sports staff. The team takes into consideration all WPIAL players. Here is a look at the 2014 All-Netters team. FIRST TEAM PLAYER OF THE YEAR BRENNA WISE, VINCENTIAN ACADEMY 6-0, Junior, Guard-Forward The MSA Sports staff made a Wise pick for Player of the Year.This Week on the MSA Sports Network – 03/23/2014
With winter sports and a busy week of state championships behind us, the spotlight shines on the change of seasons and spring sports as we wind down the month of March this week here on the MSA Sports Network. We have the debut of WPIAL softball, boys volleyball, girls lacrosse and college baseball featuring Slippery Rock University, plus the final edition of the WPIAL Roundball Report ALL here at MSAsports.net Monday, March 24th: No Broadcasts Tuesday, March 25th: WPIAL Boys High School Volleyball - Shaler vs North Allegheny at 7:00pm on the North Allegheny Sports Network at MSAsports.net2014 PIAA BOYS BASKETBALL STATE PLAYOFF RESULTS
Two WPIAL champions were able to double their championship totals this season while another had to settle for state silver to go with their district gold. The New Castle Red Hurricane finished off a perfect season with a PIAA Class AAAA title a day after Lincoln Park was crowned the Class A champ. Earlier on Saturday, Seton-LaSalle came close, but lost by two points to settle for the runner-up trophy in Class AA. Here are ALL of the results from the 2014 PIAA Boys Basketball Playoffs. All of the results with (MSA) after the score means you can listen to that contest anytime via archive here on the MSA Sports Network. 2014 PIAA CLASS AAAA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME:2014 PIAA GIRLS BASKETBALL STATE PLAYOFF RESULTS
The WPIAL went a perfect three for three during Championship Weekend in Hershey. The Blackhawks Cougars won the Triple-A crown, the Seton-LaSalle Rebels captured Double-A gold and the Vincentian Academy Royals are celebrating their first Single-A state championship. Here are ALL of the results from the 2014 PIAA Girls Basketball Playoffs. All game scores with (MSA) after can be heard archived here on the MSA Sports Network. 2014 PIAA CLASS AAAA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Cumberland Valley Eagles 49 - Spring-Ford Rams 30 PIAA CLASS AAAA Semifinals: Spring-Ford Rams 47 - NORTH ALLEGHENY TIGERS 32 (MSA)
31-0!
The New Castle Red Hurricanes did what they had to do, just remain perfect. New Castle finished an amazing three year run with a PIAA Quad-A championship, claiming a 52-39 victory over LaSalle College in front of 6,600 at the Giant Center on Saturday night. New Castle finishes 31-0 on the season, joining Williamsport in 1984, Carlisle in 1988 and Chester two years ago to go undefeated in Quad-A. The Red Hurricanes are the first WPIAL to finish unbeaten since Sto-Rox accomplished a perfect campaign in 1983. The Red Hurricanes had come up empty in three other trips to the title game, falling in 1936, 1982 and 1998. New Castle is 87-2 in the last three seasons, winning 3 straight WPIAL championships. 78 of those wins came by 10 or more points.
Blackhawk Girls Win Third PIAA AAA Championship
The Blackhawk Cougars used a dominant third quarter to claim their first PIAA girls Class AAA title since 2000 and third in school history by defeating Archbishop Wood 51-43 at the Giant Center on Saturday night. Chassidy Omogrosso scored 26 points and allowed the Cougars to stay in the game in the first half. Blackhawk trailed 16-13 after one, Omogrosso hit a jumper at the buzzer to keep it a three point game. Halle Denman took over the scoring in the second, with a layup, two free throws and a key steal late in the half, the Cougars trailed 27-23 at the break.
No Gold Rush For Seton-LaSalle as Rebels Boys Lose at Buzzer
March 22, 2014
The ball was in the right hands at the end of the game as Seton LaSalle had a chance to claim victory in the PIAA Class AA boys championship game against Philadelphia Constitution but Levi Masua’s three-pointer from the right win was a tad long and the Generals took home a 61-59 win over the Rebels at the Giant Center in Hershey.
State Gold for the VA Royals
The second trip was the charm for Ron Moncrief and the Vincentian Academy Royals. Vincentian fell to Tri-Valley 59-42 in the return for PIAA basketball at the Giant Center last year, but the Royals finished 2014 in a big way, beating Old Forge 58-34 to win the second PIAA girls basketball championship in school history. Junior Brenna Wise dominated the first quarter, scoring 12 of her game-high 21 points in the first eight minutes. Wise hit a three late in the quarter that put Vincentian Academy up 18-9 after one. Vincentian Academy led 27-10 but some sloppy play and fouls led to 6 straight free throws for the Blue Devils and a 27-16 deficit at the break.
PIAA Boys AAA and Girls AAAA Championship Recap
The only two PIAA state basketball championship games this weekend at the GIANT Center in Hershey NOT involving teams from the WPIAL took place Friday night. Here are recaps from both the Boys AAA and Girls AAAA state title games.
