Chartiers Valley slows WPIAL’s top scorer in quarterfinal win over Woodland Hills

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, February 22, 2019 | 10:02 PM

Chartiers Valley threw an ever-changing zone defense at Woodland Hills star Keandre Bowles, hoping to hold the WPIAL’s leading scorer well below his 29-point average.

After three quarters, the senior had four points.

“He’s a great player, hats off to him, but we had to take care of business,” said Chartiers Valley’s Joe Pipilo, who scored a game-high 25 points and helped the Colts keep Bowles mostly in check Friday night to defeat Woodland Hills, 62-49, in a PIAA Class 5A quarterfinal at Mt. Lebanon.

Bowles finished with 14 points with 10 in the fourth, but the 6-foot-3 guard didn’t show the scoring dominance he’d had all season. He’d set a school single-game record with 43 points in January, and scored 34 in a first-round victory Monday.

“This is the only game all year that he didn’t go off,” Woodland Hills coach Odell Miller said. “He was about due for a game like that. It’s just too bad it had to be tonight.”

Fifth-seeded Chartiers Valley (18-5) faces top-seeded Mars in a WPIAL semifinal Tuesday. A site and time was not yet announced. The win highlights the Colts’ remarkable bounce-back efforts under first-year coach Brandon Sensor, who took over a team that finished 8-14 last season and missed the playoffs.

“Char Valley has always been a winning program and we didn’t live up to it last year,” Pipilo said. “Me and especially the other seniors, we knew we had to turn it around. That’s exactly what we did.”

The win guarantees the Colts a state playoff spot.

Chartiers Valley typically favors man-to-man defense, but switched tactics and held Bowles to three first-half shots. Bowles at times was chased with a box-and-one, but mostly the Colts doubled him as soon as he touched the ball. He scored four points in the first quarter and then none in the second or third.

“Keandre usually shoots the lights out of a zone,” Miller said. “Tonight, he didn’t have the game and Pipilo did. There’s the game right there.”

Jared Goldstrom added 17 points for Chartiers Valley, which took control with a 17-2 run in the second quarter. The Colts had trailed by three before the run, but Pipilo and Goldstrom turned a handful of Woodland Hills’ turnovers into quick points.

“We got steals, got out and ran in transition,” Pipilo said. “That’s what we love to do.”

The run started with two free throws by Goldstrom, a layup by Pipilo, and then a steal and layup by Goldstrom. The two combined for 15 consecutive points before Marcello Legister’s layup capped the run with a minute until halftime.

Chartiers Valley led 31-20 at half.

“We dug a hole for ourselves,” Miller said. “We had 13 turnovers in the first half. We only (average) 10 or 11 in a game.”

Raelon Robertson added 13 points for Woodland Hills including seven in the third quarter to cut the deficit to six points. Bowles tried to rally the Wolverines in the fourth, but couldn’t close the gap.

“We just keyed on him all night,” Sensor said, “either shadowing him or keeping an extra defender on his side. Just knowing where he is at all times, try to be physical with him and not let him get a shot off. We did a pretty good job most of the game.”

Tags: Chartiers Valley, Woodland Hills