Decade’s best WPIAL finals: Boys basketball No. 1

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Wednesday, February 26, 2020 | 5:21 PM


There were a lot of changes to the WPIAL basketball championships over the last 10 years.

They expanded from two days to three days and from eight boys and girls finals to a dozen championship games. The district also switched venues, moving from the Palumbo Center at Duquesne to the Petersen Events Center on the Pitt campus.

Bigger and better has led to some fantastic championship moments over the course of the just completed decade. So as we prepare for the first finals of the 20s, here is a look back with a countdown of the top 10 WPIAL boys and girls basketball championship games from the last 10 years.

Boys No. 1 — Hoosiers

The 1986 movie Hoosiers was based on a small town Indiana school that shocked the state and won the boys basketball championship.

The 2015 WPIAL Class AAA boys basketball championship game seemed to follow the same script. A school from Indiana (Pa.) that had never won a championship going up against an established power in Beaver Falls, which won back-to-back titles in 2012-13 and was searching for its 10th district crown.

The finish had a Hollywood feel to it as well. With time winding down, the Little Indians’ Dylan Stapleton dribbled into traffic and somehow found brother Riley on the left blocks as he laid in the game winner with one second remaining in an all-time thriller.

Click below for Trib HSSN’s Chris Harlan’s recap with photos.

Indiana 62, Beaver Falls 61

Previous Top 10:

Girls No. 1 – Magnificent Myers

Boys No. 2 – Double dose of CV goes to double OT

Girls No. 2 – The Knights’ night

Boys No. 3 – Out of this world

Girls No. 3 – A perfect scare

Boys No. 4 – Perfect finish

Girls No. 4 – Shaler stunner

Boys No. 5 – Class A cat fight

Girls No. 5 – Royal run begins

Boys No. 6 – Three-peat chopped

Girls No. 6 – Golden Gators

Boys No. 7 – Stormy repeat

Girls No. 7 – Thrilling three-peat

Boys No. 8 – Panthers survive

Girls No. 8 – High flying Hawks

Boys No. 9 – A Royals flush

Girls No. 9 – Surprise bolt

Boys No. 10 – Hat trick

Girls No. 10 – Ram tough

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