Ligonier Valley beats West Shamokin in Heritage Conference semifinal

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, February 5, 2018 | 10:12 PM

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Ligonier Valley trailed only once in Monday’s Heritage Conference semifinal against West Shamokin.

And while the Rams struggled offensively and were not able to put the Wolves away, they managed a hard-fought and physical 62-51 victory to advance to the finals Friday against Purchase Line at IUP’s Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex.

Ligonier Valley (16-4) defeated Purchase Line, 79-67, on Dec. 12. Purchase Line defeated Homer-Center in the other semifinal.

The Rams have won 11 consecutive games. They took the lead for good at 16-13 on consecutive baskets by senior Andrew Pleskovich.

Baskets by Marrek Paola, Michael Marinchak and Pleskovich early in the second quarter completed an 8-0 run that pushed the lead to 24-14.

Pleskovich finished with 15 points, 10 in the first half, and Marinchak had 17, with 12 in the first half.

But the Wolves, led by 6-foot-3 guard Drew Orlesky, wouldn’t go away. He finished with a game-high 23 points, including 15 in the first half.

Ligonier Valley, which led 35-25 at halftime, defeated West Shamokin, 72-42, on Jan. 22.

“Going back to that first game, it was 30 points on the scoreboard, but it was a lot closer,” Ligonier Valley coach Todd Hepner said. “We knew they’d come in and give us a heck of a battle. They have good athletes. They are scrappers, and they were playing for the same prize we are. They had nothing to lose.”

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Marinchak led a defensive charge. He had seven steals, and West Shamokin had 25 turnovers, 11 in the second quarter when the Rams opened up the lead.

“When you play a team as good as Ligonier Valley, you have to take care of the ball,” West Shamokin coach Judd McCullough said. “Their athleticism can swarm you at times, and the second quarter is one of those moments we’ll look back and say we needed to do a better job of securing the basketball.”

Ligonier Valley started the second half strong, pushing the lead to 48-32 as Aaron Tutino scored five points during the run.

But West Shamokin went on a 9-0 run to get within 48-41 as Orlesky scored eight points in the quarter.

“We got into foul trouble, and that slowed us down,” Hepner said. “We had an injury and had different players going in and out. We never got into a rhythm.”

Marinchak said the team started slow and never got it going throughout the game.

“Our key players weren’t hitting their shots so we had to rely on our role players.” Marinchak said. “They slowed us down. We like to play fast, and we struggled.”

In the fourth quarter, Ligonier Valley’s defense forced six turnovers and Paola, who finished with 14 points, scored seven points to keep West Shamokin at bay. Paola had 13 rebounds, 10 on the offensive end. Jackson Daugherty had eight points and 10 rebounds.

Neither team shot well from beyond the 3-point line: West Shamokin was 3 for 33 and Ligonier Valley 2 for 19.

“I felt when we needed to score points I took it to the hoop,” Pleskovich said. “I felt we worked well as a team.”

Ligonier Valley might be without junior guard Jaxon Ludwig, who injured his left ankle in the second quarter, on Friday.

Paul Schofield is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at pschofield@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Schofield_Trib.

Tags: Ligonier Valley, West Shamokin