Mike Wells shakes off sore elbow, leads New Castle to 1st PIAA finals since ’14

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, March 18, 2022 | 11:39 PM

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Mike Wells’ elbow was still hurting him, but that didn’t hide his happiness as New Castle fans rained Hershey’s Kisses on the Red Hurricanes’ postgame celebration.

A day after falling hard at practice, Wells shook off the shooting-arm injury and scored a game-high 26 points Friday night with four 3-pointers as New Castle defeated Gateway, 59-39, in a PIAA Class 5A semifinal at Norwin.

New Castle made 10 3-pointers, including four by junior Isaiah Boice, key shots that fueled first-half runs of 12-0 and 19-1. The Red Hurricanes also forced the Gators into 10 first-half turnovers and led 36-18 at half.

They grabbed momentum and didn’t give it back.

“We don’t ever let down,” Wells said. “Coach (Ralph) Blundo and myself remind every single person on the team to not let down. Just because we’re up 20, still go crazy.”

Boice finished with 17 points.

The win takes New Castle (27-2) to the state finals for the first time since 2014, when then-star Malik Hooker and his teammates won the Class 4A title.

“It’s been a few years because it’s really hard to do,” Blundo said. “We’ve had some good teams over the past eight years. I’m so happy for my guys. When you do it with one group, you’re just longing to give another group that same joy.”

New Castle’s opponent is undecided. They’ll face the winner of District 1 champion Chester (21-3) and District 12 champion Imhotep Charter (26-4), who meet at 1 p.m. Saturday in a semifinal at Coatesville.

The PIAA Class 5A final is 7:30 p.m. Friday at Giant Center in Hershey.

“We’ve worked so hard for this. It’s everything to us,” Wells said. “To the community, it means the world. This is probably going to be one of the best weeks of my life.”

Yet, Blundo had concern New Castle might have to face Gateway without Wells, or at least with him at far less than 100%. The 6-foot-4 guard and Youngstown State linebacker recruit fell on his right elbow at practice Thursday in what Blundo called a freak accident.

The elbow was swollen and stiff, but Wells avoided any medical tests, saying he was worried about what doctors might tell him about playing. Wells, who said he was playing at about 85% of normal strength, wore an arm sleeve with an elbow pad.

He missed his first three shots but found his touch and finished the first half with 15 points.

“It was just the adrenaline and the will to win,” Wells said. “My family was telling me, ‘Win or lose, you’re still a winner in my eyes.’ But I was like, ‘There’s no losing.’”

Ryan Greggerson led Gateway with 11 points, and Jaylon Carr had nine. The Gators, who upset WPIAL champion Laurel Highlands on Tuesday, were in the state semifinals for the first time in team history.

They started hot and scored the game’s first four points, but then went scoreless for the next two minutes. New Castle used three Gators turnovers and seven points from Wells to spark a 12-0 run. Wells and Boice made 3-pointers about 50 seconds apart in the run.

New Castle led 17-11 after one quarter.

Gateway went 5 for 12 from the field in the first quarter and had few second-chance opportunities, despite a size advantage over New Castle. The Gators attempted only 11 shots in the second quarter, a number kept low by turnovers and one-and-done possessions.

New Castle took 33 first-half shots.

Gateway went more than six minutes without a basket during one second-quarter stretch as New Castle sustained a 19-1 run. The Red Hurricanes led 36-14 when Jonathan Anderson scored on a steal and layup with less than a minute left before half.

“We lost our confidence there in the second quarter,” Gateway coach Alvis Rogers said. “They hit some shots, we missed shots and then the heads went down. I saw it. They started settling for jump shots instead of getting the ball into the paint where I felt we could hurt them, more so than outside.”

The game was a rematch of a WPIAL semifinal that New Castle won 72-62. The Red Hurricanes went 7 for 18 from beyond the arc in their first game. This time, they finished 10 for 20 from 3-point range.

Wells and Boice combined for six in the first half.

Gateway trailed 36-18 at half and 48-31 after three quarters. The lead narrowed to 14 points early in the fourth, before Boice and Wells scored consecutive baskets and Cahmari Perkins added a dunk.

New Castle led 54-34 with four minutes left.

“We shot it well and finished around the hoop,” Blundo said. “I don’t think (Gateway) played poorly. We just happened to play pretty well tonight on a big stage.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Gateway, New Castle