Mt. Lebanon boys slam Latrobe in WPIALs

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, February 24, 2018 | 8:00 PM

Latrobe drew up a game plan designed to take away Mt. Lebanon's 3-point shooting, a hallmark of the top-seeded Blue Devils who love to fire away from the arc.

Mt. Lebanon only made 6 of 17 from 3-point range. The problem for Latrobe, though, was it also made 27 of 37 two-pointers and 17 of 21 free throws.

Mt. Lebanon used that sizzling shooting, pressure defense and a big game from senior forward Caden Hinckley to wipe out No. 9 Latrobe, 89-52, in a WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinal playoff game Saturday afternoon at Canon-McMillan.

The Blue Devils (20-3) advance to play Penn Hills (21-3) in the semifinals Wednesday.

Latrobe (16-8) still can get into the PIAA playoffs if Mt. Lebanon beats Penn Hills.

“I didn't think their press would slow us down like it did,” Latrobe coach Brad Wetzel said outside a glum locker room. “This one is on our staff. Maybe we asked too much of our guys. We decided to try and take away their 3-point threats. That hurt us at the end of the day.”

Playing with an air of confidence, Mt. Lebanon went from zero to 100 mph offensively after Latrobe took a 3-2 lead.

Mt. Lebanon looked particularly sharp after a first-round bye and was simply too much for the Wildcats, who hadn't lost by more than 30 since falling to Hempfield, 85-53, in 2012.

“That's what we do and how we play,” Mt. Lebanon coach Joey David said. “We hadn't played in two weeks and a day, but I think we've gotten better during that time. That's a (Latrobe) team that scores 70 points a game. Our guys put on a great defensive effort and got after it.”

With the attention on shooters such as Blue Devils senior guard Antonio Garofoli, the 6-foot-6 Hinckley feasted on high-percentage shots, finishing 9 of 10 from the field for a game-high 21 points. He added eight rebounds and three blocks.

“Defense wins games for us and leads to our offense,” Hinckley said. “I have been working on my post game. We knew Latrobe was a really good, tall team.”

By the time Latrobe decided to change things up, it was down big: 16 after one quarter (28-12) and 26 at the half as Mt. Lebanon put up its highest point-total for a half all season with a 51-26 halftime lead.

The playoff often feature with scoring runs. But Latrobe didn't score more than four points in a row.

“At that point, you throw the game plan out the window,” Wetzel said. “You just try to make a run and string something together, but we didn't do that.

“They fly around and dare the refs to make decisions. That's how they play. They're a good team … It was a total anomaly for us. It was not all us or all them.”

The Blue Devils made 20 of 30 shots in the first half.

Juniors Reed Fenton (17 points) and Bryce Butler (13) did most of the scoring for Latrobe, which worked in a number of reserves.

It was 69-40 after three quarters.

Latrobe repeatedly was met with resistance on drives to the rim and faced contested shots all game long.

“We tried to guard their big scorers and make them give it up,” David said.

Ten players scored for Mt. Lebanon, whose flow on offense looked organic and poised. Garofoli, who has been known to throw daggers from the perimeter — and way beyond — scored 17 and made just two 3-pointers.

But he became a passer on fast breaks and got his teammates involved. His no-look pass to Hayden Mitchell gave the Blue Devils a 79-44 advantage in the fourth. The lead never dipped below 23 in the second half.

“It's been a roller-coaster ride of a season,” Wetzel said. “We played in a terribly difficult section, and I am proud of our guys. We said our thank-you's today, but hopefully fate shines on us.”

Bill Beckner Jr. is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.

Tags: Latrobe, Mt. lebanon