Mt. Lebanon stops Upper St. Clair to grab share of section crown

By: Don Rebel
Friday, February 11, 2022 | 11:50 PM

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This time of year, coaches talk about how defense wins championships.

On Friday night, defense earned Mt. Lebanon a share of the Section 2-6A crown.

Mt. Lebanon limited defending champion Upper St. Clair to single-digit points in the first three quarters, including only two points in the entire third quarter, as the Blue Devils earned a hard-fought, 41-30 victory.

The Blue Devils forced 17 turnovers and did not allow the Panthers to get into any offensive rhythm. No USC players reached double digits in scoring.

“It was a typical Mt. Lebanon-Upper St. Clair slugfest,” Upper St. Clair coach Danny Holzer said. “(Friday), they were just better than we were.”

Meanwhile, Mt. Lebanon scratched home enough offense to win by double digits even though the Blue Devils didn’t make one shot from behind the arc.

“If you would have told me that we were going to beat this team and not make one 3-point shot for the first time in how many years, I would have said you have to be kidding me,” Mt. Lebanon coach Joey David said.

It wasn’t exactly a walk in the park on offense for the Blue Devils, who didn’t pick up their first field goal of the game until there were 49 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Despite its struggles on offense, USC led through most of the first half. Mt. Lebanon took the lead for good with 1:25 left in the second quarter on a steal and layup by junior J.P. Walters. They were the final points of a first half that ended with the Blue Devils leading, 14-12.

Mt. Lebanon did a great job breaking the Upper St. Clair pressure defense in the second half and continued to build on its lead by outscoring the Panthers 12-2 in the third quarter.

One of the keys for the Blue Devils was winning the battle of the big men.

USC’s 6-foor-5 senior Porter Rauch got into early foul trouble and was not a factor most of the game, scoring only two points.

Meanwhile, Mt. Lebanon’s 6-6 senior Joey Peters was a force on both ends of the floor with blocks, steals and rebounds. He ended up being the game’s leading scorer with 13 points.

“I felt I did pretty well,” Peters said. “It was nice that Porter was in foul trouble because he’s really good. I like playing him. I’ve been going up against him my whole life, so it was definitely nice to end on that one.”

Panther senior Mike Pellicci had a team-high eight points for USC while fellow senior Tanner O’Grady, the hero of the first meeting with a game-winning shot at the buzzer, struggled in scoring only seven points.

Both teams finish with 7-3 section records. Upper St. Clair (14-6) sees its three-game winning streak snapped while Mt. Lebanon (13-8) has won three straight and six of its last eight games.

“I’m proud of these guys,” David said. “Section champs five years in a row. Last year didn’t count, even though we were undefeated. That’s six years in a row. To come back from where we were at 3-2 and playing without our football guys, that is big for these guys. They’re a hard-working group.”

Tags: Mt. lebanon, Upper St. Clair