No. 2 OLSH charges past Springdale to reach WPIAL semifinals

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, February 23, 2018 | 10:57 PM

For more than a half, the Springdale Dynamos were satisfied with the pace of Friday's Class 2A quarterfinal boys basketball game.

But Our Lady of the Sacred Heart eventually put its attack in high gear and rolled to a 73-46 victory over Springdale at Canon-McMillan.

Austin Wigley led four Chargers in double figures with 18 points, and junior Mike Zolnierczyk had another outstanding game for the No. 10 Dynamos with 25 points.

No. 2 seed OLSH (21-2) will face No. 3 Jeannette on Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.

Although the Chargers led for all but about two minutes, Springdale (13-10) was staying within striking distance. A basket by Zolnierczyk with 5 minutes, 45 seconds left in the third quarter cut the OLSH lead to 30-24, but the Chargers went on an 18-6 run to decide the issue.

“Horrible, I thought the first half we didn't show up,” said Chargers coach Mike Gonzalez, when asked to summarize the game. “I thought it was the bye, the inactivity. With the layoff, you try to simulate things in practice, but you can't simulate the speed of the game and the hustle from the other team.”

“The pace certainly favored us for 2½ quarters,” Dynamos coach Seth Thompson said. “I don't think the pace really got fast at all after that. They just really have a great mix of size and shooters. They kept loose balls alive and got extra possessions.”

Springdale's season is in limbo. An OLSH win Tuesday would put the Dynamos in the PIAA playoffs, beginning March 9. An OLSH loss would end the Springdale season.

Wigley scored 10 points in the pivotal third quarter. He made a key steal and fired the ball downcourt while he was falling to the floor. Dante Spadafora grabbed the pass and scored to put OLSH ahead, 41-28, with 2:34 left in the third quarter.

“I thought in the second half we woke up a little bit,” Gonzalez said. “We started our transition game and we picked up the pressure and we made our shots. We went to an aggressive man-for-man.”

The Chargers went on to control the boards. After gathering 14 rebounds in the first half, Springdale collected just five in the second half.

“They made shots and we couldn't match up with them, size-wise,” Thompson said. “I know they played slower than they liked, but they still made shots. I'm very pleased with our effort. That's a very talented team, and we were with them for 2½ quarters.”

Josh Harmon led the Dynamos with seven rebounds. The senior fell to the floor on his head after Tyler Bradley blocked his shot on the right baseline. Harmon, however, soon returned to action.

Spadafora had 13 points and DiMichele had 11 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Chargers.

Donovan Johnson, sophomore brother of North Carolina's Cameron Johnson, had 11 points, all in the first half. Wigley had five steals.

George Guido is a freelance writer.

Tags: Springdale