No. 4 Penn Hills clinches share of section title with win over McKeesport

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, February 5, 2019 | 11:03 PM

The Penn Hills boys basketball team is one win away from the Section 1-5A title.

The No. 4-ranked Indians, who feature no returning starters from last year’s WPIAL title-winning squad, knocked off upstart McKeesport, 65-52, on senior night Tuesday at Penn Hills High School.

Tuesday’s win guaranteed Penn Hills a portion of the section title. The Indians (17-3, 10-0) can clinch the title outright with a win at second-place Woodland Hills Friday. Penn Hills beat Woodland Hills, 79-57, at home Jan 15.

“We’d like to win it outright,” Penn Hills coach Dan DeRose said. “The other thing the kids would like to do is go undefeated in the section. No other team has done that since I’ve been here. They have a chance to do something special, but we understand that Woodland Hills ain’t gonna let that be easy for us.”

McKeesport (10-9, 7-4), which was looking for its second straight upset bid after knocking off Woodland Hills, 77-73, at home Saturday afternoon, is all but assured the third seed from the section and finishes its regular season at home Friday against Gateway.

“I know (Penn Hills is) not ranked No. 1, but they’re the best team in 5A,” McKeesport Kevin Kovach said. “No offense to anyone else, but we hope to make it long enough to play them again, because I’m sure they’re going to keep winning.”

Penn Hills senior Tyree Spencer, who was the sixth man on last year’s WPIAL title-winning team, led all scorers with 22 points. Sophomore Wes Kropp added 17, and Gary Bonner chipped in 10 for the Indians.

The game was a far cry from the 81-48 dismantling the Indians handed the Tigers at McKeesport on Jan 11.

“They came out and played the hardest that I’ve seen them play all year,” DeRose said. “I’m sure they were a little embarrassed after what happened last time, and they were coming off an emotional win over Woodland Hills. They had something to prove. I’m just glad we were able to hold on.”

The game was knotted 29-29 at the half before Penn Hills opened up a 43-38 lead after three quarters.

Penn Hills pulled away in the final stanza thanks to going 14 for 21 from the free throw line to make the final score not indicative of how close the game was.

“We kind of wanted to muck it up a little bit,” Kovach said. “After the last game they played so well offensively and defensively.

“We weren’t worried about them shooting too much,” Kovach continued. “We were worried about Wes (Kropp) — who we didn’t worry enough about — and Tyree (Spencer) and those guys inside. I think that zone messed with them enough, but they did enough to end up with 65 points.”

Turnovers plagued both teams in the first half. McKeesport took early advantage as the Tigers raced out to an 8-0 lead and led 17-10 after the opening quarter.

Penn Hills settled down in the second. Bonner hit a pair of timely 3-pointers and the teams entered halftime knotted at 29-29.

“The first time we played them, we did the punching,” DeRose said, referring to last month’s victory. “We punched them hard, and we went up 10-0 and they didn’t respond. (Tonight) they went up 10-0 on us, and we did respond. I was happy with that, but I really wasn’t happy with the fact we didn’t take care of the basketball. We missed some early opportunities on plays that were wide open.”

Thomas Wyatt led McKeesport with 13 points and Deamontae Diggs added a dozen.

“I thought our hustle was great, our enthusiasm was great, (but it was) too many little things,” Kovach said. “You just can’t lapse against guys like this. We lapsed a couple times, and they took advantage.”

Jesse Geleynse is a freelance writer.

Tags: McKeesport, Penn Hills