Norwin keeps New Castle close, but Red Hurricanes pull away for victory

By: James Dotson
Friday, February 24, 2023 | 11:06 PM

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The last time the New Castle boys basketball team played in the largest classification, the Red Hurricanes won WPIAL and PIAA championships.

Now in Class 6A for the first time, New Castle picked up where it left off in 2014. The top-seeded ‘Canes defeated Norwin, 59-47, in the WPIAL quarterfinals at the Ne-Ca-Hi Fieldhouse on Friday night.

After a sluggish start to the game, both teams started to light up the scoreboard in the second half. New Castle (21-2) led 23-18 at the half, but Norwin (14-9) went on a mini-run to tie the score 35-35 with just over a minute remaining in the third quarter.

New Castle responded with a 6-0 run to end the third quarter and another 6-0 to begin the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach.

“It speaks to the pedigree of being down this road before with players who understand what it takes,” New Castle coach Ralph Blundo said. “And, obviously, having some really good basketball players helps.”

One of those great players is Jonathan Anderson, who completed a three-point play immediately after Norwin tied the score. He finished with 16 points, including 7 for 8 from the free-throw line. He also matched his season average with seven assists.

“Jonathan is a pure point guard,” Blundo said. “He’s just an outstanding basketball player. He made big plays in big moments. That’s what great players go.”

Said Norwin coach Lance Maha: “I thought we defended well. Offensively, they take you out of your stuff, and they switch a lot so it’s hard to run anything. Ralph does a great job.”

Adam Bilinsky single-handedly kept the game close in the first half. The Norwin senior scored the first 10 points of the game for the Knights. He finished with a game-high 24 points.

“He’s one of the best we’ve faced in my time here,” Blundo said of Bilinsky. “Not many guys can make the number of contested shots he made. I felt like we defended him well.

“He scored just about any way that you can score. That’s what great players do. There’s not many high school kids getting Division II scholarships right now, and he has one. That tells you everything you need to know.”

Both teams featured leading scorers who missed time earlier in the year because of injury. Bilinsky missed a half dozen games in the middle of the season, and New Castle’s Isaiah Boice missed for three weeks with a foot injury in the middle of the section season.

Boice led New Castle with 17 points, including four 3-pointers.

New Castle’s Da’Jaun Young went toe-to-toe with Bilinsky in the first quarter, with both scoring eight points. Young recorded a double-double for the ‘Canes with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Ryan Edwards also finished in double figures for Norwin with 13 points, including three 3-pointers.

“I’m proud of our kids,” Maha said. “We stayed with our defensive game plan. We gave them a pretty good run. They’re a good team. We’re trying to build something that will be sustaining.”

The Knights’ season comes to an end, and with it, the final game for the 12 seniors.

“All of (the 12 seniors) at different times during the year started a game and really helped us,” Maha said. “They’re just really good kids. We’re going to miss them. But, hopefully, our young guys got a little sense of the atmosphere and that gets them to get into the weight room and work on their game for next year.”

New Castle shot over 50% from the field, including 7 of 16 from beyond the arc. Surprisingly, it was only the third time in the last two seasons that the ‘Canes did not attempt more shots from the field than their opponent.

New Castle advances to the semifinals to face Mt. Lebanon on Tuesday night at a site and time to be determined. The Blue Devils defeated Butler, 55-50, in their quarterfinal game.

“It’s a day of preparation tomorrow,” Blundo said, “then a couple of good practices to get ourselves ready to go. Nothing is going to be easy. It’s the WPIAL playoffs.”

Tags: New Castle, Norwin