Penn Hills boys foil Pine-Richland’s 3-peat bid in WPIAL Class 6A final

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, March 4, 2018 | 11:25 PM

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Confident and comfortable were the words Cory Fulton chose to describe Penn Hills' halftime mood while trailing a two-time defending champion in the WPIAL finals.

Yes, confident, comfortable and down by seven.

“For the players, there was a confidence because we know we've been a second-half team all year,” the Penn Hills senior said. “For coach, he was antsy, because he wants us to get it in the first half. But everybody was comfortable because we know we've been here before.”

It's true. They'd never held a halftime lead in this entire postseason, yet they advanced each round and ultimately celebrated another third-quarter comeback Saturday night that made them WPIAL champions.

Fulton and senior Daivon Stephens each scored 23 points as Penn Hills defeated Pine-Richland, 60-56, in the WPIAL Class 6A boys basketball final, denying the two-time defending champion a chance to make history.

No. 6 seed Pine-Richland (20-6) was trying to accomplish the second three-peat in the WPIAL's largest classification, a feat achieved only by New Castle in 1997-99, but it was No. 5 Penn Hills (23-3) that celebrated at Petersen Events Center.

The WPIAL title was Penn Hills' fifth overall, and its first since 2003.

Penn Hills trailed Pine-Richland, 34-27, but scored 13 of the first 17 points after halftime including a 3-pointer by Fulton to lead 40-38.

Stephens and Fulton combined to score 29 of Penn Hills' 33 second-half points.

When Pine-Richland's Phil Jurkovec tied it at 40, Stephens answered with two free throws and teammate Myles Yarbough scored a driving layup to take a four-point lead that the Indians wouldn't lose.

Penn Hills won the third quarter 17-8.

“I just felt like the first three minutes (after halftime) would decide the game,” Pine-Richland coach Jeff Ackermann said. “I told the guys we could maybe get up to eight, nine, 10, 12, or we could let them come back. They came back. From then on, they kind of controlled the game.”

Penn Hills upped its pressure after halftime and tightened its perimeter defense. Pine-Richland shot 52 percent in the first half (11 for 21) and just 28 percent in the second (9 for 32). The Rams made four 3-point attempts in the first half but missed eight of nine in the second.

“They mixed their defenses up all game, something that we were ready for and expecting,” Ackermann said. “But we didn't handle it as well at the beginning of the third as I would have liked. We really struggled for someone to make shots for us.”

Jurkovec led Pine-Richland with 16 points, Dan Petcash had 12 and Colin Luellen added 10. The WPIAL playoff loss was the team's first since 2015.

“It's disappointing,” Ackermann said. “We can't ever let this program get to the point where we just assume we show up and win. It doesn't happen that way. We'd won 10 consecutive (WPIAL playoff) games, but you're not going to win 20 or 30. Eventually you're going to lose one.”

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.

Tags: Penn Hills, Pine-Richland