Penn-Trafford boys hold off Hempfield rally for key Section 3-6A win

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, January 8, 2019 | 10:12 PM

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Penn-Trafford was the aggressor for the better part of three quarters Tuesday night.

Hempfield snatched away that role in the fourth quarter as its offense rumbled to life, and the Spartans sparked a furious comeback. But the homestanding Spartans ultimately could not overtake the Warriors, who escaped with a 49-47 victory in Section 3-6A.

“Sometimes, you just have to hold on, hang on,” Penn-Trafford coach Jim Rocco said. “This is a big section win for us on their floor. We knew it would be a tough section game on the road.”

Penn-Trafford (7-4, 2-1) led by 16 points after three quarters before the Spartans (7-5, 0-3) scored 21 points while limiting the Warriors to seven — one field goal — in the final eight minutes.

Hempfield made five 3-pointers in the final quarter.

“We struggled to shoot the basketball,” Hempfield coach Bill Swan said. “We had given up the fewest points in 6A, and when we had it to 20-16 it seemed alright. But we have to be able to play better for four quarters. We really respect (Warriors senior guard) Kevin Stinelli’s game. We’re happy to hold him to eight points. (Brayden) Puskar is a solid basketball player and he hurt us tonight.”

Penn-Trafford senior forward Brayden Puskar led all scorers with 20 points, 17 through three quarters.

“They tried to make it tough for us to get the ball up the floor,” Puskar said. “We tried to spread it out, and that opened some things inside. They did a nice job coming back, but it was tough to watch (the final seconds) on the bench with (assistant coach Nick) Ionadi.”

Hempfield had not led since 2-0 but suddenly looked primed to force overtime or win it in the closing seconds.

Junior guard Mikey Gaffney hit a 3-pointer from the wing with 27.3 seconds remaining to make it 48-47.

Chris Abreu made one of two free throws for Penn-Trafford, but Luke Fabac missed two tries, giving Hempfield the final possession with about 10 seconds to go.

Senior Reed Hipps took the ball upcourt, came set and fired a 3. It missed to the right, and Gaffney nearly tipped in the miss as the buzzer sounded. The hoop likely would have counted.

“Our subs came in and hit some big shots for us,” Swan said. “We just need more consistent scoring over the course of entire games.”

Sophomore forward Christian Zilli played well for the Spartans by scoring all eight of his points in the fourth quarter, including a 3 that cut it to 46-44 with 1:49 to play.

“Some teams would have folded,” Swan said. “We didn’t.”

Hempfield scored the first 10 points of the fourth before Puskar converted a 3-point play.

Three of Penn-Trafford’s losses have come on the road, while Hempfield had won four times at home.

“Our kids can’t create their own reality,” Jim Rocco said. “They have to deal in actualities and look at what is in the details.”

Translation? The coach isn’t completely happy with his team giving up a 16-point lead but appreciates the team’s effort with a win-is-a-win mentality.

“We’ll take it,” Puskar said.

Hempfield rallied several times in a game of runs.

After Hempfield trimmed the deficit to 20-16 with an 8-0 spurt, Penn-Trafford rattled off 18 of the next 20 points to go ahead 38-16 — its largest lead of the game — with 4:48 left in the third.

Junior point guard Zach Rocco, who added 10 points for Penn-Trafford, made consecutive baskets to close out the third with Penn-Trafford up, 42-26.

He later made a pair of important free throws with 1:17 left.

Penn-Trafford used 3-pointers to build an early advantage. Four Warriors hit from behind the arc in the first quarter as the Warriors went ahead 18-8.

After Hempfield fought back from 12 to cut it to four, Puskar scored inside on consecutive possessions and Zach Rocco made a layup to give the Warriors a 26-16 lead at the break.

Bill Beckner is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Bill at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.

Tags: Hempfield, Penn-Trafford