Peters Township boys use strong 2nd half to take down Penn-Trafford in 1st round

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Tuesday, February 19, 2019 | 10:14 PM

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As 8 vs. 9 games go in basketball tournaments, teams are often evenly matched and produce tight games. Outcomes sometimes are as good as coin flips.

Penn-Trafford and Peters Township couldn’t have played each other much closer in the first half Tuesday night in the WPIAL Class 6A first round.

Peters Township just needed one shiny quarter to flip this one and dispatch the Warriors, 74-56, at the Mt. Lebanon Athletic Center.

The No. 9-seeded Indians (16-7) reeled off a 14-3 run before No. 8 Penn-Trafford (14-9) could recover early in the third and outscored the Warriors in the quarter, 22-11.

“We really picked it up and came out with more fire,” Peters Township coach Gary Goga said. “We did a better job ball-screening, Sean (Werner) played great inside and we were able to knock down a couple 3s.”

A flurry of 3-pointers in the fourth punctuated the victory for the Indians, who advance to play No. 1 Pine-Richland (20-2) in the quarterfinals Saturday.

Five players scored in double figures for the Indians: junior Sam Petrarca with 16, senior Dax Ploskina 15, junior Colin Cote 14, senior Tom Melonja 12 and senior Sean Werner, 12.

Petrarca is the son of former Kiski Area standout Tony Petrarca, who played in the WPIAL championship game in 1986 — won by Norwin — and later played at Duquesne.

“My dad tells me to play smart and don’t be nervous (in the playoffs),” Sam Petrarca said. “We came out strong in the second half. We cut down on turnovers and made our foul shots. We didn’t back down.”

Penn-Trafford, back in the playoffs for the first time since 2016, was seeking its first postseason victory since 2001.

That first-round win came against Peters Township, 54-51, in overtime.

“Peters has five or six guys who are really good guys,” Penn-Trafford coach Jim Rocco said. “They do a really good job off the bounce. They just have so many kids they can go to.”

Peters Township, also back in the bracket after a two-year absence, had not won a playoff game since 2012.

Junior Zach Rocco hit a jumper for Penn-Trafford to get the Warriors within 30-27, but the Indians scored 12 straight points to take their first double-digit lead and didn’t let the Warriors get it under 10 the rest of the way. Ploskina hit a pair of 3s in the fourth, and Petrarca also hit from deep as the Indians stretched the margin to 22 (61-39).

Penn-Trafford kept competing, even down by 20. The Warriors cut it to 70-54 with just over a minute left. But the damage had been done.

“We tried to scramble a little bit,” Jim Rocco said. “We kept fighting and we’ll keep fighting as a program. Basketball is thriving in our community. Kids want to play. They see how hard you have to work to get here.”

The final two quarters were quite different than the first half.

Penn-Trafford took a 16-15 advantage after one quarter.

The lead changed hands seven times in the first half, with Peters Township leading 28-25 at the half.

Neither side led by more than six in the opening 16 minutes.

Senior Kevin Stinelli led Penn-Trafford with 16 points, senior Chris Abreu added 15 and Rocco had 10.

Tags: Penn-Trafford, Peters Township