PIAA Basketball Semifinals Preview

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, March 21, 2017 | 9:44 AM

There are 12 final fours in Pennsylvania high school basketball this year – and 12 WPIAL teams are involved.

This is the first year of six classifications in basketball and the PIAA semifinals for all boys and girls teams are Monday and Tuesday around the state. The championships are Thursday through Saturday in Hershey.

Seven boys teams and four girls teams from the WPIAL are still alive. Bishop Canevin has both its boys and girls teams alive. Besides Bishop Canevin, the WPIAL boys teams still left standing are Pine-Richland, Quaker Valley, Lincoln Park, Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic, Sewickley Academy and Monessen. The WPIAL girls teams in the semifinals are Bishop Canevin, North Allegheny, South Fayette, Trinity and Bishop Canevin.

Here is a look at the semifinal games that involved WPIAL teams:

BOYS

Pine-Richland (27-1) vs. Carlisle (21-8), 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Altoona – Pine-Richland already has the most wins in school history. Now the Rams will try to get to a PIAA championship for the first time in school history.

This is Pine-Richland’s second trip to the PIAA semifinals. The other time was 2000 when the Rams lost to  Blackhawk. In this Class 6A game, Pine-Richland faces a team that is the No. 5 seed from District 3. But Carlisle is no stranger to playing Pittsburgh area teams in the PIAA playoffs. Last year, Carlisle beat North Hills in overtime in a PIAA second-round game and then lost to Allderdice of the City League in the quarterfinals. Both games were played at Altoona, site of this year’s clash with Pine-Richland.

 Carlisle is led by senior guard Deshawn Millington, who averages 19 points a game. He surpassed 1,500 career points a few games ago. Guard Gavyn Barnes averages 13. Carlisle has a little size with 6-6 senior forward Ethan Houston, who averages 12.

Pine-Richland is led by Andrew Petcash, who averages 20. But he will be looking to rebound after scoring only eight in the quarterfinals against Butler. Junior forward Phil Jurkovec averages 16. It will be interesting to see if Jurkovec guards Millington. Jurkovec is an excellent defender.

Quaker Valley (25-3) vs. Strong Vincent (26-3), 7 p.m. Tuesday at Slippery Rock University on MSA – Quaker Valley has played for a state championship once in school history. That was 18 years ago. If the Quakers are to make it back to Hershey, they will have to knock off a team that is one of the best at Strong Vincent in years.

Strong Vincent has played three WPIAL teams in the PIAA playoffs and beat all rather easily – 67-48 over South Fayette, 71-38 over Beaver Falls, and 68-43 New Castle. Strong Vincent is led by senior guard David Morris, who averages 28 points a game. He is one of the leading scorers in District 10 history with 2,219 points. Strong Vincent also has 6-3 guard Aje Gore, who averages 13 points.

Quaker Valley will counter with a team that is extremely balanced. In a strange basketball statistic, Quaker Valley’s starters fall in line, averaging 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 a game.

Coletrane Washington leads at 15 points a game. Ricky Guss averages 14, Danny Conlan 13, Amos Luptak 12 and Wolfie Moser 11.

Lincoln Park (24-5) vs. Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic (24-5), 7 p.m. Monday at Ambridge on MSA – This Class 3A games matches teams with identical records that met in the WPIAL championship. North Catholic beat Lincoln Park, 56-51, in the WPIAL title game.

One of the keys in this game will be the shooting of Lincoln Park’s Nelly Cummings. In the WPIAL title contest, Cummings scored 18 points, but made only 4 of 23 shots from the field. Cummings is now the seventh-leading scorer in WPIAL history with 2,344 points.

Lincoln Park’s ability to crack North Catholic’s matchup zone defense will be key in this game.  In the last meeting, North Catholic shot 57 percent from the field and made 7 of 11 from 3-point range.

Bishop Canevin (22-5) vs. Sewickley Academy (23-4), 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at North Allegheny – This is the fourth meeting between these teams. They split two games in section play and Sewickley Academy won in the WPIAL semifinals.

This is the first time in school history that Bishop Canevin has made the PIAA semifinals. This is the second consecutive final four appearance for Sewickley and the fourth in the past 21 seasons.

One of the keys will be how well Bishop Canevin shoots the ball. Guards Walter Bonds, Mitchell King and Kellan Gustine can hit 3-pointers. Sewickley Academy’s Nate Ridgeway hurt Canevin on the inside in the last meeting.

Monessen (21-7) vs. Kennedy Catholic (24-2), 7 p.m. Monday at Slippery Rock University – Monessen would have trouble in this Class 1A game even if it was at full strength. But the Greyhounds will be without third-leading scorer Lyndon Henderson, who was ejected from Saturday’s quarterfinal game against Saltsburg for a flagrant foul. That makes him ineligible for this game.

Monessen appealed the ejection the PIAA, but the PIAA rejected the appeal.

Kennedy Catholic is the defending PIAA champ and extremely strong again. Kennedy Catholic is the only Pa. team to beat Strong Vincent. Kennedy has four players averaging in double figures. Drew Magestro, a 6-2 senior guard, leads at 20.4 and 6-5 sophomore guard Maceo Austin averages 19. Kennedy also has 6-8 senior Marcin Wiszomirski and 6-5 Mohamed Konate.

GIRLS

Souderton (22-8) vs. North Allegheny (27-1), 7 p.m. Monday at Chambersburg on MSA – North Allegheny has to be considered the favorite to win this Class 6A game and go to a PIAA title game for the first time in school history. North Allegheny has climbed to the No. 22 ranking nationally in USA Today. Souderton, meanwhile, is the No. 11 seed from District 1.

North Allegheny’s defense has been superb, allowing only 38 points a game. But Souderton has not allowed 40 points the past seven games and allowed 50 only once this season.

Trinity (25-3) vs. South Fayette (20-6), 7 p.m. Tuesday at Peters Township on MSA – Neither of these teams made it to the WPIAL title game, but one of them will get to the PIAA championship.

Trinity features high-scoring Sierra Kotchman, but the Hillers’ defense has been a key to winning lately. The Hillers have allowed only 22, 37 and 39 points in the PIAA playoffs.

South Fayette, meanwhile, has stepped on the gas offensively lately. The Lions have scored 51, 68 and 53 points in three PIAA games.

Bishop Canevin (22-5) vs. West Shamokin (27-2), 6 p.m. Tuesday at North Allegheny on MSA – Bishop Canevin is the WPIAL champ and facing a team that used to be in the WPIAL. West Shamokin is the District 6 champion, but the Wolves played in the WPIAL until this season. Last season, West Shamokin was 15-8 and lost in the first round of the playoffs to Carlynton.

Bishop Canevin is trying to make the championship game for the second time in five years. The Crusaders defeated York Catholic to win the 2013 title.