Pine-Richland scores last to defeat Allderdice in PIAA quarterfinal

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, March 17, 2018 | 5:27 PM

Pine-Richland’s Dan Petcash almost couldn’t miss a shot, while teammate Greg Shulkosky had made just one basket all afternoon.

With the score tied Saturday and the Rams holding for the final shot, it was Shulkosky who found the ball in his hands.

The junior bounced in a driving layup with two seconds left to give Pine-Richland a 52-50 victory over City League champion Allderdice in a PIAA Class 6A quarterfinal at Canon-McMillan.

Shulkosky finished with four points on 2 for 9 shooting.

“I just saw it roll around the rim and go in,” Shulkosky said. “I couldn’t really think much other than, ‘I hope it goes in.’ I knew I didn’t have the best shooting day.”

One well-timed shot turned that around.

“I said (to Shulkosky), I don’t know how many points you had, but those are the two biggest points we’ve had all year long,” Pine-Richland coach Jeff Ackermann said.

Game winner‼️‼️‼️ #Together #RollRams pic.twitter.com/8PmQSNstZZ

— PR Basketball (@PRRamsHoops) March 17, 2018

The victory advances WPIAL runner-up Pine-Richland (23-6) to face District 12 runner-up Roman Catholic (22-6) of Philadelphia in a semifinal Tuesday. A site and time was not yet announced.

Pine-Richland was the PIAA runner-up last year, a state tournament run that included a 58-47 win over Allderdice.

This time, neither Pine-Richland nor Allderdice held a second-half lead larger than five points. Shulkosky’s game-winner was the ninth lead change of the second half.

“I was hot but I have a ton of confidence in Greg, and he made a great play,” said Petcash, who’d made 9 of his 12 shots including five 3-pointers. “He didn’t shoot that well all game, but he knows he can do that. Then when he put it in, that was incredible.”

It was Petcash who had put Pine-Richland in position to win. The junior scored 27 points including a layup with 70 seconds left and then a tying 3-pointer with 43 seconds to play. His shots erased what had been a five-point Allderdice lead.

Tied at 50 after Petcash’s 3 from the right corner, Pine-Richland’s pressure forced Allderdice’s Jackson Blaufeld into a costly turnover. That handed the ball back to Pine-Richland, which spread the floor and held for the last shot.

Rather than call a set play, Ackermann gave his team the freedom to run the clock to under 10 seconds and then try to attack Allderdice off the dribble. From the top of the key, Shulkosky passed inside to Andrew Kristofic and then cut toward the basket. Kristofic quickly passed back to Shulkosky for the game-winner.

“For being a lineman, he’s not a bad passer,” Shulkosky said.

Time ran out before Allderdice could make a desperation heave at the buzzer. The Dragons had led 50-45 with two minutes left.

“We had the ball up five, had the knockout punch ready to go and we let it slip,” Allderdice coach Buddy Valinsky said.

Allderdice was outscored 11-4 in the final four minutes. The Dragons made only 3 of 6 free throws in the fourth quarter. Among them, senior Tyler Williams missed the front of a one-and-one with 52.7 seconds left and Allderdice ahead by only three.

Allderdice finished 6 of 11 from the foul line.

“We lost the game because of free throw shooting,” Valinsky said. “We just didn’t knock them down when we needed to as a group.”

Blaufeld led Allderdice with 19 points and Williams had 11.

Tied 25-25 early in the third, the lead switched hands on each of the next eight baskets before Pine-Richland sparked a 6-0 run early in the fourth. A 3-pointer by Petcash gave Pine-Richland a 39-34 lead with 7:20 left in the fourth.

Allderdice answered with a 12-2 run that included two 3-pointers by Blaufeld. The second gave Allderdice a 46-41 lead with 4:44 left.

With two minutes left, Allderdice’s lead remained five, 50-45, but a few late turnovers and a missed free throw left the Dragons stuck on 50.

“We lost four games this year by one basket,” Ackermann said. “I knew that if we just hung in there long enough, eventually one of these would fall our way. Finally we got one at the end.”

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

Tags: Allderdice, Pine-Richland