Springdale boys basketball on cusp on WPIAL playoff berth

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, February 5, 2018 | 10:57 PM

Previous Next

Previous Next

“Opportunity” became a buzzword at Springdale before the boys basketball season even started, and the Dynamos held fast to that focus as they navigated their Section 2-2A schedule.

The biggest opportunity of all is knocking at the door, and Springdale hopes it can answer.

With two section games remaining — a home contest Tuesday against Serra Catholic and a road matchup at rival Riverview on Friday — Springdale (10-7, 5-5) needs a victory to clinch a WPIAL playoff berth after missing out last season.

“In section play, we have 12 opportunities, and we need to make the most of those opportunities,” Springdale coach Seth Thompson said. “Our phrase all year has been ‘early and often.' We've kind of gotten away from that recently, and we've kind of missed out on some of those opportunities, dropping section games to Serra Catholic, Jeannette and Leechburg.

“That's three opportunities we missed out on. We win one of those three, (we're) not having this conversation. We've got two more opportunities, and hopefully we can take advantage of the opportunity early and often.”

What Springdale would like to avoid is a repeat of last season, when narrow losses to Serra and Riverview in the final two section games kept the Dynamos out of the postseason.

A win Tuesday would take that out of the equation. Hence the “early and often.”

“We don't want to put ourselves in that position again just like we were last year, where it's the last section game of the season against a rival where we've got to put all our chips on the table,” Thompson said.

With that in mind, Thompson said he talked to the team Monday about preparing and practicing “with a lot of purpose and focus” before Tuesday's game.

“They know the situation,” he said. “But we like our chances.”

Springdale won five of its first seven section games, including a key victory against Leechburg, to position itself well for a prime playoff spot. Then came three consecutive section losses to second-place Serra, first-place Jeannette, and most recently, to Leechburg in a rematch.

The Dynamos led Leechburg at halftime but struggled with foul trouble in the second half of what became a 61-44 loss.

Thompson said foul trouble has been a common theme in many of the games in which Springdale struggled this season. Many of the Dynamos' bench players are freshmen or other underclassmen.

“For us, as opposed to a big school, it affects us greater because we're not a deep team,” Thompson said. “All small public schools can relate to (that). After guy No. 6, you start to feel it, so to speak.”

Thompson expects another physical game Tuesday against Serra, which beat Springdale by nine points late last month and by 10 in December at the St. Joseph holiday tournament.

But he believes the Dynamos have the ability to take advantage of this latest opportunity. Springdale has found a way to win tight section games, using strong second halves and fourth quarters to post victories over Leechburg, Riverview and Greensburg Central Catholic.

“It's kind of developed into a little bit of a section rivalry (with Serra) the last two years,” Thompson said. “The last two years, we've played some really close games. … It's going to be a battle. The first two were battles, so I don't expect anything different.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer.

Tags: Springdale