Aliquippa depth too much for Charleroi
BALDWIN – In the end, the depth of Aliquippa was just too much to handle for Charleroi High School’s boys basketball team.
The Quips used a 12-man rotation that was highly athletic to wear down Charleroi and hand the Cougars a 70-51 defeat in the first round of the WPIAL Class AAA boys basketball playoffs Saturday at Baldwin High School.
Aliquippa (12-11) will face Washington, a 57-29 first-round winner over Ellwood City, in the quarterfinals Thursday at a site and time to be determined. Charleroi finishes its season at 12-11.
“This was the hardest we have played this year,” said Charleroi coach Bill Wiltz. “We gave it our all and we were diving all over the floor.
“(Junior) Caleb Carson is probably going to lead the WPIAL in bruises this year, but the guys never quit and we are proud of them as every one of them left it all out there.”
Wiltz went into the game knowing the the Cougars couldn’t match up man-to-man against Aliquippa. So he instead employed a 2-3 matchup zone that kept the game close early until the Quips figured it out.
“They hit a few shots so we thought we may have to adjust out of it, but we played well in it,” Wiltz said. “We are athletic, but they have a lot of athletes. They ran them right after another at us. That is a pretty nice team.”
A key in the game was the constant foul trouble by Charleroi’s 6-4 center, Dremar Everette, the team’s lone true inside presence.
Although the senior finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds, he spent important stretches of the game on the bench because of foul issues and Aliquippa took advantage inside.
“We could not rebound with him not in there,” said Wiltz. “They got way too many putbacks. We boxed out but we were outjumped and there is nothing you can do about that.”
Charleroi trialed 19-10 when Everette picked up his third foul with 6:23 to play in the second quarter. The Quips immediately went on a 7-0 run.
But the Cougars then matched that with a 7-0 run of their own to cut the lead to 26-17.
Charleroi trailed 29-18 at the half, and went on a 13-5 run to cut the Aliquippa lead to 34-31 on a pair of Sam Miceli free throws.
With 2:18 to go in the quarter, Miceli hit a three-pointer to make the score 40-36, but the Quips closed the quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 48-36 lead into the fourth quarter.
Miceli hit another three-pointer to open the fourth quarter, but Aliquippa went on a 10-2 run to put the game away.
Miceli finished with 21 points and in the top five scoring in school history, and Wiltz fought back his emotions when talking about his sharpshooter and this senior class.
“It’s tough to say goodbye to any seniors, especially when they have been in the program for three years,” he said. “Miceli was in the gym all summer for three years straight and it’s tough to see them go, even though it happens every year and you never get used to it.
“It is a difficult thing for any coach to do and we wish them luck.”
William Gipson led Aliquippa, which had 10 players score, with 21 points.
Charleroi had 22 turnovers and Aliquippa finished with 18.