High school basketball roundup: Dunn deal as Chartiers-Houston wins Avella tournament
Seth Dunn scored a career-high 30 points and Chartiers-Houston avenged an earlier loss to Burgettstown by defeating the Blue Devils 59-50 Saturday night in the championship game of the Avella tournament.
Dunn helped Chartiers-Houston (6-4) bounce back from a 21-20 halftime deficit as he scored 22 of his points in the second half en route to the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award.
Evan Simpson supported Dunn by scoring 15 points.
Burgettstown (5-4), which won at Chartiers-Houston 65-60 on Dec. 13, received 15 points each from Cole Shergi and Dylan Poirier.
“Good defense was the key,” Chartiers-Houston coach Eugene Briggs said. “(Friday) night Dante Gianfrancesco made nine three-pointers and we held to three and nine points. That was key.”
McGuffey 66, Avella 47: C.J. Cole and Nate Witkowski combined for 34 points and McGuffey used a big first half to cruise past Avella 66-47 in the consolation bracket of the Eagles’ holiday tournament.
Cole, who scored a game-high 19 points, and Witkowski, with 15, helped McGuffey (7-3) build leads of 22-9 after one quarter and 48-23 at halftime.
Tyler Cerciello had a fine all-around game for Avella (2-7) by scoring a team-high 15 points to go with 13 rebounds. Tanner Terenesky contributed with 10 points.
Fort Cherry 63, Brownsville 42: Maddox Truschel scored a game-high 18 points and Fort Cherry got its offense going early as the Rangers rolled to a 63-42 victory over Brownsville in the Avella tournament.
Fort Cherry (2-6) started quickly, forging an 19-5 lead after one quarter and 39-18 at halftime. Truschel scored 12 of his points in the first half.
Noah Babirad had 12 points and Brenden Anderson 10 for Fort Cherry, which has won two in a row.
Nick Seto led Brownsville (1-7) with 17 points. The Falcons have lost seven in a row.
Girls results
Peters Township 79, Mars 43: An early afternoon start did nothing to slow Peters Township as the Indians steamrolled Mars 79-43 in a battle of unbeatens at the Hempfield tournament.
Peters Township (8-0) raced to a 24-16 lead after one quarter and increased the gap to 46-25 at halftime. The loss was the first in eight games for Mars, a Class 5A school.
Makenna Marisa and Journey Thompson each scored 22 points to lead the Indians. Marisa scored 12 of her points in the first quarter and Thompson made sure there would be no comeback by Mars when she scored 10 points in the third quarter.
Isabella Mills scored 16 points for PT and Mckenzie Lehman had 11.
Tai Johnson paced Mars with 19 points and Ellie Coffield had 10.