Burgettstown defeats East Allegheny for first playoff win since 2007
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Burgettstown’s head coach Tim Murray gives his team instructions during a timeout of their WPIAL Class AAA first-round playoff game against East Allegheny at Peters Township High School. The Blue Devils have qualified for the state tournament but will not know their opponent until late tonight.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Burgettstown fans cheer after beating East Allegheny in a WPIAL Class AAA first-round playoff game at Peters Township High School Monday.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Burgettstown’s Scott Ferris drives to the basket past East Allegheny’s Malik Stewart, left, and Olajawan Owens during the WPIAL Class AAA first-round playoff game at Peters Township High School Monday,
Burgettstown’s Garrett Dhans makes a basket as East Allegheny’s Olajawan Owens tries for a block during Monday's WPIAL Class AAA first-round playoff game at Peters Township High School.
Burgettstown’s Ryan Lounder scores over East Allegheny’s Cedric Blackman during Monday’s WPIAL Class AAA first-round playoff game at Peters Township High School. Lounder scored 16 points in the Blue Devils’ win.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
McMURRAY – If history wasn’t stacked enough against the Burgettstown High School boys basketball team, then how it ended the regular season didn’t put out an alert to teams to watch out for the Blue Devils.
With Burgettstown losing three of its last four to limp into the postseason, an alert clearly didn’t manage to find its way to East Allegheny High School in North Versailles.
The Blue Devils approached the postseason as a new season Monday night as they controlled the pace of play, out-worked and never trailed to defeat No. 8-seed East Allegheny, 63-57, in a WPIAL Class 2A first-round game at Peters Township High School.
The win sends advances ninth-seeded Burgettstown (16-6) to a quarterfinal matchup Thursday with top-seeded Lincoln Park at a site and time to be determined. It also ends an 11-year drought without a playoff victory. The last time the Blue Devils won in the postseason was in February of 2007. They have gone 0-6 in the playoffs since then.
“I can’t say how proud I am of my guys,” Burgettstown first-year coach Tim Murray said. “I understand how the seeding went, the way it did, but we felt like we were better than the ninth-best team and wanted to use that as motivation.”
Clearly excited to erase thoughts of the bad end to a successful regular season, Burgettstown reverted back to what got it to the playoffs: an “inferno” defense that relies on forcing turnovers to creating easy offense.
The Blue Devils did that early and often, forcing five turnovers and scoring the last 13 points of the first quarter to build a 17-4 lead.
East Allegheny (11-10) put the once-comfortable lead into jeopardy several times, cutting the deficit to one point by halftime, 25-24. Later, Tre Brown made the last of a trio of three-pointers as the Wildcats again trimmed the Burgettstown lead to one possession, 55-52, with 2:47 remaining in the fourth quarter.
But for every rally, the much smaller Blue Devils – East Allegheny had two players standing 6-4, including West Virginia football recruit EJ Banks – left it in the hands of their smallest player to make the biggest impact.
Following the 9-0 scoring run from the Wildcats in the fourth quarter, 5-7 junior guard Dante Gianfrancesco scored from four feet from behind the three-point arc to extend the Burgettstown lead to 58-52 with 2:26 remaining. Gianfrancesco’s three-pointer would be the game-winner.
“Our key tonight was to match their effort, toughness and physicality from the start,” Murray said. “We emphasized that we were going to be who we are. We were not going to be afraid of (East Allegheny). We were going to play our game. Everybody who came into the game made a big play for us.”
Just as it did in the first quarter, Burgettstown pounced on East Allegtheny mistakes to start the second half. Blue Devils forward Scott Ferris scored six points as they turned up the defensive pressure, igniting a 14-2 run in the opening 2:10 of the third quarter.
Ferris, who was alerted he earned a spot in the starting five at the shootaround prior to the bus leaving Burgettstown, finished with 15 points and helped control the sizeable East Allegheny frontcourt.
“There was a little bit of nerves,” said Ferris, who only started a few games this season. “I didn’t question it. It’s a playoff game on the big stage. It had me coming out of the gate fired up. I’ve played my role this season and have just done what it takes to win. I played my heart out.”
Murray credited Ferris with limiting Olajawan Owens and Banks, the two 6-4 post players for East Allegheny, in the first quarter.
“(Scott) was a differencemaker tonight,” Murray said. “Him refusing to let (Owens) grab rebounds in the first quarter set the tone. Our No. 1 key tonight was to match their effort, toughness and physicality from the start. (Our players) could have easily said they were outmatched. They didn’t allow that to happen tonight.”
Ownes finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds, doing most of his work on the glass in the second and fourth quarters. Banks was limited to eight points.
“We were smaller than them, but I thought if we played harder and smarter then maybe we could come out on top,” Ferris said. “They were big. They were tough. We just had to play harder, tougher and smarter.”
Ryan Lounder led Burgettstown with 16 points, eight coming in the first quarter. Garrett Dhans had 10 points.
“We were one or two plays away,” said East Allegheny coach Pete Logan. “Every time we needed a play, we didn’t make it. Every time we needed a stop, (Burgettstown) made a play. They made the plays they needed to.”