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New Castle too athletic for Belle Vernon, Leps fall in semis

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CORAOPOLIS – Most basketball games are complex.

Coaching strategy, injuries, refereeing, individual performances and many other factors cause the game to go one way or another on any given night.

This wasn’t the case Wednesday night at Moon Area High School when No. 2-seeded New Castle and No. 3-seeded Belle Vernon faced off in the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals.

The game wasn’t complex because New Castle didn’t let it become complex. The Canes simply used their superior athleticism to outscore, outrebound and outdefend the Leopards to win 63-43.

Belle Vernon head coach Kyle DeGregorio said the key was his defense lack of ability to keep the Canes ballhandlers in front of them.

“They were able to get to the hoop, in transition and in the half court, because we had trouble keeping guys in front of us. We couldn’t get good traps, and that really hurt us,” DeGregorio said. “The problem was we were bringing the second guy to the ball and they were still outrunning us with the ball.”

With four players in double digits, New Castle, the defending WPIAL champion, relied solely on their quickness to get to the hoop, as the Canes scored 55 of their points in the paint or at the free throw line.

“They’re really good athletes, but we’ve played (good athletes) a number of times,” DeGregorio said. “This isn’t the first time we’ve played athletes of this caliber. I just don’t think we played very well.”

New Castle (20-4) will play Quaker Valley in the WPIAL final Saturday, while Belle Vernon (18-7) will set its sights on the PIAA playoffs.

After New Castle led 16-11 heading into the second quarter, Carrington Smith, who had 13 points, helped the Canes to pull away in the second quarter. Starting the quarter on a 14-2 run, the Canes entered halftime leading by 15 points.

“We didn’t make free throws and we were four-for-17 inside of six feet in the first half,” DeGregorio said. “We had a hard time stopping the dribble when we couldn’t score. They’re getting it and they’re coming at us with a full head of steam, and it was really hard. We start making some of those (shots), and I think now we have a better job of keeping the ball in front of us.”

Despite New Castle’s ability to get to the hoop in the first half, DeGregorio didn’t switch his defense from a man to a zone.

“That’s not what we do. We stay true to who we are. I really believe we could keep them in front of us,” he said. “A lot of people could criticize me because we don’t change, but it’s just what we do. We become really good at our style of play, and we ran into a team tonight that was really athletic. I don’t think it would’ve been any different if we played a zone.”

Belle Vernon played its best quarter by far in the third, as the Leopards scored 20 points in the eight-minute stretch. The problem, though, was the Leopards still weren’t able to stop New Castle’s offense, as the Canes scored 19 in the third to lead by 14 heading into the fourth.

“I thought in the third quarter we got a little bit of a spark. We hit a three and then we turned them over, but then we gave them four points right back,” DeGregorio said. “You get to the end of the third quarter, and it’s only one different than what it was at halftime. We just couldn’t defend well enough.”

Georgie Eggleston, Lorenzo Gardner and Anthony Bailey also scored in double figures for the Canes, with 13, 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Bryce Washington, who led the Leopards with 13 points, said the team’s misfortunes on offense sometimes leaked over to poor play on defense.

“It was more mental. We didn’t execute when it mattered,” he said. “We were turning the ball over. Every time we turned it over, they got a fast break and they were finishing. We weren’t finishing at the rim.”

Despite the loss, Belle Vernon’s season isn’t over, as the Leopards received a bid to the state playoffs last week with a quarterfinals win over Ambridge. Belle Vernon hasn’t competed in a PIAA boys basketball tournament since the 1997-98 season.

If New Castle defeats Quaker Valley Saturday, Belle Vernon will receive the third bid from District 7 to the PIAA playoffs. If Quaker Valley wins, the Leopards will be the fourth bid from the WPIAL.

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