Trinity, South Fayette boys seek revenge; C-H girls have experienced opponent
Following a first-round win over Erie Cathedral Prep Friday night, there was unanimity exuding from the Trinity boys basketball locker room under the gymnasium at Edinboro University.
While the Hillers agreed that they had played a strong second half, which was the key to their comeback and the first state playoff win in program history, another facet of their exuberance while in the bows of McComb Fieldhouse came from finding out their next opponent.
Trinity (21-5) will play Mars (22-4), which knocked the Hillers out of the WPIAL playoffs, 56-39, in the semifinals, at 7 p.m. tonight at Moon High School in the second round of the PIAA Class 5A tournament.
“That’s who we want,” Trinity coach Tim Tessmer said when the news came of seeing the Fightin’ Planets for the second time a little more than two weeks.
“(Our players) all want to play them. We feel like we’re one of the better teams in the WPIAL. Now, we want to be able to show everybody that we are.”
The South Fayette boys (17-8) are in a similar situation against WPIAL Class 4A champion New Castle (22-4), which rallied in the second half to knock off the Lions 55-45 in a quarterfinal game Feb. 24. The two meet again tonight at Aliquippa High School (7:30 p.m.).
“Starting at the top, with me and the other coaches, we have a tremendous amount of respect for New Castle,” said South Fayette coach Dave Mislan. “They have been the best for how many years? We know they expect to win. The whole locker room is excited to have another chance at the best team. We aren’t fearing them, but we do have a healthy respect. We want to see if we can beat the best.”
The success of Trinity and South Fayette hinges on not having a “throw-away” quarter or half, similar to the first time they played the eventual WPIAL champs.
The Lions went on a 12-0 run in the second quarter to take the lead, and shock, New Castle 27-21 at halftime. The Red Hurricane leaned on Marcus Hooker and Carrington Smith in the second half and self-inflicted mistakes hurt South Fayette.
Hooker and Smith combined for 33 points as New Castle feasted on easy transition baskets off turnovers to erase the six-point halftime deficit and outscoring the Lions 22-10 in the third quarter.
“In the first half, we took care of the ball,” Mislan said. “We only had two turnovers in the first half. I bet nobody has done that all year against New Castle. They turned it up a notch (in the second half), they got their transition game going. Every possession matters. We have to limit their easy shots.”
It also was the third quarter that doomed Trinity against Mars, when more Planets got everyone into the act offensively instead of only Notre Dame recruit Robby Carmody.
Carmody scored 21 of Mars’ 23 points in the first two quarters, swinging the Hillers’ concentration solely onto stopping the Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year. He went 13-for-16 from the free-throw line and finished with a game-high 30 points.
However, three other players – Michael Carmody, Andrew Recchia and Brandon Caruso – combined to score 22 points in the second half.
“All year, we’ve had one quarter we want to throw out,” Tessmer said. “Honestly, you’re not going to stop (Carmody). The goal is to not let the other guys get 10 or 15 points. We just started focusing way too much on him and let too many other guys get open.”
The offensive struggles Trinity had in the WPIAL playoffs reappeared against Mars, which wouldn’t allow a second-half comeback by the Hillers like they had against Greensburg Salem and McKeesport, the teams Trinity beat to reach the semifinals.
“We just bogged ourselves down,” Tessmer said. “There was too much over dribbling, too much standing and watching. When we do little things like that wrong, it makes us look really bad. There were a lot of opportunities to get points that we just didn’t take advantage of.”
Eleanor Bailey
Chartiers-Houston guard Jules Vulcano lets loose with a layup despite the defensive efforts of a Cambridge Springs defender Alex Miller during PIAA Class 2A playoff action Friday night. The Bucs will play Bishop McCort in the second round Tuesday night.
Chartiers-Houston vs. Bishop McCort
The only local girls team that is still playing is Chartiers-Houston. The Bucs will have their hands full when tonight (7:30) against state playoff regular Bishop McCort in a Class 2A second-round game at Plum High School.
Bishop McCort (21-6) advanced by defeating Greensburg Central Catholic, 54-38, in the first round.
The Crushers, the District 6 champion, are riding a four-game winning streak and have won 12 of their last 13.
Chartiers-Houston (20-6) is seeking its first PIAA quarterfinal appearance since the 2014-15 season. The last time the Bucs made it that far was in 1983.
Senior forward Alexa Williamson will be a handful for the Crushers. She scored a mind-boggling 51 points in C-H’s first-round victory over Cambridge Springs, 75-43.
Though her sophomore year was shortened by a season-ending knee injury, Williamson has played in six state tournament games and is averaging 25.3 points per game. She has five double-doubles.
Do-it-all sophomore Isabella Hunt leads Bishop McCort in rebounds (9.8), assists (5.5) and is third on the team in scoring (11.6). Sophomore Mikayla Martin leads the Crushers in scoring with 14.9 points, while junior Sierra Widmar averages 12 points and 9.8 rebounds.
Bishop McCort made the state semifinals two years ago and was the state runner-up last season, losing to Minersville in the championship game. To advance to that title game, the CRushers defeated Bellwood Antis, which knocked off Chartiers-Houston in the second round, 80-66.
Despite Bishop McCort’s success in the playoffs, five of the six games the Crushers have lost have been away from their home court.