Feb 15, 2019 3 min read

MT. LEBANON – The West Greene boys basketball team was doing everything right in the first half.

The Pioneers withstood the early onslaught by St. Joseph, they found their rhythm on offense and they were able to cut a deficit down with some critical transition points.

But then the third quarter happened.

St. Joe’s started the second half with 25 straight points and controlled the rest of the game as the Pioneers fell 78-45 Friday night in the first round of the WPIAL Class A playoffs at Mt. Lebanon High School.

“Turnovers and not boxing out was the difference-maker in the third quarter,” West Greene coach Jim Romanus said. “We were right with them in the first half, we just struggled in those two areas. For the season, sometimes we play 5-on-4 defensively, and you can’t do that in the playoffs against a good-shooting team like St. Joe’s. That has to change for us in the future.”

The Spartans (18-5) held a 31-5 scoring advantage in the decisive third quarter and had four players reach double-figures.

Matthew Arvay and Grant Bendis led the quartet with 16 points apiece, and Andrew Sullivan (15) and Daniel Fabregas (14) rounded out the Spartans’ top scorers.

St. Joseph will play No. 4 seed Monessen on Thursday in the quarterfinals.

Ben Jackson scored a team-high 14 points for the Pioneers (7-15).

Andrew Wise compiled 11 points off the bench, while 1,000-point scorer Nathan Brudnock ended his stellar career with nine.

“We just couldn’t get anything going in the second half,” Romanus said.

“We don’t have enough guys that will drive to the basket. We have a couple who can attack, but sometimes we get a little intimidated.”

With both teams going to their benches midway through the fourth quarter, the Spartans held a 15-14 scoring edge in the final eight minutes.

After West Greene took a 4-3 lead with back-to-back hoops by Jackson, the No. 5 seed St. Joseph stormed back with 15 unanswered points. Arvay scored nine points in the quarter.

The Pioneers countered that spree with a 6-0 run to close out the opening frame and trailed 18-12.

After consecutive treys by Fabregas stretched the Spartans lead to 24-14 in the early stages of the second stanza, West Greene battled back with another rally and trimmed the deficit to 24-21 after an inside hoop by Brudnock.

“We came back really good and I really liked the way we ran with the ball in transition,” Romanus said. “Our transition game was really good. We got a hand in their face and tracked down the rebounds. But overall, I was really disappointed we didn’t run our sets on offense. For whatever reason, we just didn’t get into our offense.”

St. Joseph ended the quarter on an 8-5 spurt and carried a 32-26 lead into intermission.

West Greene, which qualified for the postseason for a school record fourth time, will lose six seniors next season.