Jan 11, 2019 3 min read

CHARLEROI – Playing with heavy hearts, Charleroi High School’s boys basketball team used emotion and stellar defense to upend McGuffey in a Class 3A Section 4 first-place showdown Friday night, 50-39.

With the win, the Cougars (5-1, 8-5) leapfrogged the Highlanders (4-1, 9-5) to take over sole possession of the section lead.

“We had this game circled for a while and did a real nice job in the first half of holding them to 13 points,” said Charleroi coach Bill Wiltz. “They scored some quick ones on us early, but we made adjustments and it worked through the first half.

“I think we went into a brain lapse to start the second half and once we made another adjustment, things worked out.”

McGuffey coach Mike Fatigante was disappointed with the effort of his team.

“They outexecuted us, outshot us, outrebounded us and played harder and that isn’t a good recipe for us to win a basketball game,” he said. “They beat us in every aspect of the game and I am more disappointed than upset because in this big of a game we put forth that level of effort.”

Prior to the game, Charleroi held a moment of silence for Jerry Pellegrini, the grandfather of current Cougars player Dom Pellegrini, who died Sunday. After a heartfelt pregame introduction was held with each player heading over to the corner of the court where Mr. Pellegrini sat for years.

Wiltz said it has been an emotional time for the team and it was especially emotional in the locker room after the game.

“It affected all of the players as he was a fan and a friend to all of the kids through his grandkids,” he said. “It was an emotional time in the locker room after the game and the kids wanted to do it for Jerry.”

The teams exchanged baskets early and McGuffey held a 7-5 lead, but the Cougars closed the quarter on an 8-1 lead to take a 15-8 lead and the Highlanders never led again.

During the run, Legend Davis sparked Charleroi by scoring five points.

The Cougars outscored McGuffey 16-5 in the second quarter to take a 29-13 lead into the half, and it wasn’t until the 4:32 mark in the second quarter that McGuffey’s leading scorer, C.J. Cole, made his first basket.

“We went with a 1-3-1 (zone) being very aware of where (Cole) was so he couldn’t hurt us,” Wiltz explained. “We wanted to trap him and it was effective until (Nate) Witkowsky started hurting us.”

McGuffey outscored Charleroi 17-9 in the third quarter to creep back in the game, but the Highlanders could get no closer than seven points in the fourth quarter.

Joe Caruso led Charleroi with 15 points, Lee Zanardini and Zack Usher each had 13 and Davis played a solid floor game with 10 rebounds, four steals and four assists.

Witkowsky led McGuffey in scoring with 18 points. Cole was held to 13, well below his season average.

McGuffey hosts Washington in a key section game Tuesday while Charleroi hosts Waynesburg Wednesday in a non-section game.

“It is a long season and we will get back at it at practice and fix things,” said Fatigante. “We will get ready for Washington.”

The winner will be tied with Charleroi atop the section at the halfway point.

“We had the loss to Washington and that isn’t a bad loss,” Wiltz said. “We thought we could run the (section) table the rest of the way and the second half of the season is a new season.”