Feb 8, 2020 3 min read

McDONALD – It was a simple equation for the Trinity High School boys basketball team Saturday afternoon at South Fayette. Win the section finale and clinch a spot in the WPIAL Class 5A postseason tournament. Lose, and fail to qualify for the playoffs.

Unfortunately for the Hillers, they will not be dancing in the playoffs after a 77-63 loss at South Fayette. There will be no postseason for the Hillers (7-7 in Class 5A Section 2, 12-9 overall) while South Fayette (8-6, 13-7) awaits their tournament fate later this week.

Trinity, West Allegheny and Montour tied for fourth place and the final playoff berth out of the section. West Allegheny gained the postseason berth based on head-to-head results. The Indians swept the season series with the Hillers.

A red-hot shooting third quarter for the Lions set the second-half tone for the hosts as they turned a 29-22 halftime advantage into a runaway by the end of the third quarter.

South Fayette shot a blistering 10-of-13 from the field in the decisive third quarter, blowing the game open and essentially ending the season for the Hillers.

“No doubt I thought the first four possessions of the third quarter set the tone and pretty much buried us,” Trinity coach Tim Tessmer said.

The Lions made their first eight shots of the second half as Brandon Jakiela scored seven of his team-leading 18 points in the third quarter.

“We told our kids at the half, we want to take all good shots, all good looks,” South Fayette coach Dave Mislan said. “We did that, especially in the third quarter, and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”

Kade St. Ledger chipped in with 14 points for the Lions and Connor Mislan added 13. Joe Alcorn rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Lions with 11.

Mislan added his team’s depth played a huge role in the win.

“We feel good about ourselves. We feel good about our bench,” Mislan said. “We’ve been trying to get our bench experience all year. Now we do feel good. We played nine guys.”

Trinity’s Michael Koroly finished with a game-high 26 points. He single-handedly seemed set on bringing the Hillers back from a 57-35 deficit coming out of the third quarter by scoring 15 points in the final frame.

“I thought Andrew Franklin was unbelievable in guarding Koroly because he is hard to guard, obviously,” Mislan added. “We wanted to make them work for everything they got tonight because they are such a good offensive and good shooting team.”

Jordane Adams added 13 points while Mike Dunn chipped in with 10.

Tessmer said the lack of scoring depth hurt but getting beat 24-16 on the boards was all the more telling of the final result.

“We just didn’t compete down there. I don’t know what the answer is,” Tessmer added. “When you get there, you have to clean the glass and you have to guard. Those two things really let us down today.”

Allowing the Lions to score 48 points in the second-half also did not help the Hillers, said Tessmer.

“When you score 63 points, that should keep you in it,” he said. “We just didn’t get it done.”

Trinity took their only lead in the second quarter when Connor Roberts hit a three-pointer to give the Hillers a 15-12 lead early in the quarter. But a 17-7 Lions run to close the half gave the hosts a seven-point lead they would never relinquish.