Peters Township to play for WPIAL 5A title
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Brendan McCullough (2) and Jake Ziegler (15) celebrate with their teammates and fans after Peters Township’s victory against Gateway qualified them for the WPIAL Class 5A boys’ basketball championship game set for 9 p.m. Thursday, March 2 at the Petersen Events Center. The Indians last won a WPIAL title in 2009. In the win against the Gators, McCullough tossed in 11 points while Ziegler provided 15 markers.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Jake Ziegler (15) jumps into the arms of head coach Joe Urmann after Peters Township defeated Gateway, 62-55, to advance to the WPIAL Class 5A boys’ basketball championship game set for 9 p.m. Thursday, March 2 at the Petersen Events Center. The Indians last won a WPIAL title in 2009. Ziegler scored 15 points in the win.
Peters Township head coach Joe Urmann (far left) and his basketball team along with the student body react to a free throw attempt in the waning seconds of a 62-55 victory over Gateway. The win put the Indians in the WPIAL Class 5A final set for 9 p.m. March 2 at the Petersen Events Center.
Brendan McCullough (2) makes his move against Tra Williams during Peters Township's 62-55 win against Gateway. McCullough tossed in 11 points, five in a pivotal third quarter as the Indians vaulted to a 45-41 lead after being deadlocked at 28 at intermission.
Jack Dunbar (45) puts up a jumpshot during Peters Township’s 62-55 victory against Gateway in the WPIAL Class 5A boys’ semifinal basketball game. Dunbar fired in 29 points in the victory.
MT. LEBANON – For the first time since 2009, the Peters Township boys basketball team will be playing for a WPIAL title.
The Indians withstood a stiff challenge from Gateway Saturday afternoon in a WPIAL Class 5A semifinal matchup for a pulsating 62-55 win at Mt. Lebanon High School.
Peters Township (22-3) will take on Penn Hills Thursday in the championship game at the Petersen Events Center. Tipoff is 9 p.m.
Peters Township had the pressure of carrying the burden of the No. 1 seed throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs. The Indians passed the test and now are one win away from WPIAL gold.
“The seed is nice, we play the games on our schedule and just do our best,” Peters Township coach Joe Urmann noted. “It’s cliche, but we tried to take it one game at a time.”
Jack Dunbar led all scorers with 29 points, two of which came off an emphatic dunk that put the exclamation point on the victory. Jake Ziegler added 14 points while Brendan McCullough chipped in 11.
Talli Thompson paced Gateway (17-6) with 13 points while M.J. Stevenson chipped in with 11.
“That’s a really good and well-coached team we beat tonight,” Urmann said. “Hats off to them, they have some really good players and they rebound the heck out of it.”
Peters Township did more than hold their own on the glass as they outboarded the Gators 26-24. Mickey Vaccarello came up with the biggest offensive rebound when he snagged a Thomas Aspinall missed front end of a one-and-one and maintained possession for the Indians as they clung to a 58-55 lead in the waning moments of the contest.
“He’s been real big for us on the boards all year,” Urmann said in reference to Vaccarello’s work on the glass.
McCullough subsequently made two foul shots to extend the lead to 60-55. Gateway then turned the ball over, leading to Dunbar’s thunderous jam to end the game.
“That felt really good to get out in the open and have a chance to do that,” Dunbar added.
The Indians made an early push in the third quarter to put some space between themselves and Gateway as they opened the period with a 10-4 run to take a 38-32 lead midway through the quarter.
Gateway continued to stalk the Indians as the Gators pulled to within 42-41 with a 1:45 left in the quarter, courtesy of a Jaydon Carr bucket. But Peters Township would respond, as they had all game, with a 7-0 run to close the quarter. Ziegler led the way with 10 third-quarter points.
“Jake was huge for us, especially making those corner 3s,” Urmann added. “Our seniors, Brendan and Jake, really stepped up big for us today.”
The Gators again rose to challenge the Indians with a 6-0 run to start the fourth. A Carr pullup from midrange cut the Indians’ lead to 49-47.
It was here that Gateway’s Thompson and Peters Township’s Dunbar exchanged three-pointers. Thompson’s second three brought the Gators to within 54-53 with a little more than three minutes remaining.
But Peters Township was able to close out the contest on a 8-2 run, clinching its trip to the WPIAL finals.
“I thought our guys really showed some toughness and guts, especially there in the fourth quarter,” Urmann noted. “Our guys deserve it, for sure.”
Both squads traded blows throughout the first half. Dunbar came out red hot, scoring 11 first-quarter points. But the springy Gators kept up step-for-step as Williams scored five first-quarter points to bring Gateway even at 15-15. Gateway was able to keep pace by taking care of the ball and shooting a sizzling eight-for-12 from the field in the first quarter.
Pryor gave the Gators a 19-17 lead early in the second with a floater in the lane. A Thompson three-pointer pushed Gateway’s advantage to 26-21 with two minutes remaining in the half. A Dunbar three cut the lead to two seconds later, giving the Indians some momentum as the second quarter drained towards halftime.
Ziegler then made a turnaround fadeaway shot to knot the score at 28 as the squads headed into the locker room at halftime.