Apr 6, 2025 By Jerin Steele 4 min read

Zion Moore couldn’t have scripted a better ending to his WPIAL basketball career.

Ten years to the day that his older brother, Dwight, won a WPIAL championship with coach Joe Salvino at Monessen, Moore accomplished the same feat at Belle Vernon.

The Leopards defeated North Catholic 54-49 in the Class 4A final on Feb. 27 to win their first WPIAL title since 1978.

To top it off, it sent Salvino, who retired at the end of the season, out with his seventh district title.

“It felt amazing to be able to win the WPIAL,” Moore said. “With it being Coach Salvino’s last year, it was pretty big. It was pretty big for me personally with it being 10 years since my brother won the WPIAL championship with Coach Salvino.”

Moore was at the forefront of a special season for the Leopards.

One of the most prolific scorers in the district at 24 points per game, Moore is the 2024-25 Observer-Reporter boys basketball player of the year.

Moore finished his high school career with 2,113 points between his three years at Belle Vernon and his freshman season at Ringgold.

A dozen of those points came in the WPIAL Championship game.

His senior season was not without some trials.

He was suspended for five games along with two other starters during the regular season for disciplinary reasons and had to overcome a severe ankle injury in the playoffs.

Once he got back into the lineup in the regular season, Belle Vernon played four games in five days against Derry, Knoch, Greensburg Central Catholic and Elizabeth Forward.

The Leopards went 4-0 during that stretch, which Moore said was the turning point.

“At the beginning of the season we struggled, but when we hit that stretch, I felt like it brought us all together,” Moore said. “We figured out what it took to make a run.”

Make a run is exactly what the Leopards did.

They beat Elizabeth Forward and Avonworth to get to the finals. The first game against Elizabeth Forward was when Moore suffered his ankle injury.

At first, he said he thought he broke it, but it turned out to be a severe sprain.

“I was backpedaling and clipped somebody’s foot,” Moore said. “They told me I had a grade II ankle sprain on both sides of my foot, medial and lateral. It was tough not being able to run how I run, cut how I cut and jump how I can jump, but I had to find other ways to impact the game.”

Moore had 14 points, injured ankle and all, in a dramatic 57-56 comeback win over Avonworth in the WPIAL 4A semifinals.

Excluding the WPIAL championship, which is at the top of the list, Moore cited the Avonworth win as one of the three most memorable games of his career.

“The Avonworth game stands out, because a lot of people had them beating us,” Moore said. “It was just exciting too, because it was the game we won to get to the Petersen Events Center.”

The other two memorable games came in past seasons.

First was a win over Uniontown two years ago, a bragging rights game against friends.

“The Uniontown game was special to me, because I’m very close with the Uniontown players like Tori (Grooms), Calvin (Winfrey) and Jamire Braxton,” Moore said. “It was just a fun, competitive game.”

The other one was a loss, but a hard-fought WPIAL semifinal game against Laurel Highlands in 2023 in front of a packed house at Peters Township’s AHN Arena.

“It was against Rodney Gallagher and Keondre DeShields,” Moore said. “That game was crazy. Even though we lost, we all played hard. There were a lot of people there to see it.”

The Leopards’ season came to an end with a 69-64 loss to Sharon in the second round of the state playoffs.

Moore leaves Belle Vernon, having helped lead the program to its first championship in 47 years and second overall.

“I feel like my high school career went by fast, but I enjoyed these last three years at Belle Vernon,” Moore said.

The goal for next year is to play at the college level. He’s still deciding where that will be.

“I definitely want to continue my career into college and go as far as I can with basketball,” Moore said. “I’ve been talking about it with a couple of my family members, coach Salvino and (Belle Vernon Athletic Director Matt) Humbert.”