‘It’s a special season’
Char-Houston boys riding momentum entering the postseason
Moments after the Chartiers-Houston boys basketball team finished off Class 2A Section 3 play with a win at Jefferson-Morgan Friday night, they gathered for a team photo.
There’s a pretty good reason why they wanted the moment to be documented.
The Bucs closed their section championship season in style and are riding the wave of a 13-game winning streak heading into the postseason.
“It’s a special season,” Chartiers-Houston coach Rich Tranquill said. “It’s not something that comes around every year. I love these guys to death. It’s been a cool journey.”
The only question that remains is what seed will they get?
They’ll find out today when the WPIAL releases the brackets.
Chartiers-Houston would have gone unbeaten in section play had it not been for a miracle 75-foot buzzer-beater by West Greene’s Lane Allison that gave the Pioneers a 52-51 victory.
That was the Bucs’ last loss, and it was five days before Christmas.
They also have wins over playoff-bound Class 3A teams McGuffey, 53-37, and Waynesburg, 69-57 and swept last year’s Class 2A state semifinalist Fort Cherry.
All but two of their wins during the 13-game unbeaten run have been by double digits. They beat West Greene by nine points and Fort Cherry by eight.
The Bucs have allowed 38.9 points per game, which is the second fewest in Class 2A to Sewickley Academy.
There’s plenty of quality teams in Class 2A, including fellow section winners Greensburg Central Catholic, Sewickley Academy and Neshannock, as well as Jeannette, whose only two losses are to Greensburg Central Catholic.
Tranquill didn’t want to make any predictions, but felt his team’s resume was strong.
“I’ll let them be the judge,” Tranquill said of the WPIAL steering committee. “We can only control what we do. We felt we scheduled a pretty hard out-of-section schedule with some Triple-A teams. Keystone Oaks got us early, but we also went up against McGuffey, Washington and Brentwood. That was our out-of-section schedule. These guys asked for some bigger schools, so we got them on the schedule. They wanted that. We did all we could and now it’s out of our hands. It’s up to them.”
A quality the Bucs have going for them is they are a veteran team.
They start four seniors: Nate Gregory, Justus Buckingham, Jake Perchinsky and Paul Williamson and one junior Aaron Walsh.
They’ve played together for many years and have bought into Tranquill’s philosophy of being a hard team to play against.
“I’m very confident in our guys,” Gregory said. “We put a lot of work in during the summer and in the season. I know we’re in a good place right now and we’re hoping to continue it.”
Regardless of what seed they receive, the Bucs are determined to break a playoff win drought that dates back to 2018.
That season ended in a run to the WPIAL semifinals.
They believe they have a group capable of replicating that or maybe going beyond.
“This is not something that happened by accident,” Tranquill said. “It’s years of work that’s been building towards this. It doesn’t happen overnight. These guys have continued to grow year after year and we’re seeing the fruits of their labor. That’s why I appreciate them so much.”