C-H boys shake off buzzer-beater, continue strong start
By Jerin Steele
Staff writer
jsteele@observer-reporter.com
Chartiers-Houston boys basketball coach Rich Tranquill loves the character of his players.
If there were any doubts about the resolve of his group, they were given a test a couple weeks ago to prove themselves.
When West Greene’s Lane Allison made his 75-foot buzzer-beater that went viral on social media, it was the Bucs that were on the other side of it.
The shock of that moment might have shaken a less-experienced team, but Chartiers-Houston has responded by winning three straight games, including the Avella Tournament championship over the holidays.
“It was an incredible shot and I’ve never seen it quite go down like that before, but life has a way of doing that to you,” Tranquill said. “We preached to our guys to learn from it and not put ourselves in a position that allows something crazy like that to happen. We looked at not only the last two seconds of the game, but where we could be better the rest of the game to not be in that situation.
“I’m really proud of our guys and their resiliency in how they responded. That’s something you could really hang your head over, but we didn’t. Our guys bounced back. We have good senior leadership in the room that didn’t let it bother them.”
The Bucs are 3-1 in Class 2A Section 3 and 9-2 overall. They are in a three-way tie for second place one game behind Jefferson-Morgan.
Following the 52-51 loss to West Greene, Chartiers-Houston beat Avella 60-46 and McGuffey 57-43 at the Avella Tournament and Burgettstown 71-40 in section play Friday.
There’s four seniors and one junior in the starting lineup, which speaks to the veteran leadership Tranquill mentioned.
Justus Buckingham, Nate Gregory, Jake Perchinsky and Paul Williamson are the four seniors and Aaron Walsh is the junior.
They’ve played together for a long time and have formed a strong bond on and off the court.
Tranquill considers himself fortunate to have what he called “A great group of young men” and they’ve adopted an identity of being hard to play against on every part of the court.
In seven of the nine wins, they’ve held opponents to less than 50 points and have done so in every section win.
“Defensively our guys work really hard,” Tranquill said. “Offensively we have three guys in double figures, Justus Buckingham, Aaron Walsh and Nate Gregory. Jake Perchinsky and Paul Williamson are just under double figures, and they chip in so many other ways. These guys have been with us for years and have really bought into that idea of a team concept. They hold each other accountable and truly play for one another.”
The Bucs have a win over Fort Cherry, 49-43, in the section opener.
They are set to host Beth-Center – one of the teams tied for second in the section – tonight before finishing out the first round of section play at Mapletown on Friday and section-leader Jefferson-Morgan at home next Tuesday.
Chartiers-Houston has made the playoffs four consecutive years and have put themselves in position to do so again. But the Bucs haven’t won a playoff game since their run to the WPIAL semifinals in 2018.
A good start has been nice, but this group is hungry for more.
“We’ve started off well, but we’re not satisfied,” Tranquill said. “Satisfaction is nothing more than a pathway to mediocrity and that’s just not who we are. Our expectations are much higher than that. We’re looking for more, to put it simply.”