Colton Straight scored 16 points and Ama Sow scored five of his 14 points in overtime to help propel Montour to a 51-45 victory over Moon Area Tuesday night in a WPIAL Class 5A Section 4 boys basketball showdown at Moon.
Montour, which improved to 5-0 in the section and 10-1 overall, led for much of the game and was on top 41-38 when Moon’s Michael Santicola connected on a shot from beyond half court at the buzzer to tie the game at 41-41 and send it into overtime.
Sow, the Spartans’ 6-foot-10 senior big man, converted a three-point play early in overtime and Montour connected on 6 of 9 free throw attempts in the extra session to secure the victory.
Kaleb Platz added 14 points for Montour, which led 11-6 after one quarter, 23-20 at halftime and 32-30 going into the final eight minutes. Platz scored nine of his 14 in the first quarter.
Carter Tumulty and Santicola each scored 11 points to lead Moon, which fell to 4-2 in section play and 11-3 overall. Nine of Tumulty’s points came in the second half.
Montour coach Bill Minear said the game went just about the way he figured it would.
“Moon did a good job – they slowed the game down and controlled the tempo,” he said. “Gino’s a good coach – they’re the defending WPIAL champs and they were playing on their home court. That’s the kind of game he’s going to give you – grind it out X’s and O’s.”
Minear said Moon’s front line did a good job of bottling up Sow in the first half. “He didn’t have a lot of room to work early,” he said. “But we ran some different sets for him in the second half and got him some shots.”
Minear also said the Spartans were not as sharp as they have been in some previous outings and he attributed that to the fact that they hadn’t played in a week, combined with how well Moon played.
“It was sloppy,” he said, “but it was a great game.”
Moon coach Gino Palmosina agreed.
“It was a great high school basketball game,” he said. “You have to give Bill and his team credit for executing down the stretch. We had momentum going into overtime after our buzzer beater, but they came out with more focus than us in overtime.”
Palmosina said he was pleased with his team’s effort for the most part.
“There’s a couple of possessions we’d take back, but you can say that in any game,” he said. “We really believe in our defense and for 90% of the game we had good defensive possessions. But that 10% is the difference in the game.
“To beat a team like that, you have to play a full 32 minutes, but a couple of loose balls and offensive rebounds didn’t go our way, and that was the difference in the game.”
Bishop Canevin 59, Sto-Rox 34
Jackson Maddix led three players in double figures with 16 points and the host Crusaders took control early en route to an easy win over the Vikings in a Class 3A Section 2 game.
Drew Allen added 14 points for Bishop Canevin, which improved to 5-0 in the section and 6-7 overall.
Raukeem Hawkins also contributed 13 points for the Crusaders, who sped to an 18-4 first-quarter lead and never were threatened.
MJ Thomas scored 11 points to lead Sto-Rox, which dropped to 0-5 in the section and 2-9 overall.
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart 53, South Side 38
Jake Johnson exploded for 31 points and the visiting Chargers rebounded from a sluggish start to whip the Rams in a Class 2A Section 4 game.
The win boosted OLSH’s section record to 4-1 and left the Chargers 10-3 overall.
Johnson hit three of his four 3-pointers in the second quarter to help OLSH pull within six points at halftime, 27-21, after trailing 16-5 at the end of the first quarter.
Johnson then scored nine more points in the third quarter as the Chargers outscored the Rams 16-5 to move in front 37-32 heading into the final eight minutes.
There, OLSH continued to lengthen its lead as it held South Side to just six points while scoring 16. Johnson added eight more points in the fourth quarter, converting all six of his free throw attempts to help put the game away.
R.J. Fischer scored 12 points to lead South Side.
Keystone Oaks 63, Carlynton 47
Joey Colton scored 20 points and Erond Jakupi added 15 to lift the Eagles past the Cougars in a Class 3A Section 2 game at Carlynton.
Damien Holloway scored 23 points for Carlynton, with 14 coming in the first half, but no one else scored more than eight points for the Cougars, who dropped to 2-3 in the section and 6-7 overall.
Keystone Oaks built a 17-11 first-quarter lead and owned a 26-19 lead at halftime after scoring the final five points of the second quarter.
The Eagles added to their lead in the third quarter by outscoring the Cougars 20-15 and Colton’s nine fourth-quarter points helped ice the win for Keystone Oaks.
Summit Academy 66, Cornell 35
Ryan Young scored 17 points and the Knights pulled away early on the way to beating the Raiders in a Class 1A Section 1 game.
Summit Academy jumped to an 18-8 first-quarter lead and built that margin to 34-14 at halftime.
Eduardo Benitez scored 14 points to lead Cornell, which dropped to 0-4 in section play and 1-11 overall.
Photos by Mike Longo Jr.
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