The Montour Spartans’ dreams of a WPIAL Class 5A Boys Basketball Tournament championship came to a screeching halt in the semifinals Tuesday night, as Chartiers Valley overcame a 10-point halftime deficit and claimed a 47-44 victory at Mt. Lebanon High School.
The loss was the top-seeded Spartans’ first of the season to a WPIAL team and dropped their overall record to 23-2. Montour, ranked No. 1 in the state among Class 5A schools by TribLive.com, had won 17 straight games entering Tuesday night’s match. The Spartans’ only other loss came in a holiday tournament in Florida in late December.
With the loss, Montour moves on to meet section foe Mars Thursday for third place. Mars lost 58-52 in overtime to Peters Township in Tuesday night’s other semifinal.
Tuesday night’s meeting was the third between Montour and fourth-seeded Chartiers Valley; Montour won the first game 66-60 and took the second game 78-67.
It appeared that it would be more of the same in the early going Tuesday, as the Spartans opened up a 26-13 lead at one point in the first half and owned a 30-20 advantage at halftime.
But Chartiers Valley fought back and put together a 19-8 run to take the lead early in the fourth quarter, 39-38.
“Our offense bogged down in the third quarter, but you have to give credit to (Chartiers Valley) for playing defense,” Montour coach Bill Minear said afterward. “They played really well defensively.”
Ama Sow, Montour’s outstanding 6-foot-10 senior, drained a pair of free throws to put the Spartans on top 40-39 with 5:25 to play, but Jayden Davis hit a floater in the lane with 4 minutes remaining to vault the Colts into a 41-40 lead.
Montour would never get closer the rest of the way.
A turnover by the Spartans with 3:45 to play gave Chartiers Valley possession, and the Colts milked the clock for more than two minutes before freshman Luca Federico got loose inside for a layup to boost the Colts’ lead to 43-40 with 1:35 to play.
The Spartans cut the lead to one again at 43-42 with 43 seconds remaining, but Danny Slizik’s two free throws with 27 seconds left increased the Chartiers Valley lead to 45-42.
Kaleb Platz of Montour countered with a pair of free throws with 16 seconds left, slicing the Spartans’ deficit to 45-44, but Davis answered with two free throws after he was fouled while Chartiers Valley attempted to inbound the ball, making it 47-44.
Montour had 16 seconds left, but the Spartans were unable to get a good look, and AJ Alston failed to connect on desperation 3-point attempt in the final seconds.
Davis led Chartiers Valley with 20 points and Slizik added 14. Sow paced Montour with 18 points.
Minear said that, for whatever reason, Tuesday wasn’t the Spartans’ night.
“We’d won 17 in a row and that game we lost in Florida was the only other game we scored in the 40s all season,” he said. “It was just one of those days. All of our guys just played a little out of character.”
Regardless of what happens Thursday night, the Spartans remain alive in their quest to win a PIAA title. “The state (title) is the ultimate one,” Minear said. “Hopefully the kids can buy into that idea and get going again.”
Aliquippa 66, Bishop Canevin 36
Josh Pratt scored 23 points and Jeremiah Pratt added 13 and the top-seeded Quips used an 18-4 second-quarter advantage to take control and beat the No. 4 seed Crusaders in the semifinals of the Class 3A tournament at Pine-Richland High School.
Bishop Canevin, which fell to 15-9, will next take on Mohawk Thursday in the third-place game. Aliquippa will play South Allegheny for the Class 3A title at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Petersen Events Center.
The Crusaders, who were led by Drew Allen’s 23 points, hung with Aliquippa in the first quarter and trailed just 20-14. But the Quips’ turned up the pressure defensively, and that sparked their 18-4 second-quarter advantage to put them in the driver’s seat.
“We started the game decently, but their pressure got to us after the first quarter,” Bishop Canevin coach Aaron McGee said after the game. “Our turnovers and their offensive rebounding absolutely killed us. They just turned defense into offense at a very high rate.
“They’re very good at pressuring the ball and disrupting your offense. We had a lot of passes picked off and then they were taking the ball out of traps, too. We just had too many turnovers piled on top of one another.”
Only three other players besides Allen made it into the scoring column for Bishop Canevin. McGee said Lamier Wade did a solid job of battling on the boards for the Crusaders.
GIRLS: Our Lady of the Sacred Heart 62, Ellwood City 31
Claudia Ierullo hit for 20 points and the Chargers rebounded from Saturday’s Class 3A girls tournament semifinal loss to Greensburg Central Catholic by crushing the Wolverines in the battle for third place at Sewickley Academy.
OLSH, which improved to 22-3 with Tuesday night’s victory, jumped out to a 14-8 lead in the first quarter and added to that lead by outscoring the Wolverines 17-4 in the second quarter.
The third quarter was more even but by that time the outcome was no longer in doubt as the Chargers took a 46-24 lead into the final eight minutes.
Lola Garner added 11 points and Leah Parker contributed 10 for OLSH, which won’t see game action until they make their PIAA Tournament debut a week from Friday.
Chargers coach Don Eckerle liked what he saw of his squad, which was coming off a 41-18 loss to Greensburg Central Catholic Saturday.
“It was a really good defensive performance and that was complemented by an exceptional overall offensive game,” Eckerle said of OLSH’s effort against Ellwood City.
“We came out ready to play, took control and built on the lead.”
In addition to her 20 points, Ierullo collected five assists and seven steals to lead the way.
Delaney Sturgeon paced Ellwood City with eight points.
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