AJ Buford came alive when it counted most, scoring 10 points in the final 12 minutes, including the game-deciding layup in overtime as Moon Area edged Montour 48-45 Friday night in a WPIAL Class 5A Section 4 boys basketball game at Montour.
The win extended the Tigers’ winning streak to five games and enabled them to finish section play 9-3, good enough for third place and a berth in the WPIAL tournament. Moon, ranked No. 2 among Class 5A schools by TribLive, is now 18-3 overall.
Despite the loss, Montour earned a playoff berth by virtue of Chartiers Valley’s 74-58 win over Mars. The Spartans closed section play with a 5-7 mark and are 8-13 overall.
The two teams and the rest of the playoff-bound squads will find out their tournament fate when the WPIAL announces its playoff pairings Monday.
Friday night’s Moon-Montour game was a dogfight the entire way, as Montour led 8-7 after one quarter, 20-19 at halftime and 33-31 heading into the final quarter. The two teams wound up tied 40-40 at the end of regulation, as Rob Schmitt’s 3-pointer tied the game for Montour with 1 minute, 5 seconds remaining. Neither team scored after that in regulation.
After Brandon Bennett put Montour up 42-40 with the first points in overtime, Buford — who scored six points in the final four minutes of the fourth quarter – scored inside to tie the score with 2:56 to play.
Bennett’s free throw put Montour on top, but Buford’s follow-up shot with 1:24 left made it 44-43. Zane Schachter’s driving layup again vaulted Montour into the lead at 45-44, and the Spartans had a chance to milk the clock, but a turnover on their own baseline after they broke Moon’s press gave the Tigers the ball with 36.1 seconds to play.
That set the stage for Buford’s go-ahead baseline layup, which came off a nice feed from Jackson Bauman. Buford’s basket gave Moon a 46-45 lead and Bauman tacked on two free throws with less than a second to play to give the Tigers their three-point margin of victory.
Caden Kopay led Moon with 12 points while Brody Bauman scored 11 and Buford had 10.
Mark Carter and Bennett each had 11 points for Montour and Loic Kalau added 10.
Bishop Canevin 87, Sto-Rox 58
Drew Allen led three players with more than 20 points each, helping the Crusaders polish off the Vikings and capture their second straight Class 3A Section 2 championship.
Allen scored 23 points, Jackson Maddix added 22 and Raukeem Hawkins contributed 21 as Bishop Canevin – under first-year coach Tim Tyree Jr. — improved to 13-8 overall and finished section play 9-1, one game ahead of Keystone Oaks.
Sto-Rox, which also earned a playoff berth, led 22-20 after one quarter but the Crusaders used a 23-11 second-quarter advantage to take a 43-33 lead at halftime.
Bishop Canevin added to its lead by outscoring the Vikings 15-9 in the third quarter and that proved too much for Sto-Rox to overcome.
Delaun Harris led the Vikings with 13 points while Marquis Thomas finished with 12 and LJ Washington added 11 for Sto-Rox, which ended section play with a 4-6 mark and dropped to 8-14 overall.
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart 78, South Side 35
Jake Johnson scored 13 of his game-high 19 points in the opening quarter, helping the Chargers crush the host Rams and claim a share of the Class 2A Section 4 championship.
Tiernan McCullough added 17 points for the Chargers, who finished section play 13-1 and tied for the section title with Neshannock. The two teams split during the regular season. OLSH is 18-4 overall and will carry a 14-game winning streak into the WPIAL playoffs.
The Chargers have not lost since dropping three straight games in Florida during the Christmas holidays.
Frankie Igrec finished with 11 points for the Chargers, nine of which came in the first quarter when OLSH built a 32-9 lead, and Nolan Reed added nine points.
Sixteen players saw game action for OLSH, with 12 of them scoring at least two points.
Keystone Oaks 65, Carlynton 47
Joseph Colton and Erond Jakupi combined for 38 points to lift the Eagles past the Cougars in a Class 3A Section 2 matchup at Carlynton.
Keystone Oaks led 30-23 at halftime and added five points to that lead going into the final quarter before closing out the win.
Colton finished with 24 points and Jakupi added 14 for the winners.
Ishaga Barrie scored 16 points to lead Carlynton, which finished the season 5-17 overall and 1-9 in section play.
Wrestling
Moon Area 49, Butler 23
The Tigers used pins by four wrestlers to help subdue the Golden Tornado in their final dual meet of the season Wednesday night at Butler.
Registering pins for Moon were Hayden Seymour (114 pounds), Liam Costa (189), Michael Olszewski (215) and Khalil Razipour (285).
Seymour stopped Nathan Dickey at 1 minute, 52 seconds; Costa needed just 30 seconds to pin Javier Valadez; Olszewski posted his pin of Ace McElravy at 2:29; and Razipour pinned Johnathan Gill in just 36 seconds.
Other Moon wrestlers who won their matches were Bryce Thomas at 107, Karsten Kirchner at 121 and Zachary Regotti at 152.
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