Moon Area’s quest for a PIAA Class 5A boys basketball title came to an end Friday night in a 59-53 quarterfinal loss to West York at Hollidaysburg Area High School.
Chase Cristofoletti led the Bulldogs with 16 points, 13 of which came in the third quarter when West York widened a 20-18 halftime lead to 41-29.
“They came out in the third quarter and they couldn’t miss,” Moon coach Gino Palmosina said after the game. “We were down 15 at one point but we clawed back. We just dug ourselves a hole that was too deep to climb out of.”
Moon, which finished its season 22-6, nearly pulled themselves all the way out of that hole, staging a furious rally in the final eight minutes that trimmed the lead to three points with less than a minute to play.
But West York’s Jensen Ferber converted a fast-break layup to extend that lead to five at 55-50 with 38 seconds remaining in the game.
That proved to be the nail in the coffin for the Tigers, who came into the tournament as the WPIAL’s No. 4 team but knocked off No. 2 Thomas Jefferson in a second-round game Tuesday night, 87-77.
Friday night’s quarterfinal matchup found points much harder to come by.
Moon got off to a slow start, failing to score in the first four minutes of the game, but the Tigers wound up leading 8-6 after one quarter thanks to Jackson Bauman’s five points.
Moon led 13-7 in the second quarter before a 7-2 West York run cut the Tigers’ advantage to 15-14 with 2 minutes to play in the half.
The Bulldogs outscored the Tigers 6-3 in the final two minutes to take a 20-18 lead at halftime. Caden Kopay’s seven points led Moon at the half.
Cristofoletti came out hot in the third quarter draining three 3-pointers on the way to 13 points in that eight-minute stretch.
“He went bananas,” Palmosina said of Cristofoletti.
The Bulldogs were far more than a one-man gang, though, as Palmosina said they had “a little bit of everything.”
“They had a solid point guard, a really good shooter, a big guy, a role guy, a guy that could guard,” he said. “They’re a good basketball team. You have to give those guys and their coach credit. They’re moving on.”
Jackson Bauman led Moon with 16 points while younger brother Brody Bauman added 15 and AJ Buford finished with 11.
Palmosina said he was proud of the way his team came back from a double-digit deficit in the third quarter.
“We started playing like our lives were on the line, which they were,” he said. “It was desperation time. You have to give our kids credit. They could have packed it in and folded, but they made the most out of it.”
Palmosina said it was an emotional locker room after the game.
“There were lots of tears – from the staff and players,” he said. “The kids care about each other and the staff deeply cares about the players.
“It’s mid-March and we were still playing basketball. The furthest you can go is next Friday and we were a week away. As much as we wanted one more week with this group, that’s life and you have to move on. Later you can look back and appreciate the good times and the grind.”
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