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“font-family: Dutch811 BT;”>HERMINIE — In the first round of the

WPIAL Class A boys basketball playoffs, size was the deciding

factor, as Carmichaels had no answer for Serra Catholic’s towering

height in a 73-46 loss Friday night.

“font-family: Dutch811 BT;”>The Eagles (15-7) had six players over

6-3, including 6-8 center Daryan Robinson.

“font-family: Dutch811 BT;”>Carmichaels (12-11) had one player that

was 6-3 and had problems all night controlling the

paint.

“font-family: Dutch811 BT;”>Serra Catholic scored the first eight

points, jumping out to a 21-8 lead at the end of one. Robinson

scored nine of his game-high 18 points in the frame.

“font-family: Dutch811 BT;”>Carmichaels’ offense started to click

in the second quarter, but Serra Catholic continued to pile up

points and was up 37-21 at the intermission.

“font-family: Dutch811 BT;”>The Eagles doubled up the Mikes in the

third quarter, outscoring them 22-11, as each team tallied 14

points each in the final stanza.

“font-family: Dutch811 BT;”> ”We were trying to get

everybody to help out with their big man on defense,” Carmichaels

coach Don Williams said. “But he is so tall and was such a force

tonight. They are a big team height-wise and we were just

outmatched. I thought we handled their press, but we live or die by

the three. Tonight they were not going in for us. We didn’t have an

answer for them. We shot the ball well down the stretch run of the

regular season, but tonight we didn’t do it and that hurt us. We

were not able to get the second chance points.”

“font-family: Dutch811 BT;”>The 73 points allowed was a season-high

for the Mikes’ defense. Going into Friday’s match-up, Carmichaels

yielded 43.1 points per game, tops in all of Class A boys’

basketball.

“font-family: Dutch811 BT;”>Besides Robinson’s big game on the

inside, Serra Catholic’s Matt Loftis and Kyle Taylor collected 15

points each, while, Joe Jurofcik added 12.

“font-family: Dutch811 BT;”>The Mikes were led by the Krall twins,

as Jonathan contributed 16 points and Seth tossed in 13. Colton

Yoders and Zach Mundell scored six points each.

“font-family: Dutch811 BT;”>Williams is proud of his seniors for

the effort and determination they put in to lead the Mikes to a

share of the Section 3-A title and a trip back to the

playoffs.

“font-family: Dutch811 BT;”> ”Our seniors did a heck

of a job this season,” Williams said. “During the middle of the

season, we weren’t playing so well, but we were able to turn it

around and won our section. That turnaround was all due to them,

and they showed a lot of heart this year.”