Mismatch: No ill feelings after Trojans’ 106-12 win over Maples
Mapletown’s Matt Atwood (54) puts up a shot while surrounded by California defenders during the opening game of the Geibel Catholic Tip-Off Tournament at Geibel Catholic Junior-Senior High School on Friday night.
Thalia Juarez | Herald-Standard
California’s Kass Taylor (22) drives to the basket past Mapletown’s Noah Haines (42) as Trojans teammates Johnny DeFranco (11) and J.C. Conaway (12) look on during the opening game of the Geibel Catholic Tip-Off Tournament at Geibel Catholic Junior-Senior High School on Friday night. Taylor scored a game-high 18 points.
Mapletown's Lane Powell (1) and Ryan Tuttle (0) chase California’s Nate Luketich (13) during the opening game of the Geibel Catholic Tip-Off Tournament at Geibel Catholic Junior-Senior High School on Friday night.
CONNELLSVILLE TWP. — Sometimes the final score can be deceiving.
That was likely the case after the Geibel Catholic Tip-Off Tournament’s opening game on Friday night when the scoreboard read California 106, Mapletown 12.
A first reaction to a 94-point gap in a boys basketball game likely would be that the winning team ran up the score unmercifully.
That clearly wasn’t the case on this night, however. It was simply a stellar Trojans team completely overwhelming a very young and inexperienced Maples squad.
Kass Taylor led a group of five California players in double figures with a game-high 18 points. J.C. Conaway, Ben Wilson and Cochise Ryan scored 14 apiece and Dru Miller added 10.
The Trojans led 24-0 after the first period and were up 46-0 when the Maples finally got on the board with 2:20 left in the first half on a basket by Cody Dice.
“This game is hard to try to coach in because you don’t want to embarrass kids,” said California coach Bruno Pappasergi, who had 13 different players score and did not press or trap on defense. “I would never ever embarrass a team. Never. Our kids are just going to play.
“You can’t tell kids not to score. They work hard every day in practice. They deserve to try to score, too. They’re going to try to do what they have to do to show me they can play.”
Mapletown cosch Rick Hill understood.
“He does a great job,” Hill said of Pappasergi. “I have no problems with him at all. We are good friends. We knew each other when I played at Cal U.
“I talked to him actually somewhere around the third quarter and I said, ‘Hey, I want you to play man against us.’ We’ve got to learn and we’ve got to get better and that’s how we’re going to get better.
“Sometimes you take a butt beating. There’s nothing wrong with that. Sometimes that shows your character and what kids are really made of. We never quit which is a good thing.”
Mapletown actually closed the first half on a 10-6 run, getting 3-pointers from Jeffrey Richards and Ryan Carter and a bucket by Ethan Carter, but still trailed 55-10 at intermission.
The Maples wouldn’t score again until Austin Herpak, an autistic player, hit a shot with 31 seconds left in the game. Herpak was left open by the Trojans and missed his first attempt, but a California player rebounded the ball and passed it back to him. He sank his second try to the delight of the crowd.
“Any time you can help a kid, I don’t care what it is, off the court, on the court, in school, we’re going to do it,” Pappasergi said. “That’s the way California is. We’re going to try to always be a class act whenever we can.”
Pappasergi had nothing but praise for Hill, who has grown his roster from six last year to 18 this season.
“I’m happy for Rick that he got the numbers coming out,” Pappasergi said. “He’s a great guy. As a coach, I know Mapletown couldn’t have a better guy to try and get their program back to respectability. I think he’s on the right track with the numbers he has out there.”
The loss didn’t discourage Hill, who put the score in perspective.
“We’re in the training wheels stage right now and they’re in the big bike stage,” Hill said. “We’re getting better. It’s just a process. Some of these kids have never played basketball before and they’ve come out and they’re trying and they’re getting better daily.
“But we’re just two or three steps behind everybody right now.”