Carmichaels routs McGuffey to claim tournament crown
CARMICHAELS – Colby Giles remembered when McGuffey had the chance to lift the King Coal Lions Club Christmas Tournament trophy last year in Carmichaels. Giles, now a senior for the Mikes, wanted nothing better than to see those roles reversed this year, and with a tournament-MVP performance, he got his wish.
Giles hit four 3-pointers in scoring 22 points as the Class A Mikes stunned the defending Section 3-AAA champion Highlanders, 73-58, in the championship game on Friday night.
“It feels nice. It’s something we’ve been trying to accomplish for awhile and haven’t been able to,” Giles said of the host team’s tournament title. “We really wanted to win this game. We were ready to play. We played good defense as a team, we were hustling, diving on the floor, and that made a big difference.”
That and the Mikes’ outstanding shooting and balanced scoring. Jamie Kowalcyzk and Jono Menhart, who were each named to the all-tournament team, scored 18 and 16 points, respectively, and Bobby Hathaway added 10 despite playing less than half the game due to foul trouble. He eventually fouled out, but Sean McCombs picked up the slack in his absence and scored five points.
“That’s the best ballgame we’ve played this year,” said Carmichaels coach Don Williams, whose team improved to 5-4. “Tonight we came out with the type of intensity I’ve been looking for all year. We spread it around pretty good on offense. We’ve got five kids out there who can score. I thought everyone stepped up tonight when Bobby went out. Sean McCombs did an admirable job off the bench. Jono did a good job with the ball out there, too. He was a settling influence when we needed it.”
McGuffey was led by its two all-tournament team selections in Seth Hunter, who scored a game-high 23 points, and Jason Scott, who tallied 16.
The Mikes wasted no time taking control of the game, reeling off nine consecutive points after Hunter scored the game’s first basket. Carmichaels led 14-10 after the first period. The Highlanders (4-7) pulled within two, 16-14, on two Hunter free throws with 6:47 left in the second period, but the Mikes got baskets from four different players in another nine-point run to go up by 11. Hathaway hit a jumper to start the spurt, Menhart scored inside, Giles hit a trey and Kowalcyzk dropped in a short jumper to cap the burst.
Another Giles 3-pointer and four straight points by Kowalcyzk gave Carmichaels a 38-23 halftime lead.
“It’s a lot easier playing when you have a lead,” McGuffey coach Greg Papson said. “Last night against Mapletown we got the lead early, but tonight they jumped on us right away and we never seemed to recover. They did the two things we wanted to do, which was play aggressive defense and rebound well. Those two things did not show up for us tonight, but Carmichaels had something to do with that. They just beat us. They physically beat us.”
The Mikes pushed the margin up to 25 twice in the second half, once late in the third period after buckets by Jared Lapkowicz and Giles made it 58-33, and once early in the fourth frame when a Hathaway jumper made it 60-35.
“I thought, defensively, we played very well against their shooters,” Williams said. “We made them work for everything they got. And they’re a good ball team.”
Like Giles, Williams was happy to see his tournament drought end.
“It feels good to win the Coal Bowl for a change,” said Williams, referring to the trophy tournament chairman Lee Watson presented to him and his team after the game. “Hopefully, this is a step in the right direction, a sign of things to come.”
Papson believes it is.
“Carmichaels is going to go on a roll now,” Papson said. “They look like they’re playing very well.”
Giles thinks his team, which is made up of several players from the Mikes’ WPIAL Class A semifinalist football squad, is finally getting into basketball shape.
“It’s starting to come back for all of us now,” Giles said. “Football season sort of carried over and it took us awhile to get into rhythm for basketball. Now I think we’re ready to go.”