Bosnic looks for Falcons to relax against Blue Devils
Now that his team has gotten a taste of the WPIAL boys basketball playoffs, Connellsville coach Nick Bosnic is hoping it will relax and play more to the form it showed during a 22-2 regular season. The third-seeded Falcons struggled to a 46-41 overtime win over No. 14 Norwin in the first round, and will face 11th-seeded Mount Lebanon (19-6) in the quarterfinals at Plum High School on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
The Blue Devils weren’t on top of their game either in their playoff opener, but still managed to upset sixth-seeded Pine-Richland, 39-36.
Bosnic expects both teams to play better on Saturday.
“I think so,” Bosnic said. “I think that first game for us, it was a great atmosphere and we were pressing on everything we were doing. I know our players understand what it’s going to be like in the playoffs now and they’ll settle down a little bit. Mount Lebanon is a very good team. They only lost six games all year and they’ve got Bill Babe, who’s a real good shooter.”
Both teams’ star players – Babe and Connellsville’s James Hairston – had similar performances in Wednesday’s victories in that they had off nights, but made key plays at crucial times.
Babe, the WPIAL’s second-leading Class AAAA scorer, was held to 15 points, but he scored eight of those, including two 3-pointers, in the fourth period.
Hairston, the WPIAL’s leading Class AAAA scorer, was held to 16 points, but in overtime he came up with the tying bucket, the go-ahead basket and the game-clinching dunk.
“We kept telling him to continue to attack,” Bosnic said of Hairston. “He knows how important he is to the team. Things weren’t going his way, but he never folded up and made some clutch plays when it counted.”
Bosnic played in the postseason as a junior and senior at Laurel Highlands, so he knows what it’s like at the Quad-A level, and he tried to relate that to his players.
“All you can do is let them know how tough it’s going to be, and how every possession counts, and you hope they sense the urgency in you,” Bosnic said. “But nothing you can say is better than when they get out there and experience it themselves.”
The Falcons rolled through the regular season, sweeping Section 2 to easily finish in first place. Mount Lebanon tied for second in Section 5 with Chartiers Valley behind champion and top-seeded Upper St. Clair.
Bosnic has plenty of respect for the Blue Devils, who are coached by former Pitt point guard Joe David.
“They run a motion offense, and they change defenses a lot,” Bosnic said. “They run man, zone and presses. They really challenge you.”
Connellsville’s preference is to play full court, man-to-man defense, according to Bosnic.
Joining Hairston, a 6-foot-3 junior small forward, in the Falcons’ starting lineup are 5-9 senior point guard Shane Kovack, 5-10 senior guard Chad Burton, 6-3 junior forward Kevin Bell and 6-0 senior center Justin Marsinko.
“It’s down to the final eight now and we feel like we have a good chance,” Bosnic said. “We just have to keep on going, and go get it.”