Feb 23, 2003 By Rob Burchianti 6 min read

McDONALD – When the WPIAL announced its boys basketball pairings for Class A, it was clear the committee thought the world of Section 3, but looked down upon local teams from Section 2, including first-place California. The Trojans made another statement for themselves and for their section Friday night with a stunning 42-41 quarterfinal win over two-time defending WPIAL champion Monessen at South Fayette High School.

Ryan Robinson came up with a key steal and lay-up, and hit three of four free throws in the closing seconds as California (19-5) advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 1982 and qualified for the PIAA tournament.

“We haven’t gotten any respect all year,” said Robinson, a senior guard who totaled 12 points, four steals and five rebounds. “We were underrated all season. No one had us ranked very high. But we knew we could come out and beat this team.”

“There was no doubt in our minds we could play with them,” said California senior guard Shane Tonkavitch, who hit three 3-pointers in scoring 12 points. “Now we’re in the semifinals and we’re going to the states. This is a good scenario for us to be in. We’ve got our chance.”

The Trojans fell to the Greyhounds in last year’s quarterfinals, 59-55, and lost earlier this season, 68-56.

California has now knocked off two of the three playoff teams out of Section 3, including ninth-seeded Cornell, 57-47, in the first round on Tuesday. Monessen and Clairton, the Section 3 co-champions, were seeded first and second, respectively.

Out of Section 2, the Trojans were seeded eighth, second-place Geibel Catholic was 11th and third-place Carmichaels was last (13th). Despite the latter two falling in the first round, the section has put up a solid showing as the Gators took sixth-seeded Duquesne to overtime, while the Mikes put up a strong battle against fourth-seeded Monaca.

California will next play 12th-seeded Union likely Tuesday. Union defeated Monaca, 52-47, Saturday. Clairton and Duquesne meet in the other semifinal.

The Trojans got a stellar effort from their inside players – junior center Dan DeMoss, and senior forwards Rick Cope and Thom Russell – especially on defense. DeMoss contributed 10 points, nine boards and two blocked shots, Cope added eight points and seven rebounds, and Russell chipped in with seven boards.

The key to Friday’s victory was Monessen’s inability to hit from the outside, which allowed California to stick to its tight zone defense. The Trojans limited Greyhound star center A.J. Jackson, a 6-foot-6 East Tennessee State recruit, to just 12 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, and one of those was an inconsequential trey just before the final buzzer.

“This is the way we’ve played all year,” Monessen coach Joe Salvino said. “We needed someone to make some shots to open things up, but we didn’t have anyone to bring them out of what they were in. We didn’t shoot the ball well except for Scott (Myshin).”

Even Myshin, who led all scorers with 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds, failed to hit a jump shot the entire game, doing most of his damage on drives to the basket.

In fact, besides Jackson’s two treys, the only other outside shots the Greyhounds hit the entire game were a 3-pointer by Geremy Bassett to get Monessen on the board with 3:04 left in the first period, and a short jumper by Delroy Ross early in the second. Those five points were all those two players could muster the entire game.

The Trojans’ defense frustrated Jackson, who was hit with his fifth technical foul of the season during the third period. After being held to two points and no field goals in the first half, Jackson, who wound up with a game-high 17 rebounds, began to wonder outside.

“I’d rather have him shoot out there all game, where he can’t rebound,” California coach Steve Luko said.

“We had to keep A.J. out of the paint,” Cope said. “Ox (DeMoss) did a great job. He was the MVP of the game. Defensively, we couldn’t ask for a better game. We played our hearts out, and so did Monessen.”

There were six lead changes and one tie in a first half dominated by defense.

The score was tied 7-7 after one period before Monessen scored six straight points to open the second, prompting Luko to call a time out.

“I told them to play patient on offense and execute and you can beat this team,” Luko said.

The Trojans responded by closing the half with a 13-2 run to go up 21-15. Tonkavitch’s 3-pointer put California up 17-15 and it would never trail again.

For the second game in a row, California held its opponent scoreless for more than half of the first period and limited it to just 15 first-half points.

The Trojans led 30-25 after three and pushed the margin up to seven twice in the fourth. Myshin then scored four straight points, but missed the front end of a one-and-one after drawing Russell’s fifth foul. The Greyhounds got the ball back, but Robinson’s steal and lay-up made it 39-34 with 1:53 left.

Myshin hit two free throws then scored after a California turnover with 42 seconds left to pull Monessen within one. Robinson was fouled with 22.7 seconds left and made the front end of a one-and-one before missing the second.

Ross missed a potential go-ahead 3-pointer at the other end with Robinson gathering in the rebound and drawing a foul with 8.3 seconds left. Again shooting a pressure one-and-one, he drained both shots for a four-point lead to seal the Greyhounds’ fate.

Luko had faith in Robinson.

“He’s probably shooting about 65 percent (from the foul line) the whole year, but he always seemed to make the important ones when he had to,” Luko said.

“I was very nervous,” Robinson said. “The crowd was loud and I was just trying to concentrate.”

Jackson’s last 3-pointer before the buzzer put the final margin at one.

NOTES: Tonkavitch and Cope are both 1,000-point career scorers for California, giving the school a total of eight. The others are Joe Hester, Joe Bilitski, Larry Romboski, Vince Clements, Marc Rossi and Pat Rossi. … Romboski and Clements were both members of Budd Grebb’s 1981-82 squad, which went 24-6 and was the last Trojans team to reach the WPIAL semifinals. … California has never won a WPIAL basketball championship. Monessen has won five. … All eight WPIAL basketball championship games will be played at Duquesne University’s A.J. Palumbo Center. The games will be split between Friday, Feb. 28, and Saturday, March 1, although the exact schedule has yet to be announced.