Local roundup
Brownsville picks up key section win Uniontown’s win over Yough Tuesday night allowed the Red Raiders to clinch at least a part of the Section 3-AAA title, but as for the rest of the conference, things will be very interesting over the next 10 days.
Brownsville kept it’s playoff hopes alive with a win over Derry, while Belle Vernon was pulling off an upset of Mount Pleasant Tuesday night. Currently, Uniontown leads the section with a 10-1 mark, while Yough and Waynesburg Central both sit at 7-4.
The Cougars have home games remaining with Mount Pleasant and Derry, and travel to Brownsville next Tuesday, while Waynesburg travels to Uniontown and Belle Vernon and hosts Brownsville.
Along with Yough and Waynesburg, Brownsville will also travel to Southmoreland Friday. The Falcons are 6-5 in Section 3-AAA, and faced a must-win over Derry, which they wound up making good on.
“We had to win,” said Brownsville coach point-blankly. “To have any chance at all, we had to beat Derry. Now, We have to take care of business Friday (against Southmoreland) and then we have to beat Yough.”
On Jan. 7, Yough defeated the visiting Falcons, 62-54.
Against Derry, Brownsville (10-10, 6-5) raced out to a 17-12 lead after one quarter, before the Trojans closed to within 32-31 at halftime. A tight third quarter left the Falcons clinging to a 43-41 lead, and Brownsville held on with a one-point fourth-period advantage.
“We did a good job at the end of the game of making a couple crucial foul shots,” Logan said. “I think every time Derry scored, we answered. Mike Bogden played a real nice game running the offense and defensively despite fouling out early in the fourth quarter.
“Carson (Thomas) hit a couple of big three-pointers for us, and everybody picked it up a little and really gutted it out and played hard.”
Thomas led balanced scoring attack with 14 points, including three treys, while Bogden finished with a trio of three-pointers as well on his way to 13 points. Paul Hlatky and Brian Gates added 10 points each.
For Derry (5-16, 4-7) was led by Ryan DeMary’s 24 points. Neil McClarren added 16, while Jim Shoup chipped in 10.
Brownsville returns to action Friday, traveling to winless Southmoreland, while Derry hosts Belle Vernon.
Waynesburg Central 89, Southmoreland 50 – P.J. Schumacher scored a game-high 23 points, while Nate Stoner added 20, as the Raiders breezed to a Section 3-Aaa win over the Scotties.
Waynesburg (16-5, 7-4) kept pace with Yough with the victory and kept Southmoreland winless (0-19, 0-11). The Scotties have lost 28 straight games, last winning on Jan. 10, 2002 over Mount Pleasant.
The Raiders took a 20-15 lead Tuesday night, and extended it to 36-27 at halftime. Waynesburg put the game out of reach with a 25-7 third-quarter burst.
“This was a tight one at halftime,” said Waynesburg coach Ed Zelich. “I think everyone is excited and looking towards Uniontown. We want to go down there and play well. We figured coming into tonight that if we could win three of our last four section games, we could make it into the playoffs.”
Waynesburg travels to Uniontown Friday. The Red Raiders won the first encounter, 67-59.
Bill Becker and Scott Cree pulled down eight rebounds each, while Cory Walsh dished out six assists.
Chris Hawkins led Southmoreland with 14 points, while Troy Rollinson added 11.
Ringgold 57, Laurel Highlands 49 – Ryan Bowker pumped in a game-high 23 points, including seven three-pointers, as Ringgold picked up its third section win over visiting Laurel Highlands.
Teammates Troy Yonkers and Jesse Hyatt also were in double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Ringgold led by five at the half and slowly extended the lead in the third and fourth quarters to edge past the Mustangs (4-6, 8-13).
Paul Briczinski led all Mustang scorers with 16 points, including 6-of-9 performance from the foul line, while Corey Nesser and Brian John each added 15.
Laurel Highlands will host Upper St. Clair on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Mapletown 61, Jefferson-Morgan 48 – The host Rockets took a four-point lead after one quarter, but the Maples responded with strong second period and went on to the Section 2-A victory.
Mapletown (13-6, 6-4) kept pace with Carmichaels, which came away with a huge win over Geibel Catholic Tuesday. The Maples and Mikes, who have split their Section 2-A games, both are 6-4 in conference play. Mapletown has games remaining at home against Geibel and at West Greene, while the Mikes travel to Avella and host Jefferson-Morgan.
On Tuesday, Mapletown’s Drew Denham went over 1,000 career points with a third-quarter basket, and also dished out 10 assists. He finished with 10 points.
Joe Clites led Mapletown with a game-high 26 points, while Joe Kovach added 11.
Trailing by four points, Mapletown used a 23-10 second-quarter run to lead 34-25 at halftime. The Maples extended the lead with a 20-13 third-quarter edge.
Vince Kraft led Jefferson-Morgan (3-16, 1-8) with 13 points, while Nate Hunnell added 10.
“Once again, our lack of depth showed,” said Jefferson-Morgan coach Jim Romanus. “We had problems when we had to go to our bench. (Matt) Muscavitch had a nice game off the bench with eight points, but we had some problems.
“Some kids are playing well in some games, and then in others, they’re not. We just don’t know what to expect.”
Jefferson-Morgan has lost five games this year by four points or less.
The Rockets return to action tonight, hosting Fort Cherry at 7:30, while Mapletown returns to the hardwood Thursday with a non-section game at Chartiers-Houston.
Our Lady of Sacred Heart 66, Frazier 57 – Mike Verostek led three scorers in double figures with 14 points, as the Chargers picked up a Section 3-A win over the visiting Commodores.
Eric Metcalf added 12 points and Dave Marchinonda 10, as Our Lady of Sacred Heart improved to 9-10 overall and 4-4 in Section 3-A.
The Chargers led 18-11 after one quarter, and 35-26 at halftime. But Frazier charged back with a seven-point third-quarter advantage to make it 48-46 with eight minutes remaining.
Steve Erdely led Frazier (5-15, 2-6) with a game-high 19 points, including four three-pointers, while Riely Tidholm added 16.
Ferndale 74, Turkeyfoot Valley 66 – Kurt Rambish led the way with 32 points, including five 3-pointers as Ferndale rallied back after being down 20-7 in the first quarter to defeat Turkeyfoot Valley in the West-Pac.
Bob Lager was the only Ram in double-figures with 37 points, a perfect 3-of-3 from the foul line and two 3-pointers. He also pulled down 19 rebounds.
Brandon Ream had nine points, four assists and eight steals while Brett Clevenger added eight points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals.
Turkeyfoot (3-14) is back in action on Thursday against Shade.