Mustangs win over Leopards
Laurel Highlands rushed out to a 10-point lead after the first quarter, and then matched Belle Vernon’s output over the final three quarters Friday night for an 81-72 Section 3-AAA road victory. The win didn’t affect the Mustangs’ positioning in the final section standings with Laurel Highlands finishing third with a section mark of 11-3. Laurel Highlands (13-10) travels to Kiski Area this afternoon for a non-section game at 2 p.m.
Belle Vernon (11-10) finishes with the fourth and final Section 3-AAA playoff spot despite the loss. The Leopards fall to 8-6 in the section, but Mount Pleasant’s 53-40 loss to section co-champion Yough knocked the Vikings out of the playoff picture.
Belle Vernon closes the regular season with an 8 p.m. game at Peters Township on Monday. Both teams will find their playoff fate at the WPIAL pairings meeting on Tuesday.
The Leopards gained four points to their disadvantage in the second quarter and they gained two more points in the third quarter. The Mustangs finished strong, though, with a 23-18 fourth quarter.
“We’re going to take it,” Laurel Highlands head coach Rick Hauger said of the win. “We did a real good job off the bench. We won the game because of the contribution of the reserves.
“It was a good win. It was Senior Night (at Belle Vernon). Belle Vernon forced a lot of turnovers.”
The bench had to step up because of Kaleb Ramsey’s foul troubles that led the freshman to play less than a half. Ramsey finished with 10 points.
Mark Gaydos stepped up his game to score a team-high 23 points for the Mustangs. Gregg Forse and Dan Hudock shared scoring 17 points apiece.
Matt Rowland is one of the WPIAL’s top scorers, and the Belle Vernon scorer kept up his pace with a game-high 31 points. Jared Padrosky added 17 and Jacob Dudzinski had 10.