Feb 14, 2005 By Jim Downey 3 min read

Tonight’s WPIAL Class AAA boys first-round playoff game marks Rick Hauger’s first trip into the postseason as a boys coach, but, seeing how it’s his rookie campaign, that’s a reward for a strong initial season. Unfortunately for Hauger, the game against Hopewell at Upper St. Clair High School at 7 p.m. will be the first foray into the playoffs for most of the Mustangs as well.

“No one has any playoff experience,” Hauger said of his team. “The kids are pretty enthusiastic. They’re ready to go.”

Belle Vernon, a team that the Mustangs swept in Section 3-AAA, will stay close to home. The Leopards’ opening-round game is at Ringgold High School against West Mifflin and is slated for an 8 p.m. tip-off.

Hopewell comes into the game as the No. 6 seed with a record of 16-6. The Mustangs are the 11th seed with a 14-10 mark.

Given the size the Vikings have underneath, the Mustangs will literally have to be “up” when the teams square off for the first time this season.

“Their front line is 6-6 (James Turnley), 6-5 (Zachary Fetchin) and 6-3 (Michael Elmore), so they’re a little bigger than us. Their perimeter people all seem to be capable to hit 3-pointers and can take it to the basket,” Hauger said.

According to Hauger, the Vikings like to establish the tempo with full-court and half-court presses before dropping back into man-to-man coverage.

“They like an uptempo game. They’re fairly athletic,” Hauger said.

As expected, there are no major overhauls in the works for the Mustangs.

“We’ll keep doing the same things. You go with what you’ve done,” Hauger said. “We need to cut down the turnovers. We have to keep blocking off and wrapping up on each defensive possession.

“We have to stop their interior game.”

As for the Mustangs, Hauger said, “Fortunately, our outside shooting has picked up recently. We lived by the inside game this year. We need to spread the defense out with some outside shooting.

“We cannot commit bad fouls and turnovers. We have to value each possession.”

Fouls have been a problem for the Mustangs, especially as freshman forward Kaleb Ramsey has learned the position this season.

Belle Vernon (11-11) advanced as the fourth team from Section 3-AAA and the Leopards promise to have a tough match-up in the first round game.

West Mifflin is 17-6 and enters as the No. 3 seed in Class AAA, winners in 12 of the past 13 games.

Belle Vernon has one of the top scorers in the WPIAL in the person of Matt Rowland, averaging nearly 26 points per game.