Feb 19, 2005 By Jim Downey 4 min read

And then there was one. The WPIAL boys and girls basketball playoffs began with a great deal of promise for 16 local teams (9 boys, 7 girls), but the hope of a WPIAL title and a PIAA playoff berth has boiled down to only one team when the Geibel Catholic boys travel to Southmoreland today for 3 p.m. start against St. Joseph in a Class A quarterfinal game.

The game is a rematch, almost a year to the day, of a 2004 quarterfinal round game played at Southmoreland with the Spartans handing the Gators a 96-71 thumping, a game that St. Joseph head coach Kelly Robinson maintains was closer than the score.

“This game should be similar to the 2004 game. The game was a lot closer than the score indicates. Josh (Robinson) hit a long 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter (that changed the momentum),” said Robinson. “The game could’ve gone either way.”

The focus of Robinson’s defensive game plan will be the dynamic scoring duo of Rob Ramsey and Kellen Holmes. Both players average over 20 points per game.

“The two guards they have create so much off the dribble,” said Robinson. “Obviously, we have to be more aware of those two. Things haven’t changed much from last year. They can create off the dribble and screens.

“With most teams, four or five guys are involved in the offense. The focus is on those two (Holmes and Ramsey) and hope the other guys don’t hurt you. Penetration (to the basket), that’s where the trouble comes. We need to contain Holmes and Ramsey. I don’t believe anyone can stop them.”

Geibel Catholic head coach Ken Misiak expects the pressure on the two leading scorers and hopes someone else will step up to fuel what the longtime coach hopes to be a high-scoring offense.

“They’ll put pressure on Kellen (Holmes) and Rob (Ramsey). We’ve seen a triangle-and-2. We didn’t handle it well against Monessen,” Misiak said of a 61-48 first round win over the Greyhounds. “I expect St. Joseph to maybe handle them man-to-man, maybe double up when they have a chance.

“We have to count on Rob taking charge. The point guard is supposed to take charge.”

As for the rest of the offense, Misiak added, “We need to fill in the rest of the points by committee. All of them can contribute. (Mario) Fragello hit some key shots (against Monessen). He turned the game around for us.”

One aspect of the offense Misiak expects to turn around will be the Gators’ foul shooting. Geibel was a woeful 12-of-35 from the line against Monessen.

“I’m not too conscious of the foul shooting. We had a normal practice. We didn’t dwell on it,” said Misiak at Thursday’s practice. “It’s not like we don’t practice free throws. We’re not shooting (for the season) as good as we should, but we’re much better than that.”

The Spartans have two players averaging in double figures with Robinson, the coach’s nephew, averaging around 17 points per game and Chris Conroy, a forward, scoring about 14 a game. The dynamic St. Joseph offers the Geibel defense is the rest of the starting five is close to 10 points per game and have shared scoring honors throughout the year.

Rounding out the starting five are guards Chris Marsali and Joe Rezak and guard-forward John Kuruc.

“We’ve had low-scoring games (in the 40-50s) and high-scoring games in the 70-80s. We’re pretty similar to Geibel in that we like to get up the floor. We’re averaging around 67, 68 points a game,” said Robinson. “We’re a good disciplined team that takes good shots.

“If we start to force the tempo, our team gets out of character. We’ll go as the tempo goes.”

Misiak’s assessment of the Spartans mimics Robinson’s outlook of his squad.

“They’re well-balanced. They play well as a team and they have good shooters,” said Misiak. “We need to play 100 percent better (than the Monessen game). Defensively, we’ll press and use traps, but we have to careful because they’re a good passing team.”

As for the site, the Scotties’ gym is almost a home away from home for St. Joseph with this being the Spartans’ fourth playoff game at the site in the past two years. Despite being close to home, Misiak wasn’t real thrilled about the site.

“I thought they might send us to Ringgold. I don’t really care for the gym,” said Misiak.

There’s a lot on the line in the quarterfinal round game. The winner continues towards the Class A title game and a guaranteed spot in the PIAA playoffs. The loser has to hope the winner takes the championship to piggyback into the state playoffs with only five Class A teams advancing to the PIAA playoffs.