High School category, Page 662

BOYS Class 5A Quarterfinals 5-Highlands (17-6) at 4-Penn Hills (18-4) 7 p.m. Thursday Winner plays: 8-Hampton (13-10) at 1-Laurel Highlands (22-0) Monday in semifinals (site and time TBD) Layup lines: Highlands is coming off a dominating 76-40 victory over Albert Gallatin in the first round Monday. Jimmy Kunst scored 24...

One round is in the books, now it’s time to move on to Round 2 on the Path to the Pete. The first of three straight basketball quarterfinals nights shines a spotlight on boys 4A, boys A, girls 6A and girls 3A. In boys 4A, they have met several times,...

Class 3A 106: 1. Luke Willochell (Latrobe) 35-4; 2. Nico Fanella (Indiana) 26-0; 3. Ty Kapusta (Franklin Regional) 23-5; 4. Tanner Mizenko (Canon-McMillan) 26-9; 5. Casey Walker (North Allegheny) 25-9. 113: 1. Ty Chappell (Seneca Valley) 27-4; 2. Brandon Dami (Canon-McMillan) 21-7; 3. Luke Dunlap (South Fayette) 21-3; 4. Darius...

High schools Basketball Boys WPIAL playoffs Class 6A First round Tuesday’s results North Allegheny 71, Baldwin 59 Mt. Lebanon 75, Hempfield 51 Upper St. Clair 89, Penn-Trafford 59 Pine-Richland 64, Bethel Park 31 Butler 81, Norwin 73 Quarterfinals Friday’s schedule North Allegheny (15-8) at North Hills (22-0), 7 p.m.; Mt....

Aislin Malcolm scored 19 points to become the program’s all-time leading scorer as top-seeded Chartiers Valley defeated Connellsville, 72-33, in a WPIAL Class 5A girls basketball first-round playoff game Tuesday night. Malcolm, a Pitt recruit, hit four 3-pointers to run her career total to 1,671 points, one more than Mackenzie...

Tuesday marked the playoff opener for the North Allegheny boys, but the Tigers felt they’d already had a postseason mindset for a while now. For that, they credit life in Section 1. So, when the postseason officially arrived, senior Matt McDonough made four 3-pointers in the first quarter, the team’s...

There is a term thrown around a lot around tournament time: one and done. It points out the suddenness of a loss that could end a season. On Tuesday, the one and done may have pertained to the first quarter for Penn-Trafford. Defending WPIAL Class 6A champion Upper St. Clair...

This was a playoff win built on the bedrock of team basketball. Latrobe made extra passes to enhance shot opportunities, fought through screens to get people open and helped on defense. In the end, it was enough to push the No. 7 Wildcats past No. 10 Mars, 67-62, in a...

After finishing the regular season with 15 consecutive wins and a Section 4 title, the Monessen boys basketball team continued its winning ways in its postseason opener Tuesday night. It didn’t come easy, though. Fifth-seeded Monessen was forced to hold off a late charge by No. 12 Jeannette en route...

A big second quarter was more than enough to push Sto-Rox along further in the playoffs. The ninth-seeded Vikings clamped down on defense and held host Springdale to one field goal in the second frame en route to a 72-46 victory in the first round of the WPIAL Class 2A...

After weathering a second-quarter comeback attempt by 13th-seeded Hempfield, Mt. Lebanon pulled away from the Spartans for the second time this season. After leading seeing a 15-point first-half lead whittled to six toward the end, Mt. Lebanon got a big three from senior guard Zac D’Alesandro to start the third...

It’s a difficult task to try to trace the history of the Highlands girls basketball team. But it didn’t matter. These Golden Rams are making history of their own. After playing a tense first three quarters, Highlands settled down and play true to form in the final eight minutes. Backed...

Wash, rinse, repeat. Well, it wasn’t that simple, but thanks to the combination of early district playoff wins and district byes for some, there was little change to the latest edition of the Trib HSSN girls basketball state rankings. Only West Middlesex slipped out of the rankings, as they were...

Wednesday’s games Boys Quarterfinals Class 4A 7-Burrell (14-8) at 2-Montour (18-4) 7 p.m. Wednesday Winner plays: Winner of 11-Freeport (13-9)/3-Belle Vernon (18-3) in semifinals on Saturday (site and time TBD) Layup lines: Burrell kicked off the WPIAL playoffs in successful fashion Friday with a 63-42 victory over No. 10 Elizabeth...

This past week was the quiet before the ranking storm. While the waters were still and steady this week, that should change as we go deeper into the district playoffs and begin the state playoffs in the next few weeks. For the time being though, only one school lost its...

Wednesday’ games Girls Quarterfinals Class 6A 5-Bethel Park (10-9) at 4-Norwin (15-5) 7 p.m. Wednesday Winner plays: Winner of 8-Peters Township (13-10)/1-Mt Lebanon (20-1) on Saturday in semifinals Layup lines: Bethel Park finished third in Section 2 behind Mt. Lebanon and Upper St. Clair. There are only two sections in...

Greg Fox figured it might go like this. The Apollo-Ridge boys basketball coach saw the writing of a bridge year on the wall after a successful 2020-21 season that included a trip to the WPIAL playoffs. “No one lost as much as we did as far as graduation,” said Fox,...

Welcome to the final day of the first round in the 2022 WPIAL basketball playoffs. Five years ago, Pine-Richland (11-11) won the first WPIAL Class 6A boys basketball championship with a 72-61 victory over Butler. The title run was the second in a row for the Rams, who captured the...

When Journey Thompson started her high school career at Peters Township, she was a starter on a perfect team. The Indians finished 30-0 in winning both the 2019 WPIAL and PIAA championships. The scholastic journey is almost over for Thompson, who has finally guided Peters Township (13-10) back on the...

Lincoln Park sophomore Brandin Cummings has always been close with his older brother Nelly, who starred with the Leopards and graduated in 2017 before playing his college ball at Bowling Green and Colgate. Both won WPIAL championships as a freshman at Lincoln Park. That was Nelly’s only district title. Brandin...

Shaler senior Logan Bernesser registered a double-double in a dominating first-round performance. The 6-foot-6 forward scored a game-high 26 points, had 14 rebounds and seven blocked shots in leading Shaler past host South Fayette, 68-64, in overtime in an opening-round game Monday night. On defense, Bernesser not only blocked shots,...

Steel Valley’s Makhai Valentine wears No. 1 and teammate Cruce Brookins is No. 2, fitting for a combination that delivered a knockout punch Monday night. Fourth-seeded Seton LaSalle was the heavyweight that fell. Brookins scored 30 points, Valentine had 23 and No. 13 seed Steel Valley pulled off a first-round...

Rodney Gallagher scored 22 points and Keondre DeSheids followed with 21 to lead No. 1 Laurel Highlands to a 74-44 victory over Woodland Hills in a first-round game in the WPIAL Class 5A boys basketball playoffs Monday night. Brandon Davis added 15 and Joe Chambers chipped in with 11 for...

High schools Basketball Boys WPIAL playoffs Class 6A First round Tuesday’s schedule North Hills (22-0) bye; Baldwin (12-10) at North Allegheny (14-8), 7 p.m.; Hempfield (7-15) at Mt. Lebanon (14-8), 7 p.m.; Penn-Trafford (9-12) at Upper St. Clair (15-7), 7 p.m.; Fox Chapel (21-1) bye; Bethel Park (16-6) at Pine-Richland...

Joe Lafko has been coaching boys basketball for a long time, and he’s won his share of games during a 32-year high school career. Hampton provided Lafko with win No. 499 on Monday night as the Talbots, behind Eric Weeks’ 19 points, including back-to-back 3-pointers during an explosive third-quarter burst,...