The State College Little Lions and the St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy WolfPack will both be playing in the first round of the PIAA boys basketball tournament, set to begin Friday and Saturday.
The Little Lions, after beating Altoona in the District 6, 6A final and then trouncing Erie in the D6-8-10 regional final, will face Upper St. Clair, the No. 3 seed out of District 7, at home on March 11.
The WolfPack regrouped after their wild D6 semifinal loss to Harmony and rallied past Juniata Valley to qualify as the No. 3 seed in the D6, A Division. They will see District 5’s No. 1 Berlin Brothersvalley on March 10 in Johnstown.
Here’s a closer look at each game:
7-3 UPPER ST. CLAIR (16-9) AT 6-1 STATE COLLEGE (23-2)
PIAA, 6A FIRST ROUND
SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 4 P.M.
STATE COLLEGE
It was no contest when the State College Little Lions lined up against the Erie Royals in the District 6-8-10 regional final on March 4 in Erie.
State College went on a 26-4 second-quarter tear that left Erie in the dust in a 73-41 Little Lion win.
The score was 45-15 by halftime, and SC went on to wrap up its 23rd win of the season, against just two losses, along with another D6-8-10 regional championship.
Isaac Dye drained seven 3-pointers and totaled 26 points in all for the Little Lions, while Braeden Shrewsberry scored 19 in a game that SC controlled almost from the opening tipoff.
Dye and Shrewsberry combined to go 16-for-22 from the field (Dye was 7-for-9 from beyond the arc), while the team as a whole shot 29-for-52 (56%) in the game.
The win gave SC the No. 1 seed from the region, and the Lions will now face 7-3 Upper St. Clair in the first round of the PIAA tournament.
The Panthers come into the tournament with an overall record of 16-9 and a third-place finish in the WPIAL 6A championships.
USC was ranked No. 2 in the district behind No. 1 New Castle and just squeezed by No. 7 Seneca Valley, 45-43, in the quarterfinals.
But in the semifinals, the Panthers ran into eventual champion Pittsburgh Central Catholic and fell 65-41. The loss sent Upper St. Clair into a consolation game against Mt. Lebanon to decide the district’s third and final PIAA qualifier.
That game, played at home in Upper St. Clair, was another thriller, but the Panthers survived, 55-54, to take the final state tournament spot.
USC’s Julian Dahlem made two free throws with 6.5 seconds left in the game, giving gave the Panthers the 1-point win.
Peja Strobl led USC with 14 points, and Devin Hall added 11 as the Panthers finally qualified for the state tournament.
Now the Little Lions and the Panthers, two teams hardened in the regular season in ultra-competitive conferences, will meet in the single-elimination state tournament.
The winner will move on to face either 7-1 Pittsburgh Central Catholic or 3-7 Wilson on March 15 in the second round.
6-3 ST. JOSEPH’S CATHOLIC ACADEMY (18-8) VS 5-1 BERLIN BROTHERSVALLEY (22-2)
PIAA, A FIRST ROUND
FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 7:30 P.M.
PITT-JOHNSTOWN UNIVERSITY, JOHNSTOWN
The St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy WolfPack suffered a crushing, controversial 75-74 loss to Harmony in the District 6, A semifinal at Harmony, but SJCA was not in a position to stew about what went wrong at the end of that game.
They still had basketball to play. Namely, an extremely important consolation game against Juniata Valley that would determine the third qualifier from District 6 in the PIAA single-A tournament.
“It was a very difficult loss in an important game,” SJCA Head Coach John Straub said, “but the players handled it with a lot of composure and we just said that we still had a lot to play for. We just came back the next day, had a good practice, and we moved on from it. We still could get into the state tournament.
“I am extremely proud of this team,” Straub continued. “How resilient they were and how they overcame all of that. It is what sports and life is all about — rebounding from adversity. Very proud of our kids.”
In the end, the WolfPack put it back together and staged a fourth-quarter rally that overcame the Hornets in a 74-64 win.
The game was a 1-pointer, 45-44, going into the final eight minutes, but led by Michael Lower’s 13 points in the quarter, SJCA outscored Juniata 29-20 to take the win and the PIAA invitation.
Lower scored 33 points in all that night, with Charley Yartz adding 14 and Nick Warner 10.
But it was Lower who carried the load in one of his best performances of the season.
Now the WolfPack will match up with District 5’s No. 1 seed, Berlin Brothersvalley.
The Mountaineers are 22-2 so far this season, and they took out Salisbury Elk Lick and Southern Fulton by a combined score of 151-47 to take the District 5 championship.
The team’s only two losses this season came against 22-3 New Castle on Feb. 13 and New Town High out of Owings Mills, Maryland, on Jan. 13. Other than those two games, Berlin Brothers ran the table.
Berlin Brothersvalley is an up-tempo, high-scoring team led by three hot-shooting guards. Junior Pace Prosser leads the team with a 23.6 average, and he’s closely followed by junior Craig Jarvis with a 19.7 average and senior Ryan Blubaugh at 17.7.
All three of them shoot over 50% from the field, while Prosser also leads the team in rebounds, assists, steals and foul-try percentage.
The two teams will meet in Johnstown on March 10, and the winner will face either 4-1 Sullivan County (17-8) or 3-4 LaAcademia (12-11) on March 14 in the second round.
