By Chris Rossetti, www.d9sports.com
Special to MaxPreps.com
CLARION – Dan Reed scored 16 points, grabbed six rebounds and was smack-dab in the middle of a game-deciding 10-4 run that lifted Keystone to its second Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference title game win in three years 46-41 over North Clarion Saturday afternoon at Clarion High School.
Reed scored six of his 10 points during the fourth-quarter run that helped Keystone expand a 33-32 lead to seven points.
“He was terrific today,” Keystone’s long-time head coach Greg Heath said. “But I’m not surprised. He’s been stepping up consistently in the second half of the season and has become one of our top players.”
Thanks in large part to Reed, Keystone (21-2) was able to overcome a one-point, 29-28, deficit 13 seconds into the fourth quarter to get its second win in four days over North Clarion (19-4), which has lost three in a row.
“I think the players are pretty pumped up,” Heath said. “I just told them they did something that happens very rarely and that’s go through the conference undefeated. It’s quite an accomplishment. We have had other really good teams that won conference titles that didn’t do it undefeated.”
The win was a statement of sorts for Keystone, the No. 2 seed in the upcoming District 9 Class A playoffs. North Clarion was awarded the top seed prior to Keystone’s win over the Wolves Wednesday. District 9 seeds based on winning percentage through a particular point in the season, which just happened to be Tuesday night.
“It doesn’t matter what seed you are,” Heath said. “When you get into the playoffs, you have to win. Whichever team wins, wins the district title.”
Jeremy Schmader all scorers with 23 points for North Clarion.
West Forest girls capture first KSAC Title
In the girls’ KSAC title game, also played Saturday at Clarion High School, West Forest ran out to a 15-0 lead and never really looked back in getting a 51-25 win over Moniteau to claim its first-ever KSAC title and its first conference championship of any kind since winning the TCAC Class A League in District 10 back in 1992.
“It’s a championship,” West Forest’s 30-year head coach Bob Wachob said. “Championships are always good. We’ve won (conference) championships a lot in the past, but this is the first one for this group. As good as last year was (West Forest finished second in District 9 and advanced to the PIAA playoffs for the first time since 1982), this group of players didn’t get a chance to win a championship. So it’s nice to get this for this group of players.”
West Forest (22-2) was fueled by solid free-throw shooting. The Indians connected on 25 of 30 shots from the charity stripe while Moniteau was just 2 of 4.
It was a balanced effort scoring wise for West Forest with four players in double figures led by Alyssa Dreihaup’s 14 points and 10 rebounds. Geena Sneeringer, who had 27 points Friday night in the KSAC-North playoff game with Cranberry that decided the North Division title, added 13 points. Erica Blum and Amanda Carll each chipped in with 10 tallies.
Maura McCaslin led Moniteau (17-6) with 12 points.
ECC girls, Johnsonburg boys capture AML Titles
In the Allegheny Mountain League title games Saturday, the Elk County Catholic girls and the Johnsonburg boys each took home titles. For ECC, it was the Crusaders’ fourth straight title, while for Johnsonburg it was a first.
ECC (23-1) used a 20-7 second quarter to beat Johnsonburg 54-36 at St. Marys High School.
Bre Grimone and Kirstie Pistner each scored 14 points for ECC to help offset a game-high 25 points from Johnsonburg’s Ellie Kocjancic.
The Rams (16-8) played most of the first half and all of the second half without leading scorer Abby Grumley, who according to the Tri-County Sunday in DuBois, left the game in the first half with an apparent ankle injury. Grumley scored two points before getting hurt.
Johnsonburg’s boys (18-6), meanwhile, used a 12-6 first quarter edge to beat two-time defending champion DuBois Central Catholic (17-6) 48-41 also at St. Marys High School.
Seth Steich led Johnsonburg with 15 points and 10 rebounds, Ren Yonker added 13 points and Aaron Patrick had 11. John Ferraraccio paced DCC with 14 points, and Chris Marshall had eight.
WPIAL Girls Playoffs: Penn Hills stuns No. 4 Norwin
Darche Jackson scored 28 points, including 24 in the second half to help 13th-seeded Penn Hills rally from a 16-point halftime deficit and stun fourth-seeded Norwin 56-53 Saturday at Baldwin High School in WPIAL Class AAAA girls playoff first-round action.
Penn Hills, which won a playoff game for the first time since 1996, trailed 30-14 at halftime but used a monster third quarter to get back into the game. The Indians outscored the Knights 29-12 in the third quarter.
Davida Penn added 12 points for North Hills, while Shelly Springer led Norwin with 16 and Emily Duncan had 13.
In another Class AAAA barnburner, Emily Correal scored with nine seconds left to give Peters Township a 49-48 win over Hempfield. Correal ended the game with 27 points.
Also in Class AAAA, Baldwin got 26 points from Belma Nurkic to beat North Allegheny 56-51, and McKeesport (45-37 over Pine-Richland) and Oakland Catholic (49-33 over Upper St. Clair) also notched wins.
WPIAL Boys Playoffs: North Hills picks up fifth playoff win in school history
In WPIAL boys playoff action Saturday, North Hills raced out to a 14-6 lead at the end of the first quarter on its way to a 57-48 win over Franklin Regional, just the fifth playoff victory in school history. Cody Patton had 22 points to lead the Indians, while Franklin Regional was paced by Nick Novak’s game-high 23 points.
In Class AAA action, Moon’s Brett Hoffman hit two free throws with six seconds left in double overtime to give the Tigers a 61-60 win over Uniontown. Moon led 18-11 after eight minutes of play, but Uniontown fought back to forge a 52-all tie at the end of regulation. Both teams then scored four points in the first overtime before Moon edged Uniontown 5-4 in the second extra session.
Meanwhile, in Class A, defending WPIAL and state champion Serra Catholic got 39 combined points from the Heatherington boys easily beat Avella 85-51. T.J. Heatherington had 21 tallies, while Rob Heatherington had 18. Serra scored 34 first-quarter points and led 63-26 at halftime.
Back in Class AAAA, Nate Perry poured in 35 points but it wasn’t enough to help Hempfield get past Pittsburgh Central Catholic which topped the Spartans 61-51 thanks to 20 points from Evan Tsudis and 18 from Lucas Mickens.
