By Chris Rossetti
CLARION, Pa. – Kane used a strong defense and a lot of Andrew Bucheit to move into the District 9 Class AA championship game for the first time since 2010 with a 52-32 win over Keystone in the semifinals Tuesday night at Clarion University’s Tippin Gym.
The defense was a game-long trend for the second-seeded Wolves (13-10), who held third-seeded Keystone (12-12) to 28.3 percent (13 of 46) shooting for the game while forcing 12 turnovers and blocking a pair of shots and altering many others.
“That is one of our points of emphasis this season, stressing defense,” Kane head coach Matt Gasbarre said. “We look for good helpside defense and good pressure defense. The kids executed tonight, and I’m proud of their effort.”
Bucheit, Kane’s 6-foot-6 athletic junior center, turned in a monster night with 27 points, 13 rebounds and two blocked shots. He was at his best after halftime when he scored 20 points and grabbed eight boards including a 14-point third-quarter effort.
“It started out rough but it picked up in the second half and got the job done,” Bucheit said when asked about his performance.
It really wasn’t that rough of a start for Kane’s leading scorer, as he scored seven first-half points while helping the Wolves grab a 30-15 halftime lead.
“We knew in the first half they were going to try to take away Andrew,” Gasbarre said. “But we plays a team. That time he was off – Bucheit missed three games near the end of the season – due to injury really helped us out as a team to gel and have other offensive production. Overall, it’s come together these last three weeks.”
Kane got contributions scoring from six different players in the first half, and the Wolves shot 54.5 percent (12 of 22) in the half showing that a 13-day layoff between games didn’t cool them off.
“This time of the year, you get your legs well rested,” Gasbarre said. “It’s a lot of shooting drills and a lot of offense in practice. Our defense wins championships, but when you have extra time to shoot that always helps as well.”
Kane didn’t slow down after halftime building the lead to as many as 25 points, 43-18, midway through the third quarter thanks in large part to Bucheit’s unstoppable play after halftime.
Bucheit then put a capper on his night and Kane’s night with 3:58 to play in the game when he took an alley-oop pass from Frank Truden and slammed it home with ease.
“Frank isn’t really an ooping kind of guy,” Bucheit said. “But he threw a nice pass, and I got it down.”
While Bucheit was handling the offensive chores for Kane, Tyler and Shane Rolick, the stars of the Wolves run to the District 9 Class A football title this past fall, were doing the yeoman’s work on defense against Keystone’s leading scorer Austin Ion holding Ion to just five points on 2 of 11 shooting.
“They are defensive stoppers,” Gasbarre said. “They are athletes. We challenge them every practice and every game with the best offensive player on the opposing team. At this time of year, those boys rise up.”
Truden added eight points and six assists for Kane, who also got six points from Tyler Rolick and five points and four steals from Chris Udovich.
Tanner Wilson paced Keystone with 12 points.
GAME NOTES – Kane shot 50 percent (22 of 44) from the floor and 6 of 15 from 3-point range … The Wolves assisted on 14 of their 22 baskets … Keystone did some away with nine steals, four from Brayden Shick, but the Panthers were outrebounded by Kane 36-25 … Kane will take on Brockway in the District 9 title game Saturday at Tippin Gym. A time for the game hasn’t been decided. The Wolves are looking for their first District 9 title since 2007.
KANE 52, KEYSTONE 32
Score by Quarter
Keystone 8 7 9 8 – 32
Kane 13 17 16 6 – 52
KEYSTONE – 32
Austin Ion 2-11 1-2 5, Brayden Shick 1-3 0-0 3, Mason Rearick 2-10 0-2 5, Tanner wilson 5-10 2-3 12, Braden Jones 2-6 0-0 4, Dalton Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Ian Henry 0-0 0-0 0, Kove Cochran 0-1 0-0 0, Mitchell Hogue 0-0 0-0 0, Mattson Caun 0-1 0-0 0, Corey Rapp 0-1 0-0 0, Brooks LaVan 0-0 0-0 0, Nate Wingard 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 13-46 3-7 32.
KANE – 52
Davis Gardner 1-1 0-1 2, Chris Udovich 2-4 0-0 5, Tyler Rolick 2-4 1-4 6, Andy Bundy 0-4 0-0 0, Andrew Bucheit 12-20 1-3 27, Frank Truden 3-5 0-0 8, Shane Rolick 2-4 0-1 4, Ang Constanzo 0-0 0-0 0, JT Stewart 0-0 0-0 0, Bryce Schreckengost 0-1 0-0 0, MIchael Landries 0-0 0-0 0, Reed Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Garrett Walters 0-0 0-0 0, Wes Cleer 0-0 0-0 0, Ray Maze 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-44 2-9 52.
THREE-POINTERS – Keystone 3-15 (Wingard 1-2, Rearick 1-2, Wilson 1-3, Ion 0-4, B. Jones 0-1, Cochran 0-1, Caun 0-1). Kane 6-15 (Bucheit 2-3, Truden 2-4, Udovich 1-2, T. Rolick 1-2, Bundy 0-2, S. Rolick 0-1, Schreckengost 0-1).
