Brockway boys rally past Karns City 43-42 in AA Quarterfinals

By Chris Rossetti

CLARION, Pa. – Jake Wineberg’s old-school 3-point play with just over 10 seconds to play lifted Brockway to a 43-42 win over Karns City in the District 9 Class AA boys’ quarterfinals Thursday night at Tippin Gym.

After Wineberg’s points, which gave the Rovers a 43-41 lead, Karns City had a final chance to win or tie the game when David Olszak was fouled driving to the basket with just over four seconds to play. Olszak bounced the first one in, but the second one was missed. Dalton Callihan grabbed the rebound for the Gremlins and tried an 18-foot jumper as time expired, but the shot was off the mark setting off a celebration on the Brockway bench.

Fourth-seeded Karns City (12-10) had a 41-38 lead following  pair of Callihan free throws with 30.7 seconds left, but disaster struck the Gremlins when Colton Hawk thought play was dead and tried to enter the game after fifth-seeded Brockway (10-13), winners of 9 of 12 after a 1-10 start, had inbounded the ball. That gave the officials no choice but to whistle the Gremlins for a technical foul for playing with six players.

Andrew Serafini hit one of two free throws on the technical to cut the deficit to 41-39. On the inbounds, Brockway ended up turning the ball over, but Karns City gave it right back and Serafini was fouled with 17 seconds left.
Serafini hit the second of the two-shot foul to make ti a one-point game, 41-40.

After a Brockway timeout, Christian Turner was fouled. But the Gremlin missed the front end of the 1-and-1. Wineberg then drove to the hole, made the basket and was fouled by Turner. He hit the free throw making it a two-point game.

Olszak, who had briefly left the game with an ankle injury that required him to be helped off the court without putting weight on the ankle late in the third quarter, then took the ball hard to the hole himself before being fouled.

The game featured six lead changes in the fourth quarter alone with neither team being up to get up by more than three points.

Brockway led 32-29 going to the final eight minutes thanks to a buzzer-beating foul-line jumper by Quade Lundberg at the end of the third quarter, the second buzzerbeater by the Rovers in the game (Serafini beat the first-half horn to give Brockway a 19-16 halftime lead).

Karns City, though, scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to take a 33-32 lead on a Brendan Waltman layup with 5:27 to play.

After that, a Serafini three put Brockway ahead two with 4:39 to play, but a Callihan layup at the 3:43 mark sent the Gremlins back in front, 36-35.

Jared Rogos gave the Rovers the lead back with a 3-pointer at the 3:24 mark before Olszak answered with a three of his own at 1:34 giving Karns City a 39-38 lead.

Callihan’s two free throws a minute later extended the cushion to three before the technical foul helped spur the Brockway comeback.

Serafini led Brockway with 16 points while adding three rebounds. He was the only Rover in double digits. Wineberg added nine points and five boards, while Corey Carr had eight points and four rebounds.

Callihan had a monster night for Karns City with 18 points, 13 rebounds, including seven offensive boards, and three steals. Olszak gutted out the injury and a poor shooting game (3 of 13) to score 13 points to go with six rebounds, five assists and two steals. But the rest of the Gremlins managed just 11 points.

Free-throw shooting hurt Karns City, as the Gremlins were just 10 of 22 from the line including the critical misses at the end of the game. Karns City also shot just 30.4 percent (14 of 46) including 5 of 22 (22.7 percent) in the first half. The Gremlins did outrebound Brockway 40-23 including 20 to 3 on the offensive glass but only had an 8-6 advantage in second-chance points.

Brockway shot 44.4 percent (16 of 36) including 8 of 16 in the second half.

Brockway will now take on top seeded Cranberry in the semifinals at a site, time and location to be announced.

BROCKWAY 43, KARNS CITY 42

Score by Quarters

Brockway 5 14 13 11 – 43

Karns City 5 11 13 13 – 42

Brockway – 43

Corey Carr 3-4 2-5 8, Jake Wineberg 3-8 1-1 9, Andrew Serafini 6-9 2-6 16, Jared Rogos 1-6 0-0 3, Quade Lundberg 1-3 1-2 3, Hunter Miller 1-3 0-0 2, Jarrett Esposito 0-0 0-0 0, Lex Embleton 1-1 0-0 2, Carter Adams 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 16-36 6-14 43.

Karns City – 42

David Olszak 3-13 5-9 13, Ethan Conto 1-4 1-2 4, Christian Turner 2-4 0-3 5, Colton Hawk 0-0 0-0 0, Dalton Callihan 7-14 4-8 18, Holden Martin 0-3 0-0 0, Reese Barger 0-3 0-0 0, Brendan Waltman 1-3 0-0 2, Chandler Turner 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 14-46 10-22 42.

Three-pointers – Brockway 5-14 (Serafini 2-2, Wineberg 2-4, Rogos 1-5, Miller 0-2, Adams 0-1). Karns City 4-16 (Olszak 2-5, Turner 1-1, Conto 1-3, Barger 0-2, Waltman 0-2, Martin 0-3).