March 8 PIAA boys’ recaps from games involving District 9 teams.
(Photo of ECC’s Regis Wortman, who scored 23 points Friday night. Photo by Jared Bakaysa of JB Graphics. See more of Bakaysa’s work here)
CLARION-LIMESTONE 62, JUNIATA VALLEY 51
ALTOONA, Pa. – Hayden Callen exploded for 31 points, including 27 from the second quarter on, as Clarion-Limestone, the third-place team from District 9, stunned District 6 champion Juniata Valley, 62-51, in the opening round of the PIAA Class 1A boys’ playoffs at Altoona High School.
“Hayden had a whale of a night,” C-L head coach Joe Ferguson said. “He had one of those nights. Once in a while, he goes off like that.”
Hayden Callen, who added nine rebounds, also played a key role defensively in helping limit Juniata Valley leading scorer Cameron Collins, who entered the game averaging 23.3 points per game, through the first three quarters. Collins, who ended with a team-high 22 points, scored 14 of those in the fourth quarter after C-L built a 45-29 lead after three quarters.
The Lions (23-4) won the game in the middle two quarters when they outscored Hornets 34-19 to take the 16-point lead into the fourth quarter. That was after an even first quarter that saw C-L holding an 11-10 advantage after eight minutes.
“We pushed the tempo after the first quarter,” Ferguson said. “We saw we could push the tempo, and we started running a little on them and got back and stopped Cameron from running on us.”
Hayden Callen scored 11 of the Lions 15 second-quarter points to help C-L built a 26-17 halftime lead and then added 11 more during a 19-point third quarter that helped grow the lead to 16 points.
Juniata Valley tried to rally behind Collins in the fourth quarter but the deficit turned out to be too much, although Ferguson wasn’t happy with the way his team played in the final eight minutes.
“We broke down defensively and lost our heads against their press,” Ferguson said. “I used all of my timeouts to get us to understand that we needed to slow the game down.”
Offensively, Deas (13 points) and Ian Callen (12 points) also played key roles for the Lions, who Ferguson praised for sharing the ball well.
C-L will take on WPIAL third-place finisher Cornell, a 56-50 winner over District 5 runner-up Shanksville-Stonycreek, in the second round Tuesday, March 12, at a site and time to be determined.
CLARION-LIMESTONE 62, JUNIATA VALLEY 51
Score by Quarters
Clarion-Limestone 11 15 19 17 – 62
Juniata Valley 10 7 12 22 – 51
CLARION-LIMESTONE – 62
Deion Deas 4 0-0 13, Julian Laugand 0 0-0 0, Ayden Wiles 0 0-0 0, Ian Callen 5 2-4 12, Curvin Goheen 3 0-1 6, Hayden Callen 12 6-7 31, Mitch Knepp 0 0-2 0. Totals 26 8-14 62.
JUNIATA VALLEY – 51
Cameron Collins 8 3-6 22, Quinn Zinobile 4 4-6 12, Jaxson Rand 4 0-0 9, Devin Deihl 0 0-0 0, Grant Musser 3 0-0 6, Nolen Reihart 0 0-0 0, Caden Rupert 0 0-0 0, Jacob Hensor 0 2-2 2. Totals 19 9-14 51.
Three-pointers: C-L 2 (Deas, Hayden Callen). Juniata Valley 4 (Collins 3, Rand).
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 65, LEECHBURG 41
ST. MARYS, Pa. – Fueled by a strong third quarter, District 9 Champions, Elk County Catholic, defeated WPIAL fifth-place Leechburg, 65-41 in the PIAA Class 1A first round at St. Marys High School.
Leading 27-23 at the half, the Crusaders outscored the Blue Devils 20-6 thanks to Regis Wortman and a 14-0 run that lasted nearly three minutes. Wortman tallied eight of his game-high 23 points in the third quarter.
“We were able to get into the zone a little more.” Elk County Catholic head coach Aaron Straub said. “That was a really big key. Penetrate their zone, find some guys on the baseline and get some easier shots.”
Alex Breindel scored the first five points in the game for the Crusaders and Wortman added six to give the Elkers an 11-9 lead after one.
Leechburg (13-11), the sixth-place team out of the WPIAL, hung with D9 champion Elk County (27-1) in the second quarter. Eli Rich finished the second quarter with six points for the Blue Devils and cut the deficit to 24-23 with 2:18. Breindel answered back with a 3-pointer 17 seconds later to give the Crusaders a 27-23 lead that would stick through halftime.
Of the six points scored in the third, Leechburg was only able to get one field goal in the quarter from Rich, with the other four points being free-throws, one from Nico Venanzio and three from Connor McDermott.
The Crusaders outscored the Blue Devils 18-12 in the fourth, making 8 of 11 from the free-throw line in the final five minutes of play. Leechburg only made 5 of 10 from the line.
McDermott was held to 13 points on the night for Leechburg with Rich adding eight and Dylan Cook and Jake Blummer chipping in for six apiece.
“They’re well-coached,” Straub said of Leechburg. “Everybody I talked to in the Pittsburgh area said Coach (Corey) Smith does a great job and works really hard. They have a lot of kids coming back next year so their future is really bright.”
Briendel finished the game with three 3-pointers and a total of 14 points for the Crusaders. Alec Wehler netted seven points, Brennen Klawuhn added six and Carter Lindemuth and Leo Gregory chipped in for four apiece.
“We did a lot of things well,” Straub said. “I’m not so sure we out hustled them. I’m really proud of our kids and I’m really proud of how they played. But we ran into a team that really hustled.”
ECC will take on WPIAL second-place finisher Vincentian Academy in the second round Tuesday, March 12.
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 65, LEECHBURG 41
Scores by Quarters
Leechburg 9 14 6 12 – 41
Elk County Catholic 11 16 20 18 – 65
LEECHBURG – 41
John Miskinis 2 1-2 5, Connor McDermott 2 1 5-7 13, Dylan Cook 1 1 1-1 6, Jake Blumer 2 2-4 6, Nico Venanzio 0 3-4 3, Eli Rich 4 0-0 8, Dane Davies 0 0-0 0. Total 13 12-18 41.
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC – 65
Bryce O’Leary 0 0-0 0, Carter Lindemuth 2 0-1 4, Alec Wehler 1 2 0-0 7, Isaac Brock 0 2-2 2, Will Uberti 0 0-0 0, Brennen Klawuhn 2 2-2 6, Regis Wortman 9 5-6 23, Leo Gregory 0 4-4 4, Mark Kraus 1 0-0 2, Brady Schneider 0 3-4 3, Alex Breindel 3 2 1-2 14. Total 22 17-20 65.
Three-pointers: Elk County Catholic 4 (Breindel 3, Wehler 1), Leechburg 3 (McDermott 2, Cook 1)
BISHOP CARROLL 68, NORTH CLARION 58
KANE, Pa. – Bishop Carroll rode a strong first quarter to a 68-58 win over North Clarion in the opening round of the PIAA Class 1A playoffs at Kane High School.
Relisten to the game:
The Huskies (20-6), the second-place team out of District 6, led 20-12 after the first quarter, which proved to to be the difference.
Tristan McDannell led Bishop Carroll with 22 points on 10 made baskets while Carson Ertter added 15 tallies and Alex Karlheim 13.
Kyle Mills had a monster game for North Clarion with 30 points in his final game for the Wolves (21-5). Tyler McCord-Wolbert and Logan Minich each added 10 points for North Clarion.
Bishop Carroll will play WPIAL fourth-place finisher Monessen in the second round.
Score by Quarters
Bishop Carroll 20 15 16 17 – 68
North Clarion 12 16 14 16 – 58
BISHOP CARROLL – 68
Tristan McDannell 10 0-0 22 , Nolan Burk 4 1-4 9 , Carson Ertter 5 5-11 15, Scotty Semelsberger 2 0-0 5 , Alex Karlheim 4 4-6 13 , Kilraine 0 0-2 0, J. Bobroski 1 0-0 3 , L. Gottshall 0 1-2 1. Totals 26 11-25 68.
NORTH CLARION – 58
Sam Minich 1 1-2 3, Jacob Bauer 0 2-4 2, Logan Minich 3 2-2 10, Korey Mills 1 0-0 3,Tyler McCord-Wolbert 4 2-2 10, Zyler Hargenrader 0 0-0 0 , Devon Walters 0 0-0 0 , Kyle Mills 13 4-8 30, Preston Schmader 0-0-0 0. Totals – 22 11-18 58
Three-pointers: Bishop Carroll 5 (McDannell 2, Karlheim, Semelsberger, Bobroski). North Clarion 3 (L. Minich 2, Ko. Mills).
NAZARETH PREP 50, JOHNSONBURG 46
PITTSBURGH – Typically when a WPIAL Champion plays the fourth seed out of District 9 you don’t expect it to much of a basketball game.
For Johnsonburg, they didn’t just make the two-and-half-hour bus ride to Northgate High School only to be competitive. They made the trip to win. And they also did coming up just a little bit short, 50-46, against Nazareth Prep in the opening round of the Class 1A playoffs.
“I’m very proud of the kids,” said Johnsonburg head coach Bill Shuey. “Our goal was to come down here and give it our best effort. They did that, and I told them not to worry about the score, just to give their best effort. They’re going to walk out of this gym feeling good about themselves.”
Johnsonburg trailed the entire game until the 7:15 mark of the fourth when a basket by leading scorer Austin Green gave the Rams (16-11) a 37-36 lead.
“We started a little slow because early on we were taking dumb shots,” said Shuey. “Once we settled down we were okay. We were then able to dribble-drive and get inside more.”
Johnsonburg got the lead to as many as three, 41-38, before the Saints (20-3) went on an 8-0 run to take a 46-41 lead with 4:04.
Nehemiah Brazil hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Nazareth Prep the lead back for good.
Isaac Scholder answered for the Rams making a 3-point game again. He then got a steal, but Green wasn’t able to connect on two tough, contested layups.
Brazil and Tre Harvey each hit a pair of free throws to close out the win for Nazareth Prep.
The Rams did an excellent job on Saints leading scorer William Taylor who came into the game averaging nearly 19 points a game. He scored just eight.
Nazareth Prep led 13-5 after a quarter and 25-17 at halftime.
Johnsonburg got a monster game from Green who dropped 29 points in the final three quarters after being scoreless in the first.
“He’s a great player, and he had a really nice game for us,” said Shuey.
Garrett Gregori added seven points, Scholder chipped in with four and Nick Bliss five for Rams.
Nazareth Prep will move on to play District 5 Champion Shade in the second round.
NAZARETH PREP 50, JOHNSONBURG 46
Score by Quarters
Johnsonburg – 5 12 18 11 – 46
Nazareth Prep – 13 12 11 14 – 50
JOHNSONBURG – 46
Isaac Scholder 1 2-2 4, Gino Gregori 0 0-0 0, Austin Green 16 3-3 29, Gabe Watts 0 1-3 1, Nick Bliss 2 1-2 5, Garret Gregori 3 0-0 7, Cameron Stelene 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 7-10 46.
NAZARETH PREP – 50
William Taylor 4 0-1 8, Tre Harvey 3 4-4 11, Hassan Ismaeli 1 0-0 3, Jabriel Johnson 4 1-3 9, Eugene Goodwine 3 1-2 7, Isaiah Thomas 2 0-1 4, Nehemiah Brazil 2 2-2 8, Jaden Gales 0 0-0 0, Marcus Johnson 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 8-13 50.
Three-pointers: Johnsonburg 3 (Green 2, Gino Gregori). Nazareth Prep 4 (Brazil 2, Ismaeli, Harvey)
QUAKER VALLEY 66, CLEARFIELD 51
PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. – Leading by one point at halftime, Clearfield ran into a buzz-saw in the third quarter and dropped its PIAA Class 4A state-opener to WPIAL runner-up Quaker Valley.
Ryan Stowers scored all 15 of Quaker Valley’s points in the third quarter as it turned a 29-28 halftime deficit into an eight-point lead by the end of the third quarter on the way to a 66-51 win over the D9 champion Bison.
Stowers scored 22 points in the second half wound up with a game-high 33 points and combined with Danny Conlon to carry the Quakers offensively. Conlon, the son of former Penn State football great Shane Conlon, scored 10 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter
Quaker Valley (21-4) heads to the second round Tuesday to face Bishop McDevitt while Clearfield’s season finished at 13-11.
Cade Walker had a big first half for the Bison, scoring 18 of his 26 points. Karson Rumsky finished with 10 points and Keegan Hess added seven points.
QUAKER VALLEY 66, CLEARFIELD 51
Score By Quarters
Quaker Valley 12 16 15 23 – 66
Clearfield 11 18 6 16 – 51
QUAKER VALLEY – 66
K.C. Johns 0 0-0 0, Jackson Zernich 0 2-3 2, Jack Gardiner 1 0-0 2, Quinn Hill 0 0-0 0, Dan Conlan 10 0-0 22, Ryan Stowers 12 5-7 33, Adou Thiero 0 2-2 2, Christian Johnston 2 1-1 5, Jon Weir 0 0-0 0. Totals: 25 10-13 66.
CLEARFIELD – 51
Taye Lynch 1 2-2 4, Cade Walker 11 3-6 26, Karson Rumsky 3 3-6 10, Keagan Hess 3 1-3 7, Andrew Lopez 1 0-0 2, Matt Pallo 1 0-0 2, Barrett Kline 0 0-0 0, Luke Winters 0 0-0 0, Simon Quigley 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 9-17 51.
THREE-POINTERS: Quaker Valley 6 (Stowers 4, Conlan 2), Clearfield 2 (Walker, Rumsky).
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