Domination
O'HARA TWP — When told that junior guard Scott Fraser put up 27 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in Wednesday's playoff win over South Park, Knoch boys basketball coach Ron McNabb had a quick response.
“I'm not surprised,” he said. “Scott's a kid who never says a word, just goes out and does his job. I'm happy for him.”
The Knights (18-5) crushed the Eagles, 62-33, to advance to Saturday's Class 4A quarterfinal round where they will meet Quaker Valley at a site and time to be determined.
Fraser's effort included 10 points in the second quarter, which saw the Knights take complete control of the game with a 15-0 run to begin the period. The dominance covered the first five minutes of the frame and handed the Knights a 28-8 advantage.
“Our defense is always there and the offense was rolling tonight,” said Fraser. “I think we can play even better, though, if we hit a few more shots.”
The Knights showed little rust, if any at all, after not playing for eight days.
“We went hard in practice and got a good scrimmage in against Hampton,” Fraser said. “It was all about focus last week and we looked good.”
McNabb took notice of his team's defense and liked what he saw.
“We knew they (Eagles) liked to get to the rim and focused on limiting penetration,” he said. “Scott was part of that. We also rebounded very well.”
A 39-20 edge on the boards, to be exact.
“We actually rebounded well early on, but got out of position after that,” said South Park coach Jason Dolak. “Knoch is a good, balanced team and they have a chance to go far.”
Another aspect of his team's play that impressed McNabb was committing just seven turnovers.“We like to go up-tempo and got up and down the floor tonight,” he said. “We made good decisions with the ball.”Senior forward Hunter Lindsay led South Park (10-13) with 11 points.Knoch's quarterfinal showdown with Quaker Valley is a rematch of a game played Jan. 26 and won by the Quakers, 68-53.“They're a very good team and we are looking forward to playing them again,” said McNabb.SOUTH PARK 33Santino Tutich 4 0-0 8, Luke Ferency 1 0-0 2, Aiden Rengaus 3 0-0 6, Hunter Lindsey 5 0-0 11, Mario Bellisario 1 1-2 4, Keith Hutton 1 0-0 2. Totals: 15 1-4 33.KNOCH 62Julian Sanks 2 0-0 6, Jared Schrecengost 3 2-2 9, Scott Fraser 11 4-8 27, Brady McKee 3 2-2 8, Ryan Lang 3 1-2 8, Jake Scheidt 2 0-2 4. Totals: 24 9-16 62.South Park 8 7 12 6 — 33Knoch13 19 17 13 — 623-point goals: Hunter Lindsey, Mario Bellisario; Julian Sanks 2, Jared Schrecengost, Scott Fraser, Ryan LangSaturday: Knoch vs. Quaker Valley, WPIAL quarterfinal, time and site TBD
