Furious, Yet Futile
ROSS TWP — Knoch's offense seemed to hit its stride just in time.
But on the verge of reaching the WPIAL semifinals, the Knights' run ran out of gas.
Facing a 15-point deficit to Quaker Valley with five and a half minutes left in Saturday's Class 4A boys basketball quarterfinal, Knoch reeled off the next 12 points and trailed by just three with 50 seconds to go.
That was as close as the Knights would get, however, falling to the Quakers 49-43 at North Hills Middle School.
“I loved the effort. There was no quit in our guys,” said Knoch coach Ron McNabb. “There was no panic, you could see it in their eyes.”
The Quakers led 39-31 after three quarters and opened the fourth with seven straight points to take a 46-31 lead.
“Knoch is a very, very good team and they are so well-coached,” said Quaker Valley coach Mike Mastroianni. “They are a dangerous team when playing from behind because they shoot the ball so well from the outside.”
And it was from beyond the arc where the final surge began.
Julian Sanks hit a trey with 5:29 left. His fifth and final 3-pointer of the game came with under a minute to play and cut the Quaker edge to 46-43. In between, Jared Schrecengost and Brady McKee combined to drain three buckets as cold shooting and turnovers suddenly began to hamper Quaker Valley's offense.
But the Quakers (19-3) caught themselves just in time. Though they didn't get another shot from the field to fall, senior guard Jackson Zernich hit three free throws in the span of 15 seconds, giving his team its final margin of victory.
Quaker Valley defeated Knoch, 68-53, in a regular season game last month. McNabb knew his team needed to force a different pace to have a chance in the rematch.
“That first game, we had just played a road game the night before and they (Quakers) were going up and down the floor on us,” he said. “We prepared for it this time. We knew we had to be better with our transition defense this time and we were. Without seeing the film yet, I believe we only gave up two good shots in transition.”
Though the outcome was not decided until late, Knoch's fate ultimately came down to the first half put up by Quaker Valley senior swingman Ryan Stowers, who scored 22 of his 28 points in the first two quarters. The effort helped the Quakers lead, 30-20 at the break. He tallied 11 points in the first quarter, after which the Quakers led 17-14.
Stowers scored his 1,000th career point in the win.
“He was ready to go today and we needed him,” Mastroianni said. “He got us a lead. We led throughout today and that's difficult to do against a good team like Knoch.”
Sanks' 15 points led Knoch and Schrecengost added 11.
The Knights (18-6), who were playing in the quarterfinals for the first time since 2006, are now rooting for Quaker Valley to win the district title. If that happens, Knoch will compete in the upcoming state playoffs as the fifth-place team out of the WPIAL.
KNOCH 43
Julian Sanks 5 0-0 15, Jared Schrecengost 4 2-3 11, Scott Fraser 2 3-4 7, Jake Scheidt 2 0-0 4, Brady McKee 2 2-4 6, Ryan Lang 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 7-11 43.
QUAKER VALLEY 49
K.C. Johns 2 0-0 6, Danny Conlan 2 0-1 4, Ryan Stowers 13 0-0 28, Christian Johnston 3 0-0 6, Jackson Zernich 0 3-6 3, Jonathan Weir 1 0-0 2, Quinn Hill 0 0-0 0, Adou Thiero 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 3-7 49.
Knoch 14 6 11 12 — 43
Quaker Valley17 13 9 10 — 49
3-point goals: Knoch 6 (Sanks 5, Schrecengost); Quaker Valley 4 (Johns 2, Stowers 2).
