NA edges SV at buzzer to finish sweep
JACKSON TWP — Two games against North Allegheny this season have yielded the same result for the Seneca Valley boys basketball team: Heartbreak at the buzzer.
SV's final shot did not fall in a 60-59 road loss to the Tigers Jan. 13.
In Tuesday night's rematch, Alex Maxfield's shot from behind the 3-point line hit the front of the rim as time ran out in a 44-43 defeat to North Allegheny.
The outcome made it a clean sweep for NA, which defeated SV's girls 68-48 in the night's first game.
The good news for SV's boys is that they, like the Tigers, already had a WPIAL Class AAAA playoff berth clinched entering Tuesday's meeting.
But a close loss to a rival is a bitter pill to swallow.
“Kids are resilient,” said Raiders coach Victor Giannotta. “We played well tonight, but NA is a tough matchup for us.”
The Raiders had a chance to take the lead late in the fourth quarter.
Trailing by one point, Easton Bazzoli drove the lane and put up a shot that bounced off the rim. SV's Alex Snyder got his fingertips on the ball, but was unable to put in the rebound and NA's J.C. Howard grabbed the ball before being fouled with just under eight seconds on the clock.
Moments later, Howard missed the front end of a one-and-one at the other end of the floor and Austin Bream rebounded for the Raiders and passed off to Maxfield.
The senior guard crossed midcourt and let his shot go, but, like Bazzoli's shot on Jan. 13, the night ended in disappointment for the Raiders.
NA (12-6, 7-4) forced Seneca into 18 turnovers, not an exceptional amount, but many of them came at crucial points in the game.
“Defensively, my kids played well the whole game,” said Tigers coach Dave DeGregorio. “That's what kept us in it tonight with our poor foul shooting (4-of-15).”
The Raiders (13-8, 6-5) opened the game on an 8-0 run, but by halftime, the Tigers had taken a slim 22-20 lead.
“We went up on them early, but then weren't able to control the tempo of the game,” said Giannotta. “We had too many turnovers (15 in the first half).”
“Eight points in the first quarter is nothing,” said DeGregorio. “We weathered the storm and didn't panic.”
NA's Adam Haus led all scorers in the low-scoring affair with 11 points, including a trio of 3-pointers.
Matt Smith paced the Raiders with 10 points.
<B>North Allegheny 68, Seneca Valley 48 —</B> It was a start Rob Lombardo knew his team could not afford.SV's girls coach watched his team fall behind 24-4 by the end of the first quarter and the Raiders were never able to threaten in a 20-point loss that ended the squad's playoff hopes.“We came out like a team that hasn't been in this position (fighting for a postseason berth) and we were tight,” Lombardo said. “It took us a while to get over our nervousness.”SV (12-8, 4-7) did manage a 9-0 run in the second quarter that cut NA's edge to 30-16, but the Tigers' Maddie Nellis put a stop to that with a 3-pointer with 1:22 left before halftime.SV senior forward and top scorer Alex Karika rarely got her hands on the ball in the first half and was held to just two points in the first 16 minutes.NA's defense, a zone front which the Tigers collapsed into a man-to-man in the half-court, forced 13 turnovers in the first half.“When we played them at our place (a 41-34 Tigers' win Jan. 13), they stayed in the game because they forced us to play their game, they slowed things down,” said NA coach Sherri McConnell. “We wanted them to play our game tonight.“(Karika) is one of the best post players around and I thought Jackie Dallier did a great job defending her tonight,” added McConnell.Karika scored nine points in the game, giving her a career total of 924. It's the second-most points ever scored by a Seneca Valley girls basketball player.Julia Vandrak led the Raiders with 12 points.Alexis Aiken paced NA (16-5, 7-4) with 24 points.<B>GirlsNORTH ALLEGHENY 68</B>Jackie Dallier 2 0-0 4, Maddie Nellis 2 3-3 8, Taylor Brennan 2 7-8 13, Chrissy Figan 3 0-0 6, Jamie Robatisin 0 1-2 1, Alexis Aiken 9 6-7 24, Jessica Mancosh 3 0-0 7, Sophie Seel 0 1-2 1, Sarah Miller 0 2-2 2, Sam Blue 1 0-0 2, Lydia Songer 0 0-0 0. <B>Totals:</B> 22 20-24 68.<B>SENECA VALLEY 48</B>Karlei Fronzaglio 2 1-2 7, Alex Karika 4 1-2 9, Julia Vandrak 4 1-3 12, Brooke Clifford 3 2-4 8, Amanda Geiger 2 0-0 5, Katie Brown 2 3-4 7, Meghan Hess 0 0-0 0. <B>Totals:</B> 17 8-15 48.<B>North Allegheny 24 11 17 16—68Seneca Valley 4 14 13 17—483-point goals:</B> North Allegheny 4 (Brennan 2, Mancosh, Nellis); Seneca Valley 6 (Vandrak 3, Fronzaglio 2, Geiger).<B>Thursday:</B> Seneca Valley at Butler<B>BoysNORTH ALLEGHENY 44</B>Sean Hennigan 1 0-0 3, Ty Neff 1 0-3 2, J.C. Howard 3 2-6 9, R.J. Colabrese 1 1-2 3, Adam Haus 4 0-0 11, Scott Blumer 3 0-0 6, Ricky Minsterman 3 1-4 7, David Haus 1 0-0 3, Patrick Yates 0 0-0 0. <B>Totals:</B> 17 4-15 44.<B>SENECA VALLEY 43</B>Matt Smith 3 3-6 10, Easton Bazzoli 3 0-0 6, Chad Albert 3 0-0 6, Alex Maxfield 2 2-2 6, Ryan McCauley 1 0-0 2, Austin Bream 2 0-0 4, Alex Snyder 4 1-2 9. <B>Totals:</B> 18 6-10 43.<B>North Allegheny 7 15 16 6—44Seneca Valley 10 10 14 9—433-point goals:</B> North Allegheny 6 (A. Haus 3, Howard, Hennigan, D. Haus); Seneca Valley 1 (Smith).<B>Friday:</B> Seneca Valley at Butler
