SR's 1-2 punch helps keep playoff hopes alive

January 19, 2008 Last Updated: January 22, 2008 03:30 PM High School

Karns City's Brandon Collier ignores the defense of North Clarion's Kyle Gilbert while going up for shot in the Gremlins' 61-52 victory Friday.

It wasn't a season-saving victory, but it was pretty close.

After falling behind 24-9 at the end of the first quarter, Brian Kelly and MattShearer rallied the Slippery Rock Highboys basketball team to a huge 61-57 region win over Hickory at the Rock Box Friday night.

Kelly scored 13 of his game-high 24 points in the second quarter as the Rockets (10-7, 3-4) pulled to within five.

Shearer scored 10 of his 17 points in the third quarter to give Slippery Rock the lead.

The Rockets held on and stayed in the thick of the District 10 playoff race.

Zack Ejzak added 10 points for Slippery Rock.

HICKORY 57Englebaugh 0 0-0 0, Mudrey 3 0-0 7, Shepard 4 0-0 11, Wilds 9 3-4 21, Banas 3 6-7 12, Szabo 2 0-0 4, Durisco 1 0-0 2.

Totals: 23 9-11 57

SLIPPERY ROCK 61Ethan Geisler 0 0-0 0, Derrick Orloski 3 1-6 7, Matt Shearer 7 3-6 17, Brian Kelly 10 1-1 24, Zack Ejzak 3 4-6 10, Brian Giesler 1 0-0 3, Nick Cress 0 0-0 0, Brant Sloan 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 24 9-19 61

Hickory 24 9 12 12—57Slippery Rock 9 19 22 11—613-point goals: Mudrey, Shepard 3; Kelly 3, Giesler

JV: Slippery Rock 49-43

Saturday: Moniteau at Slippery Rock

Upper St. Clair 78, Knoch 74 — Rob Briggs scored 25 points, but the Knights could not hang on to a second-half lead in a nonsection overtime loss.Michael Gallagher added 15 points and five 3-pointers, and Kyle Reiser chipped in 14 points for Knoch (8-9).

UPPER ST.CLAIR 78Dan Simpson 5 4-6 14, Shea Christian 8 0-0 22, John Austin 6 3-3 15, Pete Serio 3 0-0 8, Steve Lias 3 3-5 9, Brett McCormick 0 2-2 2, Shane Brennan 1 0-0 2, Reed Apfubaum 0 1-2 1, Steve Limberry 2 0-0 6.

Totals: 26 13-18 78

KNOCH 74Michael Gallagher 5 0-0 15, Kyle Reiser 5 4-10 14, Jake McTighe 1 1-2 3, Rob Briggs 9 6-7 25, Andrew Wirtz 3 1-1 8, Shawn Samek 2 1-2 5, Aaron Boldy 0 2-4 2, Josh Lio 0 2-2 2.

Totals: 25 17-28 74

Upper St. Clair 16 8 23 22 9—78Knoch 20 15 20 14 5—743-point goals: Christian 6, Serio 2, Limberry 2; Gallagher 5, Briggs, Wirtz

JV: N/A

Tuesday: Highlands at Knoch

Karns City 61, NorthClarion 52 — Cameron Turner recorded 21 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in the KSAC victory for the Gremlins (12-5, 10-3).

NORTH CLARION 52Ochs 1 0-0 2, Wielock 4 0-1 10, Burkhardt 7 0-0 14, Wolbert 5 1-2 14, Weaver 0 2-2 2, Gilbert 3 0-2 6, Bobak 2 0-1 5.

Totals: 22 3-8 52

KARNS CITY 61Cory Terwilliger 0 2-3 2, Mike McConnell 2 0-0 5, Cameron Turner 9 3-8 21, Matt McConnell 4 0-0 12, Brandon Collier 2 2-2 6, Dan Everetts 6 1-2 13.

Totals: 23 8-15 61

North Clarion 18 12 11 11—52Karns City 16 16 10 19—613-point goals: Wielock 2, Wolbert 3, Bobak; Mike McConnell, Matt McConnell 4

JV: NorthClarion 52-39

Tuesday: Karns City at Union

Keystone 79, A-C Valley 47 — Brock Witkowski and Kyle Rhoads scored 15 points each for Keystone. The Falcons were led by Nate Silvis with 12.

A-C VALLEY 47Nate Silvis 4 3-4 12, John Stumpner 1 0-0 2, Kyle Hirsch 0 0-0 0, Joe Kaufman 0 0-0 0, Josh Austin 2 0-0 4, Nick McGuirk 2 2-4 6, Mike Himes 3 1-3 8, Reed Terwilliger 1 1-2 3, Allan Eaton 2 4-4 8, Blayne McGuirk 1 2-2 4.

Totals: 16 13-19 47

KEYSTONE 79Jake Knight 0 0-0 0, Ben Marchard 4 0-0 0, Kyle Rhoads 5 3-4 15, Tyler Harrison 1 0-0 3, Brian Long 0 0-2 0, Derek Swartfager 5 0-0 10, Nick Bowser 2 2-2 6, Brock Witkowski 6 3-4 15, Chris Summerville 2 0-0 6, DanReed 0 0-0 0, Josh Huffman 4 0-0 9, Lexan Montana 0 2-2 2, Ben Black 2 0-0 4, Garrett Rapp 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 31 10-14 79

A-C Valley 9 15 10 13—47Keystone 24 13 28 14—793-point goals: Silvis, Himes; Marchard, Rhoads 2, Harrison, Summerville, Huffman

JV: N/A

Tuesday: Cranberry at A-C Valley

Grove City 50, Meadville 44 — Pat Johnson scored 13 points and Derek Forese came off the bench to score 12 as the Eagles (12-5) dumped Meadville.

MEADVILLE 44Phillips 5 3-6 13, Barton 5 0-0 10, Hamilton 4 0-0 9, Cowan 2 0-0 5, Barba 1 0-0 2, Ness 1 3-4 5.

Totals: 18 6-10 44

GROVE CITY 50Jeff Hershberger 1 1-2 3, Maxx Stutz 4 1-3 0, Ryan McNamara 0 0-0 0, Pat Johnson 5 2-2 13, Kyle Perrine 3 2-2 9, Dwayne Martin 1 2-2 4, Derek Forese 4 0-0 12.

Totals: 18 8-11 50

Meadville 9 14 12 9—44Grove City 17 14 10 9—503-point goals: Hamilton, Cowan; Johnson, Perrine, Forese 4

JV: Meadville 54-28

Saturday: Sharon @ Grove City

Moniteau 60, West Forest 39 — Josh Loos had 28 points and 10 rebounds in a little more than a half as the Warriors (6-10, 5-8) rolled to a KSAC win.Moniteau's starters shot 23-of-36 from the field.

WEST FOREST 39Bemis 0 6-8 6, Clark 2 5-9 9, Daum 2 0-0 4, Adams 4 5-11 14, Gilford 1 0-0 2, Vincent 2 0-0 4.

Totals: 11 16-28 39

MONITEAU 60Tyler Armagost 3 2-2 9, Josh Loos 14 0-2 28, Zack McCormick 0 1-4 1, Josh Shope 3 1-4 7, Aaron Randall 0 2-2 2, Justin Lackey 1 0-0 3, Brandon Simmons 1 0-1 2, Zach Sloan 4 0-0 8, Clayton Drnek 0 0-2 0.

Totals: 26 6-15 60

West Forest 9 9 6 15—39Moniteau 17 15 17 11—603-point goals: Adams; Armagost, Lackey

JV: Moniteau 66-25

Today: Moniteau at Slippery Rock

Greensburg Central Catholic 77, Freeport 40 — Jake Campbell came off the bench to hit four 3-pointers for 12 points, in the loss for the Yellowjackets (6-10, 2-8).

GREENSBURG C.C. 77Tomasy 5 2-2 15, Antone 5 0-0 13, Cukiz 8 0-0 16, Hurley 4 4-4 13, Keber 3 2-2 8, Dittig 2 0-0 5, Bolias 1 0-0 2, Nowicki 2 0-0 5.

Totals: 30 8-8 77

FREEPORT 40Darius Frantz 2 1-2 5, Tyler Collins 1 0-0 3, Harrison Wood 2 0-0 6, Alex Isenberg 0 1-2 1, Jake Christy 1 2-2 4, Jake Cambell 4 0-0 12, Andrew Teorsky 0 2-2 2, Nicke Gentile 3 0-0 7.

Totals: 13 6-8 40

Greensburg C.C. 20 22 21 13—77Freeport 8 10 8 14—403-point goals: Tomasy 3, Antone 3, Hurley, Dittig, Nowicki; Collins, Wood 2, Campbell 4, Gentile

JV: Greensburg Central Catholic 46-39

Tuesday: Freeport at East Allegheny

Summit Academy 63, Shenango 60 — Matt Vaughen led four Knights in double digits with 15 points as Summit Academy (9-8, 6-3) pulled off a section upset.

SHENANGO 60Brian Chieze 4 3-5 12, Andrew Watson 5 0-0 12, Ricky Serrari 1 0-0 2, Rich Gaston 5 1-2 11, Mike Mureko 6 5-5 17, Ryan Tanner 2 0-0 6.

Totals: 23 9-12 60

SUMMIT ACADEMY 63LaRon Green 4 3-5 12, Matt Vaughen 6 0-0 15, Henry Brown 6 1-2 13, Derrick Elliott 3 2-4 9, Terrance Davis 5 4-9 14.

Totals:

Shenango 18 11 14 17—60Summit Academy 8 20 18 17—633-point goals: Chieze, Watson 2, Tanner 2; Green,

JV: Summit Academy 55-31

Friday: Summit Academy at Riverside

Freshman Michael Crawford picked up his 20th win with a pin in the 130-pound weight class as Butler shut out Knoch 67-0 Friday night.Cole Baxter (135) notched his 21st win and Alex Evanoff (152) remained unbeaten at 24-0 with a forfeit victory.Butler 67, Knoch 0103 pounds: No match; 112: Eric Tuck (B) pinned Dustin Kriess :47; 119: Damon Redenbach (B) pinned Devin Mitchell; 125: Dave Jaillet (B) by forfeit; 130: MichaelCrawford (B) pinned Joe Tramontant 1:18; 135: Cole Baxter (B) tech fall Mason Kaufman 17-0; 140: Todd Weist (B) d. Alex Lefever 14-9; 145: Jon Sanko (B) pinned Kevin Green 4:53; 152: Alex Evanoff (B) by forfeit; 160: John Saul (B) by forfeit; 171: John Pascazzi (B) d. James Zellhart 9-5; 189: Chris White (B) d. Joe Hlelbzcki 6-1; 215: Marino Quercio (B)pinned Abe Zito :15; 285: Mark Moses (B) pinned D.J. Miller 1:26

Seneca Valley 102, North Hills 76 (girls); North Hills 94, Seneca Valley 88 (boys) — The Raiders swept the diving events in both meets. Making WPIALcuts were diver Max Jergel, Abby Myers in the 500 freestyle, Dan Gutmann in the 100 freestyle and the boys 400 freestyle relay team.Seneca Valley's girls improved to 7-1 while the boys slipped to 1-7. The Raiders host Bethel Park at 5 p.m. Tuesday.