Daunting Defense
WEXFORD — In a Saturday afternoon slugfest with a trip to the WPIAL semifinals and a state playoff berth on the line, Seneca Valley was the team left standing.
The Raiders held Upper St. Clair scoreless for over 11 minutes to start the game, held off a late charge and ousted the Panthers with a 44-34 triumph in a WPIAL Class AAAA boys basketball quarterfinal at North Allegheny High School.
Seneca Valley (17-7) will meet top-seeded New Castle (24-0) — an 87-55 winner over Gateway — in the district semifinals at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Ambridge High School.
The Raiders scored the first 14 points of the game on Saturday, while the Panthers (20-4) missed their first 14 shots from the floor and committed seven turnovers during that stretch.
Jordan Grabowski — who had a game-high 16 points — finally ended the USC drought with 4:44 left in the second quarter.
“We played good man-to-man (defense),” said SV coach Victor Giannotta. “They talk about our zones all the time and I knew they would be prepared. We figured we'd come out and try to play some man.”
It worked.
The Panthers shot 10-of-45 from the floor — 22.2 percent — and knocked down just 5-of-22 attempts from 3-point range.
“I think our length bothered them a little bit from shooting the 3s,” Giannotta noted.
Upper St. Clair coach Danny Holzer agreed.
“You have to give Seneca Valley credit. I think their size really bothered us,” he said. “I thought we were getting open looks, but they were a little bit deeper and they were a little bit rushed because of their size.
“Once we missed the first four or five, we started to press a little bit,” Holzer added. “It's such a long game. Once we settled down, I thought we played pretty well.”
Despite the dismal start, Upper St. Clair closed the second frame on a 10-3 spurt and trailed only 17-7 at halftime.
The Panthers were just 3-for-22 from the field in the first half, but the Raiders weren't much better, converting just 5-of-22 attempts.
“I'm a Big East fan. ... That was a Big East basketball game,” said Giannotta. “Danny does a great job with his kids. The way they played and the way they prepared, that was how you beat us. We were fortunate enough to make just enough baskets.”
The Raiders maintained the halftime cushion in the third quarter and brought a 27-18 lead into the fourth. Eric Woods bloated the SV lead to 12 points with a 3-pointer in the opening moments of the final frame, but Upper St. Clair didn't go down easily.
The Panthers cut the deficit to 32-28 by midway through the fourth quarter after consecutive SV turnovers led to back-to-back treys from Joel Klein and Grabowski.
The Raiders regrouped, though, and executed down the stretch to secure the victory.“They're a great team and you knew they were going to make a run,” said Gianotta. “We withstood it and we knocked down foul shots.”Alex Snyder drained a pair of free throws to extend SV's advantage to 36-30 with two minutes remaining, before R.J. McCauley converted 4-of-6 attempts to put the game out of reach.McCauley finished with a team-high 13 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for the Raiders, while T.J. Holl — who came up with an emphatic block during Upper St. Clair's last-gasp effort — grabbed a game-high 13 boards.Easton Bazzoli chipped in nine points and six rebounds for the Raiders. Holl and Matt Darby led SV with three assists apiece.Woods — SV's sixth man who played a big role when Snyder was forced to the bench after his fourth foul with 5:36 left in the third — connected on 4-of-7 shots for nine points and was the only player for either team to shoot better than 34 percent from the field.“He plays his role,” said Gianotta of Woods. “He's a senior and he's probably our most knowledgeable basketball player.”While the win clinches a PIAA Tournament berth for Seneca Valley, Upper St. Clair needs the Raiders to win the WPIAL crown to claim the fifth and final spot in the state playoffs.“I wish we could play it out, but that's just the way it is,” said Holzer. “I love this team, every one of them.”Seneca Valley will need to solve undefeated New Castle in the semis to keep the Panthers' season alive. The opposite semifinal is also composed of Section 3 teams, as Hampton and North Allegheny will square off at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Chartiers Valley.
SENECA VALLEY 44Matt Darby 1-3 4-8 6, T.J. Holl 2-8 0-1 4, Alex Snyder 0-3 2-4 2, R.J. McCauley 2-6 9-12 13, Easton Bazzoli 3-12 3-4 9, Eric Woods 4-7 0-0 9, Mike Smith 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 12-39 19-31 44.UPPER ST. CLAIR 34Joel Klein 1-4 0-0 3, Jordan Grabowski 5-20 4-8 16, John Duffy 0-0 0-0 0, J.J. Conn 1-10 1-2 3, Pete Coughlin 0-1 0-0 0, Conor Gallagher 2-7 2-2 8, Will Ross 1-3 0-1 2, Nick Staley 0-0 2-2 2, Thomas Steve 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 10-45 9-15 34.Seneca Valley 6 11 10 17—44Upper St. Clair0 10 8 16—343-point goals: Seneca Valley 1-8 (Woods 1-3, Bazzoli 0-2, Darby 0-1, Holl 0-1, McCauley 0-1); Upper St. Clair 5-22 (Gallagher 2-4, Grabowski 2-10, Klein 1-4, Coughlin 0-1, Conn 0-3).Wednesday: Seneca Valley vs. New Castle at Ambridge, 7 p.m.
