Union’s season ended by stout Imani team
LEECHBURG — WPIAL champion Imani Christian entered Tuesday night’s PIAA Class 1A second-round playoff game having won its initial four postseason outings by an average of 28.5 points.
It didn’t take Union long to figure out why.
The Saints hung 11 points on the board before the first two and a half minutes passed and held the Knights scoreless during that same stretch. Imani led wire-to-wire as Union left Kiski Area High School on the wrong end of an 80-48 boys hoops final.
Early on, 6-foot-11 sophomore Alier Maluk and 6-foot-9 Virgil Hall shadowed the Knights’ big men — Dawson Camper and Zander Laughlin — cutting off any inside scoring presence. Still, Union (15-3) tried to keep up with the breakneck speed that their opponents played with.
Consecutive baskets by Payton Johnston, Trey Fleming, and Dawson Camper gave them a bit of momentum before an 8-0 run by the Saints made it 23-9 after one. Camper’s bucket was the team’s only trey of the night.
The team went 1 of 16 from long range in total, while the opponents drove with ease, many ending in dunks or kick-out passes that led to threes.
“We try to play really fast,” Imani coach Omar Foster said. “That’s our thing — playing fast in transition. We hope that we can wear teams down towards the end of the game.”
It worked against Rochester, Geibel Catholic, Union (New Castle), and Clarion — the last four opponents in Imani Christian’s dozen-game win streak.
“We’re not used to playing that kind of pace,” Johnston said. “They played really fast compared to what we’re used to.”
They also had to deal with a bevy of scorers, too. Four Saints (19-5) players finished in the double-digits, led by Dame Givner’s game-high 24.
“Our goal was to win,” Knights coach Eric Mortimer said. “From what we saw, we thought we could compete with them. They were a little bit quicker in person. They moved the ball well. They shoot well. They just outplayed us tonight … They might be the state champs.”
“We put all our hearts into it,” Johnston said. “We knew if we didn’t win, it was going to be our final game, so we had to put it all out there.”
The Saints bucketed 27 points in the third frame alone, and Hall’s make with 1:19 left in that period started the running mercy clock. Imani moves on to the quarterfinals, where it will hope to continue its recent dominance.
“We’ve been working really hard to be prepared for these teams,” Foster said. “It’s been a blessing.”
With the defeat, Union’s impressive late push comes to an end. The Knights powered to the District 9 title game after a rough stretch in January, then won their first state playoff in over a half decade. So, what will the team remember about the run?
“Just the team having fun celebrating all the wins we got down the road,” Johnston said.
“It was very important for Union to get there again finally,” Mortimer said. “And they’re the team that did it.”
UNION 48
Payton Johnston 9 4-4 22, Dawson Camper 3 3-3 10, Trey Fleming 2 4-6 8, Hayden Smith 2 1-1 5, Zander Laughlin 1 0-0 2, Skyler Roxbury 0 1-4 1. Totals: 17 13-18 48.
IMANI CHRISTIAN 80
Dame Givner 9 2-4 24, Virgil Hall 9 0-1 19, Alier Maluk 5 3-3 13, Avery Wesley 4 3-4 12, Markus Williams 3 2-2 8, RJ Sledge 1 0-0 2, Deston Hubbard 1 0-0 2. Totals: 31 10-14 80.
Union 9 16 12 11 — 48
Imani Christian 23 20 27 10 — 80
3-point goals: Imani Christian 6 (Givner 4, Wesley, Hall); Union 1 (Camper)
