O’Hara buckles down on defense to advance
After allowing 17 points in the first quarter, Cardinal O’Hara Lions knew it had to do better than that the rest of the way Friday night at Fleetwood.
The Lions increased their defensive intensity in the second quarter, forcing seven Tiger turnovers, and went on an extended run at the end of the half that proved to be decisive in a 62-50 win in the opening round of the PIAA Class 6A Tournament.
Izaiah Pasha scored 23 and Pearse McGuinn 17 for O’Hara (18-8), which will face the winner of Saturday’s game between Allentown Central Catholic and E&S Carver in the second round on Tuesday. Aiden Soumas scored 20 and Jake Karnish 19 for the Tigers (22-5), who were making their first state appearance since 1990.
“We came out really flat defensively,” Pasha said. “We gave up 17 points. We picked up our defense after the first quarter. We wanted to keep them under 10.”
The Lions did better than that in a 17-6 second quarter that ended with a 15-2 run for a 3423 advantage at the half.
“We knew that they were very good,” Cardinal O’Hara coach Ryan Nemetz said. “We had to come out with energy. They knocked down shots and we didn’t execute the game plan initially.”
Fleetwood led 17-15 after a quarter and 21-19 three minutes into the second after a basket by Soumas. But McGuinn tied it with a layup, Pasha sank a jumper and then drove the middle for a basket at the end of a fast break and Josh Coulanges (13 points) scored after a steal by Pasha. A 3-pointer by Coulanges off a pass from Pasha (11 rebounds, four assists) completed an 11-point run and the
Lions were on their way.
“A four-minute stretch of the second quarter, we gave up five or six turnovers,” Fleetwood coach Terry Sitler said. “I give them all the credit in the world.”
“We knew they were tough and really athletic,” Soumas added. “All we could do was come out and play our game. It worked pretty well against a pretty good team.”
Pasha scored off an offensive rebound to open the second half scoring and give the Lions their largest led of the night at 36-23. Then the Tigers ran off eight straight points as Karnish knocked down a 3-pointer and scored on a drive and then hit another trey from the top of the circle to make it 36-31. But McGuinn made a pair at the line and Pasha took control again with three baskets the rest of the quarter to boost the lead back up to 10.
O’Hara sank seven of eight free throws down the stretch to put the game away.