Sewickley Academy stays cool
Chris Groetsch leads way into 2A title game
Chris Groetsch kept switching a Hershey’s chocolate bar from one hand to the other as he answered questions about the game. There was no need to worry about it melting.
His hands were too cool Tuesday night.
Groetsch, a senior guard, calmly took the game into his hands in the last half minute and iced Bishop Canevin’s season.
Groetsch made the winning free throws and then stole the ball with three seconds left as Sewickley Academy beat Bishop Canevin, 50-48, in a PIAA Class 2A semifinal at North Allegheny.
The win earned Sewickley Academy a trip to Hershey for the title game. The Panthers (24-4) will play Constitution, a Philadelphia team that defeated Math Civics and Sciences, 73-68, in overtime in the other semifinal Tuesday night.
Sewickley Academy’s win also ruined a fantastic comeback by Bishop Canevin. The Crusaders fell behind by 13 points with 2:56 left, but went on a 13-1 run to tie the contest, 48-48, with 38 seconds left.
Then Groetsch came through like the seasoned senior that he is.
After Bishop Canevin tied the game, Sewickley Academy’s Nate Ridgeway missed a shot, but Groetsch grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He swished two free throws with 25 seconds remaining.
“We have a lot of players who are skilled, and some teams don’t have that luxury,” said Groetsch, a threeyear starter who scored a team-high 15 points.
“I’m a pretty good freethrow shooter and, luckily, I was fouled. It’s something I’ve worked on all my life, having a chance to win it at the end of a game.
“Luckily, I was able to convert.”
Then he came up with a big defensive play. Bishop Canevin (22-6) called its final timeout with 15 seconds left. Sewickley Academy had two fouls to give and did so, the last coming with 6.7 seconds left.
Bishop Canevin then inbounded the ball to talented point guard Walter Bonds, who dribbled off a screen before he tried a short pass.
But Groetsch played help defense, poked the ball away, ran it down near half court and the buzzer sounded.
A few Bishop Canevin players fell to floor in heartbreak.
The Crusaders never had made it this far in the PIAA playoffs, and their memorable season ended with a third loss to Sewickley Academy this year.
“Our thought process on the last play was just to get it into Walter’s hands,” Bishop Canevin coach Kevin Trost said in a silent locker room. “It just got a little clogged up, and we turned the ball over.
“I told our kids that I thought the comeback summed up this senior group the past three years. They worked hard, gave us everything they had, never quit and did everything we asked.
“We put ourselves in position to win, but just came up a little short.”
For Sewickley Academy, Groetsch’s brother, Dave, a junior guard, had 12 points.
Eugene Goodwine scored 18 points for Bishop Canevin and fueled the big comeback with three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. Mitchell King finished with 12 and Bonds 10.
Sewickley Academy won, despite leading scorer Nate Ridgeway being held to six points. Bishop Canevin played a zone defense that it hadn’t showed in the first three meetings against Sewickley.
“Ridgeway really hurt us inside before, and we just thought we had to try something new,” said Trost.
After a rugged first half, Sewickley Academy led, 2418. Sewickley broke up the zone with five 3-pointers in the third quarter.
“A lot of the first half, we were playing not to lose,” said Sewickley Academy coach Win Palmer.
“If you want to get to Hershey, you can’t play that way. We were tentative. We did a much better job the second half of attacking and we changed the way we were screening the zone.
“As coaches, you get paid to do something. Even though we weren’t running plays, you better do something.”
Chris Groetsch did.