Blaufeld sparks Dragons
City power trips up Mt. Lebanon
Jackson Blaufeld lives near the Allderdice gym, so he stops by just about every day and shoots thousands of shots a week.
It only took the Dragons junior guard three shots to show how good he is Wednesday night.
Blaufeldknocked down 3pointers on three consecutive fourth-quarter possessions to give City League No. 1 Allderdice a 71-63 victory against Mt. Lebanon, the second-ranked team in the WPIAL’s Class 6A.
“I was feeling good there,” said Blaufeld. “My teammates were finding me, and I was hitting them.”
Blaufeld scored 15 of his game-high 31 points in the final quarter. In addition to his barrage of 3s, he also knocked down all six of his free-throw attempts.
Allderdice coach Buddy Valinsky called Blaufeld a throwback who spends his weekends at the gym throwing up shots.
“He’ll just shoot for 45 minutes to an hour straight,” said Valinsky. “You saw it tonight, he took over the game.”
It wasn’t just Blaufeld nailing clutch shots. As a team, Allderdice made 9 of 11 free throws in the fourth on its home court. Once his squad had the lead, Valinsky told his team during a timeout with about three minutes remaining to bypass the long-range shots and look for layups or take the free throws when the Blue Devils needed to foul.
“You still have to play the game and take care of the ball,” Valinsky said. “One of our strengths is we’re a good shooting City team and we’re going to make our free throws.”
The Dragons ( 10- 2) picked up their seventh consecutive win, while the Blue Devils (13-2) lost to a Pennsylvania team for the first time this season. Their other loss came during a holiday tournament in Texas.
The first three quarters went back and forth, and Allderdice held the lead after three quarters. Mt. Lebanon took the lead back when Antonio Garofoli hit a 3 with 5:11 remaining to make it 53-51. Shortly after Blaufeld went on his hot streak.
“We did a really good job against him the whole half, and then all of a sudden he hit those 3s,” said Blue Devils coach Joe David. “It was a game of runs, and they made the last one.”
Early on, both teams were hitting their 3s. Mt. Lebanon led, 18-17, after a first quarter that saw a combined seven makes from behind the arc. The Blue Devils led, 32-30, at the half, but Tyler Williams scooped in a reverse layup at the third-quarter buzzer to give the Dragons a 47-45 lead.
The lead changed hands 12 times and the score was tied five times.
Williams chipped in 14 points for the Dragons, while Bobby Clifford added 11. Garofoli nailed six 3pointers and led the Blue Devils with 24. Hayden Mitchell added 11.
The non-section matchup was just as intense as a section rivalry that David likened to a playofftype atmosphere.
“This is why we play them,” said Valinsky. “You don’t get better playing weaker competition.”