New Castle wins race vs. Belle Vernon

Tri-State Sports & News Service

There was no secret as to how the WPIAL Class 4A semifinal between New Castle and Belle Vernon was going to play out. That would be fast.

Both teams like to race up and down the court, but it was New Castle that ran up more points in a 63-43 victory at Moon that put the Red Hurricanes (20-4) back in the WPIAL championship and extended their winning streak to 10 games. They will take on Section 2 rival Quaker Valley, which won both regular season matchups, at 1 p.m. Saturday at Petersen Events Center.

“They were coming at us and we just kept attacking,” New Castle coach Ralph Blundo. “It’s something that we do and work on every day. They play a similar style, we just happened to play a little better tonight.”

Georgie Eggleston and Carrington Smith each had 13 points to lead New Castle. The guard-oriented Red Hurricanes didn’t have much trouble getting past the Leopards’ pressure and to the basket.

“That’s what we planned for,” Eggleston said. “We knew it was coming and we’re used to running up and down the court.”

New Castle began the game on a 6-0 run and then a 13-0 spurt in the second quarter helped build a 32-17 halftime lead.

“You can’t beat anybody by scoring 17 points in the first half,” said Belle Vernon coach Kyle DeGregorio. “We average nearly 70 a game. We just didn’t play well.”

Belle Vernon (18-6) shot 24 percent (4 of 17) from 6 feet or closer. The Leopards weren’t much better at the foul line, where they went 12 for 20. Those missed shots gave the Red Hurricanes opportunities to grab rebounds and push the pace in transition.

“We couldn’t finish,” said DeGregorio. “And if you can’t score, it just magnifies their quickness.”

The Leopards’ Bryce Washington netted nine points in the third and finished with 13.

Other semifinal

Ryan Stowers wasn’t at all happy about getting held to just two points in the first half against Indiana.

“I was just a little frustrated in the first quarter and tried to use my frustration and put that power and that anger towards my game,” he said.

He did a pretty impressive job as the 6-foot-5 junior forward scored 19 of his game-high 21 points in the second half, including 17 in the third quarter, as topseeded Quaker Valley (23-0) remained undefeated with a 71-41 victory against the Little Indians (18-6) at Fox Chapel.

“I thought we were more comfortable with our defense in the second half,” Quaker Valley coach Mike Mastroianni said.

In the second half, Quaker Valley completely shut down an Indiana offense that has averaged 63.3 points per game. The Quakers transition offense and shutdown defense held Indiana to 12 total points after the intermission.

“I thought we really clamped down,” Mastroianni said. “Initially, I think we got some really good stops.”

Coletrane Washington chipped in 18 for Quaker Valley and Danny Conlan 17 in the win. Carlos Carter led the Indians with 17.