Upper St. Clair has an unforgettable trip
Upper St. Clair’s boys basketball team is no stranger to top-notch competition, but there was something different about the atmosphere the Panthers played in at the prestigious Bobcat Classic in Greensboro, N.C. this past weekend.
“Our JV players were taking videos of their warmups because they were doing windmill dunks and tomahawk dunks,” Upper St. Clair coach Danny Holzer said about his team’s semifinal opponent, Carolina Basketball Academy, N.C. “Not just a couple — every single one of them.”
The Panthers (7-1) are the No. 5 team in the WPIAL in Class 6A, and their only loss was a one-point defeat against No. 4 Pine-Richland. They handily defeated Woodberry Forest School, Va. in their first game of the tournament last Thursday, 72-51, but they were still a massive underdog come Friday night.
About 700 people packed the stands for their semifinal matchup, and most of them were there to see CBA. Chances are, not a single person in the crowd other than the family members of Upper St. Clair’s players gave the Panthers a shot at winning.
After all, they were up against an opponent that appeared to hold an almost unfair advantage in size, talent and athletic ability — at least on paper. Upper St. Clair’s tallest
player is 6-foot-4, while three of CBA’s players stand at least 6-foot7.
By the time the game was over, almost the entire crowd had shifted its allegiance to the side of the underdog, similar to a first-round NCAA March Madness game when a No. 15 seed has a chance to knock off a No. 2 seed. Josh Russell poured in a career-high 26 points as the Panthers ran CBA up and down the court en route to a shocking 66-56 victory.
The next day, they went out and did it again in the championship, coming from behind in the last two minutes to defeat three-time defending state champion Piedmont
Classical, N.C., 78-76.
“We didn’t have our best player, Luke Gensler, so we all knew we all had to step up and that’s what we did,” Russell said. “It was awesome, just kind of being the underdog in every game. Everybody kind of thinking that we’d get crushed, but [we] ended up winning it all.”
Gensler suffered an injury in a 91-52 win Dec. 16 against Plum and hasn’t played since. Several different players stepped up in his place, as Upper St. Clair had five players in double figures in the championship game win, led by junior point guard Ethan Dahlem — also the Panthers’ star quarterback — with 18 points and 11 assists.
Making the victory even sweeter for the 5-foot-9 Dahlem was his ability to get the better of his matchup against Piedmont Classical point guard Jamarii Thomas, who told Dahlem’s teammates he was their
“weakest link” while leading late in the first half.
“It’s awesome having Ethan. He’s probably the toughest kid I’ve ever played with in any sport,” Russell said. “Ethan responded exactly how everybody thinks he would and he absolutely took over and helped us win that championship.”
Holzer expects Gensler back soon, but even he couldn’t have foreseen such a remarkable all-around performance from the rest of the team without its leading scorer.
“We were down 10 early in the second quarter, but we felt confident,” Holzer said. “You could see our kids were not starstruck.”
As if winning the Bobcat Classic weren’t enough to make for an unforgettable trip, the team even received a free tour of Cameron Indoor Stadium and the rest of Duke’s basketball facilities courtesy of former Blue Devils guard and current director of basketball operations Nolan Smith.
So, what’s the connection between Holzer and Smith that Upper St. Clair’s coach was able to leverage into the tour, you ask? Nothing, really.
“We went to Duke’s campus because it was only a half hour away,” Holzer said. “We’re walking around their campus and I went into the building where their men’s basketball operations is on the fifth floor, walked in unannounced and explained to [Smith] who I was.
“And he said, ‘Listen, I have a speaking engagement. I’m going to be back in about 30 minutes. Go to the front of Cameron Indoor and I’ll meet you and your team there.’”
Sure enough, 45 minutes later, Holzer, his staff, the Panthers’ players, and even their parents were on the court inside one of the most hallowed and historic arenas in all of college basketball. Dahlem, an avid Duke fan, and a few other players re-enacted memorable game -winning shots from the spot they happened on the floor.
“It was unbelievable. I have such an appreciation for Duke University now,” Holzer said. “It was their day off, and all their players are gone because they don’t play for nine days, and [Smith] spent his time with us.”
With so many players able to step up and score at any given time, Upper St. Clair is sure to be a tough out for any team in the WPIAL from here on out — and the Panthers won’t be taking anyone by surprise anymore after what they did last weekend.
Still, Dahlem feels they’re just scratching the surface of the team they can become.
“I don’t think anyone is giving us enough credit that we should get,” Dahlem said. “I think we could make a really deep run this year, and it’s going to be really special.”