N. Catholic, Lincoln Park reach final
At halftime of the WPIAL Class 3A semifinal Monday night, North Catholic coach Dave DeGregorio told his team that the game would have to be won with tough defense.
The Trojans didn’t really need the tip. They already were in a defensive state of mind.
North Catholic’s defense was superb in both halves, and that defense was the main reason the Trojans (222) beat South Allegheny, 51-40, in front of a packed house at North Hills.
North Catholic’s man-to-man defense limited South Allegheny (232) to its lowest offensive output this season. South Allegheny had been held below 50 only twice.
North Catholic’s full-court traps did some damage, but North Catholic’s on-the-ball defense in the half court also was impressive. South Allegheny had a poor night shooting, making only 27% (12 of 44) and 15% (3 of 20) from 3-point range. North Catholic’s defense had something to do with that shooting.
For DeGregorio, what a difference a day made in his mood. Sunday night, a large tree inexplicably fell at his home and totaled his two cars. About 24 hours later, DeGregorio’s team wrecked South Allegheny’s dream season. The Gladiators had won a section title for only the second time in school history
and were in the semifinals for the first time. Coincidentally, DeGregorio was South Allegheny’s coach when the Gladiators won that section title in 1997.
But North Catholic’s defense stopped the run of the Gladiators.
“Last year, we could speed people up and get some turnovers,” DeGregorio said. “Now, we can speed you up, but, if we don’t get a turnover, we can sit in the half court and guard you. We couldn’t do that last year.”
North Catholic needed the defense because the Trojans, who entered the game as the No. 1 scoring team in the WPIAL at 79 points per game, had an awful night shooting. They made only 32% (17 of 53) and 22% (4 of 18) from 3-point range. Isaac DeGregorio, the coach’s son and the team’s leading scorer at 17 ppg, made only 1 of 13 shots and scored 7 points, although he did have some nice assists.
But Jake Tomer, a 6-foot-5 forward, came through with all his 13 points in the second half, including three 3-pointers. Senior guard Ryan Feczko led with 16 points.
North Catholic was ahead by only six entering the fourth quarter. But Tomer scored eight point in the first 2:20 of the fourth quarter to help North Catholic gain a 43-33 advantage.
Other semifinal
Lincoln Park has owned its rivalry with Aliquippa in recent years. Monday, the Leopards kept it one-sided with a lopsided win.
Dakari Bradford came off the bench to score a gamehigh 20 points to lead twotime defending champion Lincoln Park to a 75-61 win against Aliquippa at North Allegheny.
The win was the third for Lincoln Park (21-4) against Aliquippa (16-9) this season and its 10th in 11 meetings against its Beaver County rival dating to 2017. The latest advanced the Leopards to the final for the fifth year in a row and the ninth time in the past 11 years.
“This whole week has been them talking,” said Lincoln Park’s Isaiah Smith, who scored 17 points. “I just told our guys to let them talk because they’re the underdogs, so they’re going to try to get us amped up, try to make us nervous. But, at the end of the day, we’re the top dogs. We just had to come out and prove it to everybody.”
This was a physical game that resulted in a combined 74 free-throw attempts. Lincoln Park was 31 of 42 and Aliquippa 19 of 32. Lincoln Park led, 37-25, at halftime. Lincoln Park scored the first four points of the third quarter to increase its lead to 16, and Aliquippa could get no closer than 11 after that. The Quips were 6 of 17 from the line in the third quarter.
“We played a two-man zone, and I think that really bothered them,” Lincoln Park coach Mike Bariski said.