Panthers hold off hot-shooting Raiders
USC’s Banbury scores 30, including key free throw late in contest
The question was put to Danny Holzer: If a team shoots better than 60 percent from the field, which team wins?
The veteran Upper St. Clair boys coach said the answer was easy.
“The team that shoots 60 percent,” Holzer said, “is going to win 99 out of 100 times.”
Friday night was the 100th time.
Seneca Valley actually shot a sizzling 64 percent and made a valiant comeback against the No. 1 seed in the WPIAL Class 6A playoffs. But host Upper St. Clair hung on for a 72-70 victory in a WPIAL quarterfinal. Upper St. Clair (18-1) will play Butler in the semifinals Tuesday, the sixth time in Holzer’s 26 seasons that the Panthers have made the final four.
Seneca Valley played without head coach Kevin Trost for the second consecutive playoff game. According to the school district, Trost was simply “unavailable” for the game. Assistant Joe Frank coached the team and watched the Raiders (11-11) trail by 11 with a little more than two minutes left in the contest. But Seneca Valley, which made 29 of 45 shots for the game, made a furious comeback, thanks to some poor free-throw shooting by Upper St. Clair, which was 4 of 13 from the line in the fourth quarter.
“We just ran out of time,” Frank said.
Connor Lyczek scored two of his 29 points with 23.6 seconds left to bring Seneca Valley within 7170. Lyczek hurt USC’s defense on persistent drives and close shots. But Luke Banbury made one of two free throws with 22.4 seconds left to put Upper St. Clair ahead by two. Seneca Valley worked the ball around for a tying shot and junior guard Caiden Oros had a lane to the basket. But his layup off the glass rimmed out and Upper St.
Clair’s Ethan Dahlem was fouled with 3.5 seconds left.
Dahlem missed two free throws, but Upper St. Clair grabbed the rebound and time ran out on Seneca Valley’s season.
“Despite how poorly we were on the foul line, we still won and did it against a team that, wow, fought their tails off,” Holzer said.
A big reason Upper St. Clair won was Banbury. A 6-foot-2, 220pound senior forward and Cornell University football recruit, Banbury scored a career- high 30 points, making 11 of 21 shots. Not known as a big scorer (11 points a game), Banbury’s inner James Harden showed as he made a few step-back shots, including two 3pointers. He also scored off drives and rebounds. He did a little of everything.
“We just didn’t have a matchup for him,” Frank said.
Banbury said, “I just tried to see who was guarding me. If it was a bigger guy, I’d try to blow by them. If it was a little guy, I posted them up.”
David Pantelis, a senior guard, added 19 points for Upper St. Clair.
For Seneca Valley, senior guard Cole Brooks was held to 16, seven below his average. Brooks is a terrific shooter from 3-point range, but Upper St. Clair’s switching man-to-man, physical defense did a good job on Brooks. He got only 11 shots for the game and was 2 of 5 from 3-point range.
“When he scores in the 20s, they’re really good,” Holzer said.
And Upper St. Clair was really good with Banbury scoring 30.
“He’s just a battle-tested warrior and one of the toughest kids I’ve seen in a long time,” Holzer said.
Banbury helped Upper St. Clair overcome the high-percentage shooting from Seneca Valley.
“The difference was we were making plays, too,” Holzer said.
“Sure we would’ve loved to win by 10 or 15, but it’s the playoffs,” Banbury said. “Everyone is going to bring their best game. We’re happy with any playoff win.”