Pressure D sparks big 5A victory
No. 4-ranked Indians quickly take control in first half vs. Cavaliers
KiskiArea was off to one of its best starts in recent memory. A team that had averaged only six wins over the past eight seasons had won 10 of its first 12 games this season.
But then there was the start against Penn Hills Friday, and it was one that Kiski Areawould like to forget.
Fourteen turnovers in the first 14 minutes. Shots clanging off the rim, with 18 misses in the first 22 attempts. Only 12 points in the first half.
That horrible start was too much for Kiski Area to overcome against one of the top teams in WPIAL Class 5A. Penn Hills scored the first basket of the game and never trailed on its way to a 52-42 victory in a key 5A Section 3 contestat Penn Hills.
Penn Hills, the Post-Gazette’s No. 4 Class 5A team, now is 10-1 overall and 4-1 in section while Kiski Area fell to 10-3, 2-2.
“We got punched in the mouth in the first half,” said Corey Smith, Kiski Area’s first-year coach. “We didn’t come to war to fight. We got knocked down and didn’t try to get back up. They’re pressure, their length and athleticism kind of hurt us. I’m not saying we’re not athletic, but wedug ourselves too deep of a hole early.”
Kiski Area finished with 24 turnovers and shot only 33% (17 of 52) from the field. Kiski Area outrebounded Penn Hills by 45-28, but that didn’t matter with the way Kiski Area fared against Penn Hills’ full-court pressure or when trying to run sets in the half court against
PennHills’ man-to-man.
“It always starts with defense for us,” Penn Hills coach Chris Giles said. “We have athletic guys. We feel if we can get stops, we can get in transition.”
Transition baskets might be the best way to attack Kiski Area. The Cavaliers play a 2-3 zone defense that can slow the pace of the game. Kiski Area, whose other losses are to McKeesport and Butler, had allowed only three opponents to score 50 points or more, and nonemore than 53.
“They have a good zone. They’re strong, they have length and they take away passinglanes,” Giles said.
But Penn Hills kept taking away the ball from Kiski Area and it led to a 26-12 halftime lead. Kiski Area scored the first seven points in the second half to make it 26-19. Then Penn Hills’ top player got hot and turned the tide of the game. Daemar Kelly, a 6-foot-4 junior guard who averages 17 points, missed his first five shotsof the game. But in a twominute span in the third quarter, Kelly made three 3-pointers and Penn Hills went on a 13-0run to take a 39-19 lead.
Kelly finished with 18 points and was the only Penn Hillsplayer in double figures.
“We have guys capable of making shots,” Giles said. “Early in the game, I think we were a little tight. When we started making shots in the second half, it really opened the game up. The same shots we made in the second half were the same shots we took in the first half. We just wanted guys to shoot with moreconfidence.”
Kiski Area did not have a player in double figures. Jason Flemm, a 6-1 sophomore
guard,led with 9 points.
After being upset by Franklin Regional Jan. 4, Penn Hills hasrebounded with three consecutivewins.
“I think our guys always are confident,” Giles said. “That’s the problem, they’re a little too confident. When we lost to Franklin Regional, we had to look at ourselves in the mirror as a coaching staff and figure out how to practice hard and carry it over to games.”