WPIAL boys basketball Saturday semifinals preview
Peters Township coach Joe Urmann has tried to keep his team in the now at all times this season.
“That’s a challenge for coaches to get players to play in the present during games,” Urmann said. “You have to get kids to not live in the past, not live in their mistakes and not live in their victories at the same time.” That’s probably a good thing. Peters Township didn’t even qualify for the WPIAL playoffs last season, finishing the season 814 and buried in last place in Class 6A Section 2. But with the biennial PIAA realignment came a drop down in classification and a subsequent turnaround that has the top-seeded Indians (21-3) one win away from playing for a WPIAL title for the first time since 2009. Peters Township meets No. 4 seed Gateway at 2 p.m. Saturday at Mt. Lebanon in a 5A semifinal.
“I know the record didn’t indicate it, but I didn’t think we were too far off last year,” Urmann said. “We lost a lot of close games and 6A and 5A is different. ... But the kids really bought into the messaging.”
Peters Township has ridden junior forward Jack Dunbar throughout the season and will need him to come up big if the team is to move on to the final. During the regular season, he averaged 18.1 points per game and had 21 in the Indians’ 68-60 win against South Fayette in the quarterfinals.
“He’s a shot maker and a dynamic player, but I think if you look at our scoresheet, we have players at all positions who can score,” Urmann said. “The great think about Jack is he’s a willing passer and can make plays by drawing guys and kicking.”
Both Peters Township and Gateway have balanced attacks, but the Gators are finally putting it all back together with junior forward Taili Thompson finally showing he’s almost completely recovered from the nagging ankle sprain that kept him out of the lineup for several games. He had a team-high 14 points in a 53-51 quarterfinal win against McKeesport.
“It wasn’t his first game, but it was the first game where he finally looked like his old self,” Gateway coach Alvis Rogers said.
Although this may be a WPIAL semifinal, it might as well be a state playoff game considering the infrequency with which these two teams play. Peters Township and Gateway have not taken the floor against each other for at least 20 years, and both coaches are scrambling to learn as much as they can about their opponent.
“We just saw a little film on them (Thursday) and I know they have shooters,” Rogers said.
The other semifinals foes, No. 2 Penn Hills (19-3) and No. 3 North Hills (19-5), are no strangers to postseason meetings. They play at noon Saturday at Peters Township.
This is the third time in eight seasons the two have met either in the quarterfinals or semifinals. North Hills won 59-58 in the 2017 Class 6A quarterfinals and knocked Penn Hills out in the 2016 Class 4A semifinals, 77-52, the year prior to the expansion to six classifications.
The game features two future Division I college players. North Hills’ Royce Parham, a 6-foot-8 junior forward, has numerous major-college offers. Penn Hills’ Daemar Kelly, a 6-foot-5 guard, has signed with Quinnipiac. Kelly leads the team in scoring at 16 ppg., but senior point guard Noah Barren is a big key to Penn Hills’ success. North Hills, meanwhile, had all it could handle in the quarterfinals from Fox Chapel in what was a rematch of the 2022 Class 6A final. Freshman Eric James had 30 against the Foxes and has continued his emergence as a solid counterpoint to Parham.
Class 1A semifinals
Stanley’s Steamers have been chugging along all season and Union is the No. 2 seed in the tournament. That being said, the Scotties had been firing a cylinder short the entire year.
But in Wednesday’s quarterfinals, Union got back its big spark plug in the middle as 6-foot-2 senior forward Mark Stanley returned. He had not played all season after suffering a dislocated kneecap during the Scotties’ run to the PIAA Class 1A football championship game.
“I’m happy for him. His knee’s still banged up and he’s not 100%, but he got his feet wet and that was exciting,” Union coach Mark Stanley said, who is the younger Mark’s father. “The crowd gave him a nice ovation, and I think he’s just happy getting back on the floor.”
Although Mark only played around five minutes in Union’s 100-47 thrashing of Aquinas Academy, his mere presence might be enough to give No. 3 Carlynton (16-6) something to think about in its preparations when the two teams meet for the third time this season at noon Saturday at Montour. Even without Mark, Union (21-2) has wins in both prior engagements between the two teams. The Scotties pulled out a 62-60 victory on Jan. 3 and a 57-54 win on Jan. 24.
In the quarterfinals against Aquinas, Union had 19 3-pointers, good for the second-most in WPIAL playoff history. Mark is one of three Stanley brothers on the team. Lucas Stanley, a sophomore, had 29 points and seven 3pointers in the quarterfinals while Matt, a senior and Mark’s twin brother, hit for 22.
In the other Class 1A semifinal, Geibel (17-6) is back in the final four for the second consecutive season and is seeking its first WPIAL title since 1980. But the Gators will have their hands full with top-seeded Imani Christian (16-6). Geibel has won 15 in a row and is led by 6-foot-3 senior guard Jaydis Kennedy, who was third in the WPIAL, averaging 31.2 ppg during the regular season. Imani Christian is led by sophomore guard Dame Givner, who averages 16.5 ppg. But this is a team that has weapons everywhere, including 6-foot-11 sophomore Alier Maluk, who has a number of major-college offers.