2023 BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS PREVIEW

THURSDAY-SATURDAY• PETERS EN EVENTS CENTER

Acoach trying for the second-most championships in WPIAL history. A team playing in the championship for the first time, two others for only the second time and one trying to tie a record for consecutive titles.

Two schools trying to win football and basketball titles in the same school year. A coach having his three sons on the team. Two teams featuring two of the top-ranked sophomore players in the country.

You want good storylines? The WPIAL boys basketball championships this year are full of them. All six of the championships, along with the six girls title games, will be played Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Petersen Events Center.

Four of the six boys championships match teams that have played at least once this season. Here is a look at all six boys title games:

Class 6A

Central Catholic is making only its fourth championship appearance while New Castle will be in a title game for the ninth time since Ralph Blundo became coach in 2010. The two play at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Blundo has won seven titles and a win will tie him with Blackhawk’s John Miller and Midland’s Ed Olkowski for the secondmost championships in WPIAL history. Farrell’s Ed McCluskey leads with 11.

Central Catholic (15-9) and New Castle (22-2) have played twice already this season, with each winning on the other’s home court.

Central Catholic has a size advantage. New Castle’s tallest starter is 6-foot-2 while Central Catholic has 6-foot-7 Debaba Tshiebwe and 6-foot5 Cole Sullivan, although Tshiebwe didn’t start in the semifinals.

But still, guard play figures to be the most important factor. New Castle’s Jonathan Anderson doesn’t get much hype, but he is one of the WPIAL’s best point guards. Central Catholic features Dante DePante, who averages 17 and has scored 34 and 25 in two playoff games. New Castle’s 3-point shooting also will be key.

If New Castle would win, the Red Hurricanes would have WPIAL titles in four different classifications. They won in Class 3A and 4A before the PIAA switched to six classifications. Then they won 5A in 2021 but were bumped up to 6A this year because of the PIAA’s competitive-balance rule.

Class 5A

There was some debate whether Peters Township or Penn Hills should have received the No. 1 seed for the Class 5A tournament. The WPIAL gave it to Peters Township. Now, these two teams can finally settle who is the real No. 1 when they play at 9 p.m. Thursday.

Peters Township (22-3) has made quite the turnaround after not even qualifying for the playoffs last season. Now, Peters Township is in a title game for only the second time in school history. The other was when it won Class 4A in 2009.

Peters Township has changed the way it plays this season, using an up-tempo, five-out, drive-and-kick offense and a full-court pressing defense. Peters Township averages 73 points per game after averaging only 57 last year in Class 6A. Junior Jack Dunbar averages 20.1 points, but point guard Brendan McCullough has been a key and his matchup against Penn Hills point guard Noah Barren should be interesting.

Penn Hills (20-3) doesn’t play offensively at Peters Township’s pace, but Penn Hills holds opponents to 44 points per game and their defense in the half court can be good. Penn Hills’ shooting could be key. The Indians had struggled with outside shooting during five games previous to the semifinals, but guard Lamire Redman hit five 3-pointers against North Hills. Penn Hills also has 6-foot-5 guard Daemar Kelly, a Quinnipiac recruit who averages 16 points, as well as athleticism on the inside with 6-foot-3 Julian Dugger

and 6- foot- 4 Robert Thompson.

Class 4A

Lincoln Park (24-1) defeated North Catholic twice in the regular season by double-digits. North Catholic (196) will take a third swing at the Leopards in the title game at 9 p.m. Friday.

When you talk about Lincoln Park, you start with the terrific guard tandem of junior Brandin Cummings (23.5 ppg) and sophomore Meleek Thomas ( 23.4). Rivals.com ranks Thomas the No. 7 sophomore in the country. Cummings, meanwhile, will be playing on his future home court. He made a verbal commitment to Pitt in January.

“You maybe make adjustments from the last time you played if you maybe see a chink in the armor, but they don’t have many,” North Catholic coach Jim Rocco said. “[Cummings and Thomas] are so good. I’d argue they might be the two best players in the area. I think they’re Fab 5 kids.”

But North Catholic has a pretty good guard tandem also in junior Max Hurray (21.9) and senior Andrew Maddalon (18.1).

This is the fifth time Lincoln Park and North Catholic have played in a championship game since 2017.

Class 3A

Fear the Deer? Maybe the rest of WPIAL Class 3A should have.

Deer Lakes (16-8) has made it to the WPIAL championship for the first time in school history. Heck, the Lancers were in the semifinals this year for only the second time. Included among Deer Lakes’ victories this season is a 70-55 victory at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in mid- December that stopped OLSH’s state record 74-game winning streak. Deer Lakes and OLSH meet again for the championship at 5 p.m. Friday.

OLSH (19-5) has won four consecutive titles and is trying to become only the second teamin WPIAL history to win five. (Midland won five from 1973-77.) But OLSH coach Mike Rodriguez insists his teamis the underdog.

“Look, they beat us already,” Rodriguez said. “They’re good. They’re long. They shoot it well. Their bigs are good inside. They’re the total package.”

Bryce Robson leads Deer Lakes at 18 ppg. Point guard Rocco Spadafora averages 16.6 for OLSH.

Class 2A

This is another championship that is a clash of differing traditions. Aliquippa has won 12 WPIAL titles, the third-most in league history behind New Castle (14) and Farrell ( 13). Northgate, meanwhile, is in a title game for only the second time in school history. Aliquippa and Northgate play at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Northgate’s other championship appearance was in 1988, when the Flames lost to Carlynton, 78-57, at Pitt’s Fitzgerald Field House. That Northgate team was coached by Jim Hoy and had Will Saunders, George Edmunds, Bob Ceh and Josh Saunders.

This Northgate team (19-6) is led by a guard tandem of junior Josh Williams (21.2 ppg) and senior Steve Goetz (19.4 ppg). Williams has averaged 31.7 points in three WPIAL playoff games, but he faces an Aliquippa team (196) that has allowed only 33, 37 and 36 points in three postseason games.

Northgate must do things differently than the first two meetings with Aliquippa. The Quips won those by scores of 71-55 and 87-71.

Class 1A

Imani Christian (17-6) has been a heavy favorite to win the WPIAL Class 1A championship since the preseason. The Saints are big and talented. They feature 6-foot-11 sophomore Alier Maluk (16.1 ppg) and 6-foot-8 junior Virgil Hall, along with good guard play from sophomores Dame Givner (15.1 ppg) and R.J. Sledge. Rivals ranks Maluk the No. 16 sophomore in the country. Imani Christian meets Union in the championship at 5 p.m. Thursday.

Union’s tallest starter is 6foot-4 Kaden Fisher and no other starter is taller than 6foot-2. But Union coach Mark Stanley is using the school’s football team as motivation. Union was a big underdog to Bishop Canevin in the WPIAL Class 1A championship but won.

“We have some of those football players,” Mark Stanley said. “People thought they had no chance against Canevinand look what they did.

Three of Stanley’s sons — Matt, Mark and Lucas — are Union players. Matt leads Union (22-2) in scoring at 17.9.

Union and Aliquippa are both trying to win football and basketball titles in a school year. Only 18 have done it in the history of the WPIAL and Aliquippa has done it three times (1987-88, 2003-04 and 2015-16).