Vikings defense in control
Central Catholic applies pressure vs. New Castle
The only previous time Central Catholic won a WPIAL championship, the Vikings needed a big comeback in the fourth quarter and a 3-pointer just before the final buzzer to pull out a one-point win.
This time, Central Catholic needed no comeback or lategame heroics. The Vikings celebrated the 15-year anniversary of that first title with prettymuch a wire-to-wire triumph.
Central Catholic grabbed an early lead, trailed only twice and went on to grab its second championship with a 61-52 victory against New Castle in the Class 6A title game Saturday night at Petersen EventsCenter.
While the win gave Central Catholic (16-9) its second title, the Vikings kept New Castle coach Ralph Blundo from becoming only the fourth coach in WPIAL history to win eight championships. Central Catholic used a superb defensive effort and a big game from senior guard Dante DePante (29 points) to turn back the Red Hurricanes (22-3), who lost in the 5A final a year ago.
“To me, New Castle is the standard of excellence in basketball,” Central Catholic coach Brian Urso said. “I have a lot of respect for coach
Blundo and what he does and how he gets his guys to truly battle. We knew we were going to have to be air-tight on defense. ... These guys just boughtin.”
The win came exactly one month after Central Catholic lost at home to New Castle 6753.Things changed drastically this time — and a good start was paramount for the Vikings.
“Thefirst quarter, we knew wekind of had to establish our presence in a place we were unfamiliar with,” Urso said. “Once our guys got comfortable, especially on the defensive side, it allowed things to flow. When we won the first quarter [14-9], the belief increased even more. That was huge.”
New Castle’s only leads
came at 9-8 in the first quarter and 34-33 with 2:46 left in the third. But Central Catholic went on an 11-2 run over the next six minutes to take control of the game.
Central Catholic coach Brian Urso believes New Castle is the standard of excellence in basketball in Western Pa. But tonight Central Catholic was excellent in winning WPIAL title. And defense was themain reason.
New Castle made only 2 of 10 3-pointers in the first half and shot only 24% (4 of 17) behind the arc for the game. Central Catholic’s man-to-man defense had something to do with that. New Castle’s guards also had trouble turning the corner on Central Catholic. If they did, there was usually another defender waiting in a gap.
Jonathan Anderson, New Castle’s fine senior point guard, had 22 points, but only nine in the first three quarters. He and senior guard Isaiah Boice both average 17 points, but Boice was 2 for 9 from the field and had seven points. Senior forward Da’Juan Young had 14.
Blundo blamed himself for New Castle’s offensive sluggishness.
“Maybe I pressed better buttons,” Blundo said of the victory against Central Catholic on Feb. 3. “But not in this game. There’s definitely a lot of self-inflection here on why wewere not better offensively. I don’t want to discredit Central Catholic because they were really good defensively.”
DePante was really good offensively. A 6-foot-3 guard, DePante constantly got in the lane against smaller defenders. His 29 points were the most in seven years of Class 6A championship games. He made 10 of 19 shots from the field and 9 of 12 from the free throwline.
Central Catholic also got a big effort from 6-foot-5 junior forward Cole Sullivan, a football standout who had 16 points and 10 rebounds.
“Most people think we’re a football school,” said starting guard Payton Wehner, the quarterback of the football team. “Yeah, we’re good in football, but I’m glad we’re able to bring a championship back to Central for basketball.”