Wolfe tips in his own miss for winner
He drops in 19 for Montour
Montour’s Jake Wolfe was one of the WPIAL’s top quarterbacks this football season and made numerous big plays for a team that made it to the WPIAL semifinals. He’s now on a different stage but is still coming up with big plays.
Wolfe, a senior, tipped in his own missed shot with 2 seconds left Friday night to give the Montour basketball team a thrilling 55-54 WPIAL nonsection victory against host Upper St. Clair, the PostGazette’s No. 2-ranked WPIAL Class 6A team.
Wolfe’s basket saved Montour (2-1), which almost lost after turning the ball over late in the contest. After a Montour turnover, Upper St. Clair’s Brett Meinert scored a few seconds later on a reverse layup with 17 seconds left to give the Panthers a 5453 lead. After a timeout, Montour got the ball to Wolfe on the right wing. He drove the baseline and tried a layup between two defenders that rolled off the rim.
Wolfe rebounded his own missed shot and, while still in the air, put in the winning basket. Wolfe, who was a member of the Post-Gazette Fabulous 22 in football, finished with 19 points.
The game featured two of the top big men in the WPIAL in 6-foot-11 Montour junior Ama Sow and 6-foot-9 Upper St. Clair junior Tim Robbins. Sow finished with a gamehigh 21 points, and Robbins had 14. Guard Christian Ito led Upper St. Clair (2-1) with 17.
Other top boys games
• In a marathon game, Fox Chapel (2-2) and Baldwin (31) played four overtimes before host Baldwin won, 67-56. The game was tied after regulation at 38 and then 44, 48 and 55 in the first three overtimes. Baldwin outscored Fox Chapel 12-1 in the fourth OT. Nate Wesling scored 17 of his game-high 29 points in the four overtimes, including nine in the final OT. Jackson Moorefield-Brown scored 27 for Fox Chapel before fouling out in the third OT.
• Moon (1-1), No. 1 in Class 5A, came up with a nice defensive effort and got its first win of the year with a 56-41 win against host Central Catholic (0-1) in the Jack Twyman Classic. Moon led by only 26-20 at the half but upped the advantage to 4330 after the third quarter. Aiden Reesman led Moon with 20 points, and Elijah Guillory added 15.
• In the other game in the Twyman Classic, Gateway (31) held a 14-point lead in the third quarter and held off Penn Hills (0-1) for a 57-51 victory. Bryson Pavlik led Gateway with 16 points, while Robert Thomas and Khalil Wall also had 16 for Penn Hills.
• Uniontown (3-0), No. 2 in Class 4A, used a strong onetwo punch of Notorious
Grooms and Jamire Braxton to beat host Thomas Jefferson
74-71. Grooms had 25 points, including four 3-pointers, while Braxton added 23. Evan Berger had 24 for Thomas Jefferson (3-1).
• Liam Sheely and Nate Girod also were a potent onetwo punch in leading Mt. Lebanon (2-0) to a 54-39 victory against host Pine-Richland (12). Sheely had 21 points and four 3-pointers, while Girod had 18 and also four 3-pointers.
• Kaden Orga’s basket just before the buzzer in overtime gave Shaler (4-0) a 55-53 victory against host South Fayette ( 2- 2). Orga scored a game- high 14 points for Shaler.
• Northgate (1-1), No. 3 in Class 2A, got 25 points from Josh Williams and 20 from Landon Lockett in a 70-27 victory against No. 4 Eden Christian (0-4).
Milestone
Mars boys coach Rob Carmody got his 400th career win when the Planets defeated visiting Plum, 65-46. Carmody is in his 25th season, and his record is 400223. Ryan Ceh scored 23 points for Mars (2-1).
Stars of the night
• Ambridge (2-3) and Ellwood City (1-3) had quite the offensive shootout, and Jared Astorino and Joe Roth matched each other with 30something games. Ambridge won 95-82, and Astorino, a sophomore, led the Bridgers with 33 points, including six 3-pointers. Roth, a senior, also scored 33 points.
• Emma Larkin hit a 3pointer with 40 seconds left to tie the game and then hit the winning basket with 11 seconds left to put Geibel ahead, as the Gators came away with a 42-39 victory against Derry. Larkin finished with 30 points, and she and Ava Henderson (12) scored all of Geibel’s points.