It was all about shot at redemption

And Penn Hills gets it along with Class 5A’s Section 1 outright title

Lately, there has been a theme for a handful of top teams in the WPIAL — revenge.

From Upper St. Clair’s beat-down against Mt. Lebanon in the Blue Devils’ home gym Tuesday, to Highlands doing the same against Knoch a week earlier, road teams have found plenty of success in hostile environments and avenging previous defeats.

Friday, Woodland Hills was looking for revenge for a 22-point loss at Penn Hills earlier this season. Instead, it was the Indians who earned redemption for a loss a year ago in the Wolverines’ gym that determined the Class 5A Section 1 champion.

Class 5A No. 3-ranked Penn Hills (18-3, 11-0) fought off a spirited effort from No. 4 Woodland Hills (16-5, 9-3) to clinch the section title and spoil senior night for the Wolverines with a 63-57 win.

Senior Tyree Spencer led the Indians with 24 points and 10 rebounds, while the WPIAL’s leading scorer, Keandre Bowles, finished with 24 points in a losing effort.

Wes Kropp, a 6-foot-5 sophomore, added 18 points for Penn Hills.

“It was good knowing last year that we couldn’t get it done, that we were able to do it this year, because we knew it was going to be a tough challenge,” Spencer said.

Kropp said the Indians knew they would have to take the Wolverines’ best shot to come away with the win after the way their first meeting went.

“It was just desperation,” Kropp said. “We knew it was going to be a dogfight. They came in here and they had to prove a point not to get disrespected in their home court. They know that we blew them out last time, and we just had to come in and give it our all.”

Bowles, who came in averaging 29.5 points per game, broke Woodland Hills’ single-season scoring record in the first half as he scored 15 of the Wolverines’ 22 points going into the break. He kept finding ways to score despite Penn Hills doing everything they could to stop him on defense by double-teaming and sometimes even triple-teaming him when he touched the ball.

The senior kept his hot hand going after the break, too, and had 24 points going into final quarter. That’s when Indians coach Dan DeRose decided to let his defense go back to playing man-to-man, and it worked — Bowles didn’t score a single point in the fourth quarter as Penn Hills pulled away for the win.

“I stopped playing the box-and-one and just went straight man and trusted our guys,” DeRose said. “I went back to what we do best. Just zone press and then play man-to-man.

“I was telling myself, ‘You’re getting too cute. Just go with what got you here and do what you do best.’ And at least the whole fourth quarter I did that.”

As the Indians defense came together to shut down Bowles, their offense came to life as Spencer took over the game in the final quarter. Spencer started the quarter with 11 points, but scored 13 of Penn Hills’ 23 points to help the Indians overcome a late, 51-45 deficit.

“When he gets steals and he gets hustle plays, he’s like a coach on the floor,” Kropp said.

“He’ll get us motivated, he’ll pull us to the side, grab our jerseys and tell us, ‘We’ve got to hustle, this is it.’ And that just motivates everybody else.”

DeRose summed up what Spencer means to the Indians as they get ready to visit Albert Gallatin Saturday with a chance to finish undefeated in section.

“He’s our leader,” DeRose said. “He’s the guy by far, and we wouldn’t be where we are without him.”