Boys Class (AA) basketball should be a great one....
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THE CHOPS
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Boys Class (AA) basketball should be a great one....
CLASS (AA): YORK CATHOLIC 64, TRINITY 55
York Catholic was just too good .....
Fighting Irish led Trinity nearly wire-to-wire ~~~~~~~~~~~
You look at this York Catholic team and think: "no way".
They're too young, too small, too inexperienced to go marching into Giant Center for championship weekend.
But after last night's 64-55 dismantling of Trinity in a P.I.A.A. Class (AA) semifinal before a packed house at CD East, the Irish are moving on to Saturday's final.
"There's another learning experience for us, a great learning experience," York Catholic coach Jim Senft said. "Trinity is a great opponent, it was a great win."
"They just played a great game," Trinity coach Larry Kostelac Jr. said. "They're very fundamentally sound, they all shoot the ball well and we just didn't do what you need to do in this round to move forward to the next round."
Of course the irony is that Trinity (20-9) is also young.
With one senior starter, three juniors and a sophomore, the Shamrocks are a little older than York Catholic's one senior, two juniors, one soph and a freshman.
It was the sophomore, Jon Showers, who led the Irish last night with 21 points including five comeback-killing 3-pointers. Jacob Iati, the little 5-9 freshman, scored 19.
Trinity was led by its 6-5 junior, Brian Morris, who scored a game-high 28 and had 10 rebounds. Matt Wesner, the senior veteran, scored 11.
The Shamrocks definitely brought some playoff seasoning into their fifth consecutive state semifinal appearance. They also brought an obvious size advantage.
But these Irish (25-8) found a way around all of those obstacles and will meet Beaver Falls at 3 p.m. Saturday for the Class AA gold.
"It's an incredible feeling, I'm just so happy for the kids," Senft said.
"I love to see the excitement in their eyes. It's a dream come true for me, I'm looking forward to it."
Beaver Falls advanced last night with a 58-57 defeat of Aliquippa.
The Irish got past Trinity last night much the same way they took out District 3 champion Milton Hershey in the last round.
They got them down early, shot well, and made every move necessary to hold the Shamrocks off down the stretch.
"We play basic defense all the time, we play hard all the time and I think we're quicker," Senft said. "We get after people."
York Catholic sprinted out to a 7-2 lead and never trailed. Trinity cut it to two, 7-5, and the Irish responded with a 12-7 surge to open up a 19-12 lead.
The Shamrocks again came back to within two, 19-17, with 5:08 to go in the first half. They would not get that close again.
A 9-4 spurt to close out the half got York Catholic a 28-21 lead at the break.
Then the Irish spread Trinity's defense out to create backdoor cuts and 3-point opportunities.
They went on to lead by as many as 14 points, 53-39, with 2:19 left in the game.
"We didn't do what we had hoped to do," Kostelac said. "But give our kids credit for being here. I'm proud of the way they handled themselves."
The Irish shot 11-for-14 from the line in the final two minutes but Trinity nearly rallied with three-point plays by Anthony Gabriel and Wesner, and 3-point baskets by Wesner and Morris.
"We made it interesting at the end and cut it to six twice," Kostelac said. "The team that played the best won the game."
But Trinity could get no closer to a third straight appearance in the (AA) final.
"Our guys are disappointed but overall they had a great year," Kostelac said.
"At the beginning of the year there wasn't anybody in our conference or in our area who thought we had a chance to do anything. Bottom line is we made it to the Eastern Final and I'm proud of that fact."
"THE CHOPS".
York Catholic was just too good .....
Fighting Irish led Trinity nearly wire-to-wire ~~~~~~~~~~~
You look at this York Catholic team and think: "no way".
They're too young, too small, too inexperienced to go marching into Giant Center for championship weekend.
But after last night's 64-55 dismantling of Trinity in a P.I.A.A. Class (AA) semifinal before a packed house at CD East, the Irish are moving on to Saturday's final.
"There's another learning experience for us, a great learning experience," York Catholic coach Jim Senft said. "Trinity is a great opponent, it was a great win."
"They just played a great game," Trinity coach Larry Kostelac Jr. said. "They're very fundamentally sound, they all shoot the ball well and we just didn't do what you need to do in this round to move forward to the next round."
Of course the irony is that Trinity (20-9) is also young.
With one senior starter, three juniors and a sophomore, the Shamrocks are a little older than York Catholic's one senior, two juniors, one soph and a freshman.
It was the sophomore, Jon Showers, who led the Irish last night with 21 points including five comeback-killing 3-pointers. Jacob Iati, the little 5-9 freshman, scored 19.
Trinity was led by its 6-5 junior, Brian Morris, who scored a game-high 28 and had 10 rebounds. Matt Wesner, the senior veteran, scored 11.
The Shamrocks definitely brought some playoff seasoning into their fifth consecutive state semifinal appearance. They also brought an obvious size advantage.
But these Irish (25-8) found a way around all of those obstacles and will meet Beaver Falls at 3 p.m. Saturday for the Class AA gold.
"It's an incredible feeling, I'm just so happy for the kids," Senft said.
"I love to see the excitement in their eyes. It's a dream come true for me, I'm looking forward to it."
Beaver Falls advanced last night with a 58-57 defeat of Aliquippa.
The Irish got past Trinity last night much the same way they took out District 3 champion Milton Hershey in the last round.
They got them down early, shot well, and made every move necessary to hold the Shamrocks off down the stretch.
"We play basic defense all the time, we play hard all the time and I think we're quicker," Senft said. "We get after people."
York Catholic sprinted out to a 7-2 lead and never trailed. Trinity cut it to two, 7-5, and the Irish responded with a 12-7 surge to open up a 19-12 lead.
The Shamrocks again came back to within two, 19-17, with 5:08 to go in the first half. They would not get that close again.
A 9-4 spurt to close out the half got York Catholic a 28-21 lead at the break.
Then the Irish spread Trinity's defense out to create backdoor cuts and 3-point opportunities.
They went on to lead by as many as 14 points, 53-39, with 2:19 left in the game.
"We didn't do what we had hoped to do," Kostelac said. "But give our kids credit for being here. I'm proud of the way they handled themselves."
The Irish shot 11-for-14 from the line in the final two minutes but Trinity nearly rallied with three-point plays by Anthony Gabriel and Wesner, and 3-point baskets by Wesner and Morris.
"We made it interesting at the end and cut it to six twice," Kostelac said. "The team that played the best won the game."
But Trinity could get no closer to a third straight appearance in the (AA) final.
"Our guys are disappointed but overall they had a great year," Kostelac said.
"At the beginning of the year there wasn't anybody in our conference or in our area who thought we had a chance to do anything. Bottom line is we made it to the Eastern Final and I'm proud of that fact."
"THE CHOPS".