McGuffey rolls into second place in 3-AAAA after taming Lions
South Fayette’s Noah Plack blocks McGuffey’s Sean Edlis’ pass during Tuesday night’s game.
South Fayette’s Luke Meindl gets around McGuffey’s Trent Belleville and Chase Miller during a Tuesday night’s game at McGuffey High School.
McGuffey’s Sean Edlis and David Chapman try to block the shot of South Fayette’s Matt Thomas during a Section 3-AAAA game at McGuffey High School Tuesday night.
McGuffey’s Andrew Allender tries to get around South Fayette’s Matt Ttomas during Tuesday night’s Section 3-AAAA game at McGuffey High School.
CLAYSVILLE – Throughout the waning minutes, the only expression coming from the South Fayette boys’ basketball team was frustration.
Helplessly raising their hands in the air, the Lions could barely watch as McGuffey made Tuesday night’s basketball game a near mirror image of when the teams met nearly one month ago.
Similar to the first matchup, when McGuffey trailed the entire game, it was facing the same uphill climb during the second and third quarters before outscoring the visiting Lions, 17-9, in the fourth quarter to earn another close Section 3-AAAA victory, 50-45, at McGuffey High School.
The win gives McGuffey (10-3, 17-4) sole possession of second place in the section with the opportunity to gain a share of the section title with Belle Vernon depending on the outcomes of the teams’ final games.
The success generated in the final eight minutes, ignited by McGuffey freshmen C.J. Cole coming off the bench to connect on a three-pointer and another jumper late in the third quarter, allowed the Highlanders to get back into the slow tempo they wanted to play despite being behind.
“Our guys play really hard and when you do that a lot of good things happen,” said McGuffey head coach Michael Fatigante about the Highlanders willingness to rebound the basketball.
“We have a bunch of high character kids, an unselfish group that all they want is to win and is willing to do whatever it takes to do that.”
McGuffey attacked the bucket and crashed the offensive glass, led by Trent Belleville’s 21-point, 11-rebound effort, to make a living at the foul line in the final eight minutes.
“They took the ball to the hoop and got extra shots,” South Fayette head coach Dave Mislan said. “Belleville killed us with being all over the offensive and defensive glass. Every time we had a chance to take advantage of a lead, we didn’t do it.”
After the Highlanders watched a first-quarter lead quickly slip away after a 12-3 run from South Fayette to end the second quarter to give it a two-point halftime advantage, 22-20.
It was only lead that grew and left McGuffey with a 12-point deficit, 34-22, after Tim Locher’s lone seven-point run for the Lions after finishing off a no-look pass from Matt Thomas and driving to the hoop for another layup on the subsequent possession.
As Fatigante looked for answers, he found one in freshman Cole, who came off the bench to hit a three-pointer and hit a jumper with 2:58 left to ignite an 11-2 advantage that cut South Fayette’s lead to only three points, 36-33, after the third quarter.
“We weathered the storm,” Fatigante said. “Our guys never flinched. We kept chipping away and pulled one out in the end.”
“We guarded the heck out of them,” said Mislan. “McGuffey does all the little things that you need to do to win. We didn’t tonight and that’s the bottom line.”
South Fayette (9-4, 11-9) was paced by a 14-point performance from Matt Thomas, the only Lion to score in double figures.
Following the lead of Belleville’s double-double night was Colin Chapman, who also had 12 points for McGuffey.
“Trent has been unbelievable for us all year,” Fatigante said. “He can score in all different ways. He is just relentless on the boards. He has been our most consistent player all year and is a big reason as to why we are in this position. If we can put four quarters together then we are a very good basketball team. It just came down to playing really well down the stretch and had some guys just make some really big plays.”