Feb 25, 2017 3 min read

CANONSBURG – It is highly unlikely that Belle Vernon’s boys basketball team had to deal with an interior presence this season that was shown to them by Central Valley’s Josh Kline.

The Leopards continued to challenge the 6-7 center and time and again came up empty as Central Valley asserted itself early and cruised home with a 56-35 WPIAL Class AAAA quarterfinal win over Belle Vernon Saturday afternoon at Canon-McMillan High School. Central Valley (14-9) moves on to the semifinal round while Belle Vernon (17-7) awaits their PIAA tournament fate, if they qualify at all.

“My biggest fear coming in is if we were going to play with the aggressiveness and the confidence we needed to play a really good team,” Belle Vernon coach Kyle DeGregorio said. “I think that maybe the stage was a little to big for us right now.”

Central Valley got out to a 12-0 lead as Parker Hudson plowed ahead for eight of his 12 points. It was apparent then that the Leopards would have their hands full for the rest of the afternoon.

The Warriors finished the quarter with an 18-5 run and eventually pulled into a 30-12 lead at the half.

Belle Vernon shot a miserable 4-for-24 from the field in the opening half. Kline was the catalyst for the Warriors’ defensive effort with five of his eight blocked shots in the first two quarters of the game. He also altered countless others as Belle Vernon continued to challenge the big man.

“Goodness gracious, we scored only 12 points in the first half,” DeGregorio said. “I think more than anything, we drove the ball to the basket and I don’t think we used our skill to be able to shoot different shots inside. We just kept going right at him.”

Kline finished with 13 points to go along with his eight blocks. Teammate Michael Simmons also finished with 13 points for the Warriors.

Belle Vernon did make a run in the third quarter that brought some life out of their fans that traveled to Canon-McMillan High School. Joe Sabolek scored 12 of his game high 14 points in the quarter. Most of those buckets were layups set up by guards Logan Pfronger and Griffin Lacarte with their ability to break the Central Valley trap. Sabolek’s final bucket at the end of the third cut the Leopards deficit to 10. But they would get no closer as they would be held to three points the rest of the contest.

“I think that third quarter was more representative of who we are as a team,” DeGregorio said. “The good thing is that I have much of this team back next year.”

Unfortunately for the Leopards, no other player tallied double figures in scoring. Brennen Morgan chipped in with six points. The Leopards, knowing that scoring inside would be most difficult, putting up 14 three-point attempts. Bryce Smith had the lone make in the third quarter.

Central Valley punctuated the win with two dunks in the fourth quarter. The first was a one- hand jam by Simmons off a Belle Vernon turnover that extended the Warriors lead to 48-32 midway through the frame. Kline then showed some hops when he took a feed from Nick Powell ahead of the break and stuffed it home on the Warriors next possession.