High school basketball roundup:
Avonworth’s boys basketball team put three players in double figures and used two big quarters to defeat Burgettstown 80-57 Thursday night in the championship game of the eight-team Avella tournament.
Avonworth (7-1) gained control by outscoring Burgettstown 18-10 in the first quarter. The Antelopes led 38-31 at halftime before outscoring the Blue Devils 24-10 in the pivotal third quarter.
Jordan Kolenda led Avonworth with a game-high 20 points. He was followed by Rowan Carmichael with 16 and Peyton Faulkner with 10.
Burgettstown (5-2) had a balanced attack as Jackson LaRocka and Austin Nease each tossed in 13 points and Nathan Klodowski had 11.
McGuffey 56, Chartiers-Houston 50: McGuffey turned to junior swingman Jantzen Durbin in the second half and he delivered.
Durbin scored 18 of his game-high 22 points in the second half as McGuffey edged Chartiers-Houston 56-50 in the third-place game at the eight-team Avella tournament.
McGuffey (3-4) trailed 22-21 at halftime before Durbin scored 18 of his points in the second half. Durbin had eight points in the third quarter, when McGuffey outscored C-H 18-8 to take a 39-30 lead.
Brayson Wallace scored 12 points for the Highlanders.
Chartiers-Houston (2-5) was led in scoring by Nate Gregory’s 13 points. Manny Ntumngia was right behind with 12.
Fort Cherry 48, Brownsville 43: Dylan Rogers scored a game-high 19 points as Fort Cherry built an early lead and made it stand up in a 48-43 victory over Brownsville in the Avella tournament.
Rogers scored 11 points in the first quarter as Fort Cherry forged a 16-8 lead by the end of the first quarter. Brownsville (4-5) closed to within 29-25 at halftime but the falcons were limited to only 18 second-half points.
Owen Norman scored 13 points for the Rangers (7-1), who continued their strong start to the season.
Ayden Teeter led Brownsville with nine points.
Cornell 58, Avella 56: M.J. Smith scored a game-high 22 points and Cornell held off a late charge to beat Avella, 58-56, in the Eagles’ tournament.
Cornell (5-4), which started the season by winning four in a row before losing four straight, led 30-26 at halftime and padded its advantage to 51-43 after three quarters.
Avella (1-8) came storming back in the fourth quarter while holding Cornell to only seven points in the period.
Brandon Samol led Avella with 21 points and Westley Burchianti had 16.
Belle Vernon 80, Charleroi 43: Quinton Martin finished with a double-double to lead Belle Vernon to am 80-43 win over the host Cougars in the cfsbank Holiday Tournament championship game Wednesday night.
Martin scored 25 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, both game highs, and added four steals. Devin Whitlock also had a double-double with 17 points and 10 assists, and also had five steals. Daniel Gordon finished with 19 points and three steals.
Belle Vernon (8-0) led 48-23 at halftime.
Will Wagner scored nine points for the Cougars (6-2).
In other games: Trinity avenged a season-opening loss to Canon-McMillan by defeating the Big Macs 52-48 at Hiller Hall in the Trinity tournament. In the night’s opening game, Peters Township was a 59-51 winner over Albert Gallatin.
No game details were made available by press time.
Girls results
Beth-Center 40, Geibel Catholic 12: Beth-Center picked up its first win of the season, defeating Geibel Catholic 50-12 in Laurel Highlands’ Christmas Clash at the Corral.
No game details were made available.
Fort Cherry 40, West Allegheny 37: Raney Staub and Dana Sinatra combined for 28 points as Fort Cherry outlasted West Allegheny 40-37 in overtime Wednesday night to win the McGuffey tournament.
The Rangers (5-2) trailed 31-28 after three quarters but outscored West Allegheny (5-3) by a 5-2 margin in the fourth quarter to force the extra session. Fort Cherry then held a 7-4 edge in OT.
Staub led the way for Fort Cherry with 16 points and Sinatra added 12.
Ava Henke paced WA with 12 points and Maddie Ricker had 11.
Mapletown 52, Hundred (W.Va.) 41: Taylor Dusenberry led Mapletown to a 52-41 victory over Hundred (W.Va.) in the opening round of the Mapletown tournament Wednesday night.
Dusenberry scored 37 points, including 10-of-12 from the free-throw line, grabbed eight rebounds and had 12 steals. Bailey Rafferty scored nine points and had five steals in the Maples (4-3).
Hundred’s Roxie Huggins scored 14 points. Addie Tuttle added 10.