Myers scores 42 as C-H downs Charleroi
Bill Wiltz coaches the Charleroi boys basketball team in a game against Chartiers-Houston in 2016.
Chartiers-Houston’s Cam Hanley attempts to drive past Charleroi’s Sam Pager.
Charleroi’s Brock Shannon and Chartiers-Houston’s Spencer Terling go after a rebound during a WPIAL Class AA preliminary round playoff game Saturday at Trinity High School.
With Chartiers-Houston holding a slim one-point lead at halftime of a WPIAL Class AA preliminary round playoff game against Charleroi, junior guard A.J. Myers wasn’t about to let things slip away for the Bucs.
Instead, Myers nearly single-handedly willed the Bucs past the Cougars.
Myers scored 25 of his career-high 42 points in the second half as Chartiers-Houston turned a 36-35 halftime lead into an 80-59 victory Saturday at Trinity High School.
“He was unstoppable,” Charleroi head coach Bill Wiltz said. “He just took over the game in the second half. We tried doubling him when we played man, and we tried doubling him when we played zone. Nothing worked.”
As a result, the Bucs (13-10) continue to work while Charleroi sees its season come to an end at 16-6.
Chartiers-Houston advances to the first round where it will take on Greensburg Central Catholic Wednesday at Peters Township.
The thing that stood out about Myers’ game was how efficiently he made things happen. He made 17 field goals, including four three-pointers, and made four free throws in five attemps.
“The thing about A.J. is he doesn’t force things,” Chartiers-Houston head coach Eugene Briggs said. “He takes open shots or he looks for his teammates. He didn’t even take 25 shots and scored over 40 points. He was very efficient from the floor.”
After a tight first half, Myers scored 10 points in the third quarter to help the Bucs extend their lead to 60-46 entering the fourth quarter.
And when Myers wasn’t scoring, he was finding teammates for open shots, including Ryan Mele, who scored 12 points on four three-pointers.
Chartiers-Houston also was efficient defensively, partcularly against Charleroi’s 6-8 center John Arnold.
Arnold finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds, but went long stretches without touches as the Cougars consistently settled for perimeter shots.
“We didn’t do a good job of getting John the ball,” said Wiltz. “When we tried to, we didn’t throw good passes, and he didn’t have great hands in the post this afternoon. We fumbled a lot of plays.”
Charleroi got off to a red-hot start, making its first six shots to build a 15-7 first-quarter lead.
Eric Tedrow started the game with a pair of three-point shots while Brock Shannon and Sam Miceli both followed with three-pointers.
Charleroi led 17-14 after one quarter, but Myers had a 10-point second quarter to give the Bucs a 36-35 lead at the half.
“We felt if we clamped down on Arnold and contained Miceli, then we would have a solid chance,” Briggs said. “When their other guys came out of the gate and started knocking down every shot they took, it made me a little nervous, but we ended up doing a pretty good job on them the rest of the way.”
Charleroi was led in scoring by Miceli with 22 points. Tedrow finished with 11, 10 of which came in the first quarter, and Shannon added 10 for the Cougars.