Feb 17, 2016 3 min read

FOX CHAPEL – Whatever was in the halftime speech delivered by Tyler Stoczynski, it should be bottled and sold at the next coaches convention.

After the first 16 minutes, Highlands was holding a precarious 36-29 lead against a Trinity team that seemed to be gathering momentum.

But a 17-0 run to start the third quarter and a defensive effort that suppressed the Hillers turned a close game into an 87-58 victory in the first round of the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs at Fox Chapel High School Wednesday night.

No. 4 Highlands, the second-place team in Section 1-AAA, moved its record to 19-4 and will play Hampton in the second round. Trinity, the third-place team in Section 5-AAA, finished the season at 13-9.

“At halftime, we talked about ramping it up,” said Stoczynski. “Then the guys took it up another notch. And after that first minute, I think we went up another notch. When we’re focused, we can play well.”

Mitch Dezort, a 6-2 junior forward, hurt the Hillers with his outside shooting and rugged play inside. He sank five three-pointers and finished with a game-high 25 points. He had eight of 17 straight points in Highlands third-quarter run.

“I think out guys tried to do a little too much (to start the third quarter),” said Trinity head coach Tim Tessmer. “Those first possessions, we were going 1-on-5 and that put ourselves in some bad situations. Highlands speeds you up and make you do some unnatural things. If we had made one or two shots in the third quarter, it might have changed the outcome.”

Highlands led 64-39 after three quarters and 77-48 in the fourth when the substitutions went full bore.

Trinity’s offense was led by Dylan Kern’s 12 points and Adam Raggi’s 11.

“We knew we had to keep them off the glass and find them in transition,” Tessmer said. “We didn’t do a very good job of either one of those.”

The first half was a story of runs. Highlands took a 15-2 lead on a confused and jittery Hillers team, three minutes in, thanks to consecutive three-point field goals by Dezort. Two free throws by Saul Wells were all Trinity could muster in that span.

Just as quickly, the Hillers found their touch. Dylan Kern hit a three and followed with a layup 32 seconds later to cut Highlands lead to 16-11. A layup by Nelson made it 16-13 after one quarter.

“When we watched film on them, they executed well,” Stoczynski said. “Their guys play good defense. If you drive to the basket, you aren’t driving against one guy. They played good team defense.”

Highlands came out fast for the second quarter, going on a 9-2 run to take a 25-15 lead. Five different players scored. Trinity answered with an 11-5 run that was punctuated by a layup and free throw by Conner Plunkett in a 17-second span.

“They are a good time, a playoff team,” Stoczynski said of Trinity. “They aren’t going to come in here and lay down. They’re well coached, got us early, so we went into at halftime and made some adjustments.”