Feb 18, 2016 4 min read

IMPERIAL – The narrative of Washington’s season has been inconsistency sprinkled with joyous victories and devastating defeats. But at its best, the program possessed the guard play and defense to win close games.

The Prexies were leaning toward devastating defeat Thursday night before balanced scoring and clutch defense helped rewrite their finest work yet.

Wash High trailed by 24 points late in the second quarter and used a 42-point second half to defeat Laurel, 60-54, in a WPIAL Class AA first-round playoff game at West Allegheny High School.

“At times throughout the year I’ve been frustrated, but at the same time, they’ve proved to be extremely resilient in coming back and fooling me, playing better and beating good teams,” Wash High head coach Ron Faust said. “When you leave with that, things are good; whether you win or lose. I was happy the experience ended up the way it did, but it could have been very ugly to say the least.”

The eighth-seeded Prexies (17-6) will face top-seeded Aliquippa (22-0) in the quarterfinals Saturday at a site and time to be determined, and earned at least a spot in the PIAA play-in bracket. The Spartans (17-6), who lost to Wash High by 10 points in an exhibition game last month, saw an electrifying first half turn into a bitter loss.

Junior guard Matt Popeck has 16 of his team-high 18 points in the second half and senior guard Markel Pulliam had 9 of his 17 points in Wash High’s 22-point fourth quarter.

Laurel led throughout the third quarter until Pulliam gave Wash High its first lead since early in the first quarter with a driving layup through the Spartans’ zone defense. Though the Prexies missed five free throws in the fourth quarter, their defense made up for it.

Nate Swart forced a turnover with just under one minute to play and Popeck capitalized with a fast break layup for a four-point lead. Laurel cut the deficit to three with 22 seconds remaining on two free throws and Popeck was fouled on the ensuing possession.

He missed both free throws, but grabbed his own rebound, was fouled and converted one of two. Anthony Popeck clinched the victory by making two foul shots with less than 10 seconds remaining.

“What I think happened to them was they backed up some of the things they were doing,” Faust said. “I hope they were feeling sorry for us. I know I was feeling sorry for us the first half and to try to recapture that is very difficult.”

Laurel scored just 20 points in the second half and had nine turnovers.

“They were able to make a run on us and we didn’t attack it for whatever reason,” Laurel head coach Ken Locke said. “We kind of got comfortable with the lead and got tentative. Once they made the run, they got a little confidence and to their credit, we couldn’t stop them.

Until nthony Popeck made a three-pointer at the halftime buzzer, the Prexies had as many turnovers as points (15) in the first 16 minutes. After Wash High started the game with a layup, Laurel went on a 17-0 run.

The Prexies cut the deficit to 11 points to end the first quarter, but Laurel, led by back-to-back three-pointers by senior guard Scott Siddall, went on a 13-0 run to grab a 32-8 lead.

When it looked like inconsistent play would finally catch up to the Prexies, Anthony Popeck, who chipped in 14 points and was the only starter on the court for the final minute of the second half, gave them a boost with 10 points to end the half, including two three-pointers as Laurel entered the break with a 34-18 advantage.

After Wash High cut the deficit to nine points early in the third quarter, Laurel, which was led by Siddall’s 22 points, used a strong transition game to get it back to 13, but Wash High erupted for a 12-0 run and finally grabbed the lead before holding on.

“Those three-pointers were huge. In the locker room, we knew that if we didn’t give up and got the lead, they wouldn’t know what to do,” Matt Popeck said. “We just played harder than them and we worked together in the second half.”