Feb 25, 2016 4 min read

IMPERIAL – Washington High School’s postseason has been a series of puzzling events, often leaving its head coach speechless and opponents searching for answers.

There was the thrilling first-round comeback over Laurel, and a dramatic second-half surge early this week when guard play led to a PIAA playoff berth, but the Prexies found a new way to complete a thrilling come-from-behind win Thursday night.

After holding Wash High without a field goal for 9 1/2 minutes, Quaker Valley committeed four consecutive turnovers and the Prexies took advantage to secure a 50-49 victory and the WPIAL’s fifth seed in the PIAA Class AA playoffs.

Wash High (19-7) will play the District 10 champion – either Greenville or Fairview – March 5 at a site and time to be determined in the first round of the state playoffs.

Quaker Valley (20-4) held the Prexies to without a field goal for almost 10 minutes, but did not take advantage – scoring just 11 points during that span.

Washington’s switch to a 3-2 trap defense caused turnovers and the Prexies responded with another postseason win.

Wash High head coach Ron Faust has described his players’ postseason effort as resilient, but their play has him finding new ways to describe the mixture of mishaps and heroics.

“I’m not sure why, but I guess there are different ways to skin a cat and they keep finding more ways,” Faust said. “That’s a good analogy because we’re close to using our nine lives already, we’re getting there.”

The trouble on offense came after Wash High had success driving to the basket. However, after seeing Prexies senior Markel Pulliam start the second half with two quick jump shots, Quaker Valley head coach Mike Mastroianni decided to use pressure defense.

That and junior point guard Amos Luptak, who led the Quakers with 16 points, helped QV grab a two-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

After Quaker Valley increased its lead to eight points with a 7-0 run to open the fourth, the Quakers decided to drain the clock with slow, methodical possessions. Faust countered with a 3-2 zone trap defense. It led to four consecutive turnovers and sparked Wash High’s 12-2 run to end the game.

Pulliam scored a game-high 22 points, and junior Matt Popeck added nine, including a key driving layup to give the Prexies a three-point lead with 38 seconds remaining. Senior Anthony Popeck scored 10 points.

“When you get a team that believes in itself, they’re tough to beat,” Faust said. “At the end of the game, they find a way, stayed very composed, except in a couple places when I thought they’d have to call the paramedics for me. We do some of the darndest things and then we do some of the most amazing things, all in about a minute or so. That’s our character and we’ll ride that as far as we can go.”

Though Mastroianni credited his players with holding Wash High’s offense in check for a long stretch, he chalked up the late-game meltdown to having only one senior starter.

“We made bad decisions at the end of the game,” Mastroianni said. “We didn’t take care of the ball like we had to. Sometimes you can get away with that, but not this time of year against a very good team. We got caught.”

Luptak had the Quakers’ offense clicking in the first quarter, scoring six quick points and they shot 8 of 12 from the field. When he was in foul trouble during the second quarter, they looked tentative and forced shots from the perimeter.

Though Wash High had balanced scoring and was driving with ease to the basket, Quaker Valley used five three-pointers to take a one-point lead at halftime.

Quaker Valley’s adjustment on defense and Wash High’s mistakes on offense led to the Quakers’ lead, but the Prexies’ resilient nature led to another dramatic win.

“We made the switch and just tried to force the ball into their inexperienced guys’ hands,” Pulliam said. “That forced the turnovers, and the key for us was to start driving to the basket more. This win is big for our confidence. We want to get in (the PIAA tournament) and make a run.”