Jan 15, 2016 3 min read

JEFFERSON HILLS – Basketball has undergone radical transformations over the last 45 years. Phil Pergola has as well.

One thing, however, has remained constant – his love for the game.

Pergola’s journey as a coach has encompassed the benches of Mon Valley Catholic, Charleroi, California and two stints at Ringgold High School.

A prolific career reaped a shot in the PIAA championship twice with Ringgold, once in 1990 when it lost to Glen Mills, and another five years later that ended in a win over Williamsport for a state title.

A ruckus environment in Jefferson Hills Friday night, fueled by five three-pointers in the first half by the home team, allowed for a wide enough margin for Thomas Jefferson to hold onto a 59-52 win over Ringgold in Section 4-AAAA, denying Pergola his 600th career victory.

After trailing 44-33 at the end of the third quarter, Ringgold abandoned its slow offensive attack to begin cutting away at the deficit created by the three-point shooting of Thomas Jefferson.

“They’re offensive scheme is to look for open three-point opportunities,” said Pergola. “They just were able to shoot the ball well, but we didn’t come to play until the fourth quarter.”

Ringgold (3-4, 7-6) rallied with six consecutive points, highlighted by a four-point possession after a put-back by junior guard Anthony Pampena following a Dakota Browning free throw, narrowing the Thomas Jefferson lead to 46-43 to begin the fourth quarter.

Both teams continued to trade baskets until the Rams’ last gasp as they again cut the lead to 52-49 on a jumper from Pampena with 49 seconds remaining.

However, Thomas Jefferson (5-3, 7-8) took advantage of opportunities at the foul line, where it made eight of 10 in the final 42 seconds.

“This is one of my better free-throw shooting teams that I’ve had,” said Thomas Jefferson coach Dom DeCicco. “We are never really a good free-throw shooting team, though. This year, we have more skill guys who have been over 70 percent from the line.”

With the 19-point fourth quarter performance, Ringgold had the field-goal advantage over TJ (22-18). The issue for the Rams was the value of those baskets, as TJ connected on nine three-pointers.

Ringgold, whose defense tightened inside the three-point arc, wasn’t able to play catch-up fast enough, managing only one three-pointer, coming late in the third quarter.

“We are an outside shooting team first,” said DeCicco. “It hasn’t been like that in the past with us looking to work inside then out, but we live and die with our outside shooting.”

Both teams are continuing to fight for a playoff spot in the wide-open section.

“Though we got beat tonight, we were down 13 points and just continued to battle back. We just missed a couple shots,” said Pergola. “That could’ve easily changed the outcome. It’s going to be important to win all of our home games, and hopefully we will be able to steal one or two on the road.”

Leading the scoring for Thomas Jefferson was senior guard C.J. Mason, who scored 16 points.

Browning led all scorers with 18 points while controlling the paint for the Rams.

“We aren’t looking for No. 600,” he said. “We are just looking for the next win.”