Dec 15, 2017 7 min read

The Washington High School boys basketball team started its Section 4-AAA schedule on a good note as the Little Prexies rolled to a 53-39 victory over previously undefeated Brownsville at Wash High gymnasium Friday night.

Washington (1-0, 2-1) took control of the game in the first half, forging leads of 12-6 after one quarter and 32-16 at halftime.

Wash High used balanced scoring throughout the game with Jordan Swart finishing with a game-high 16 points. He had six points in the pivotal second quarter when the Prexies outscored Brownsville 20-10.

Joe Mercer also hit double figures with 13 points and Tristen Wood had 12.

Shandon Marshall paced Brownsville (0-1, 3-1) with 12 points. Phil Pace and Nick Seto each scored 11. The Falcons had won each of their first three games by double figures.

McGuffey 66, Keystone Oaks 62: McGuffey sank 10 of 11 free throws in the fourth quarter to seal a 66-62 victory over Keystone Oaks in a Section 3 opener in Class 4A in Claysville.

Trent Belleville was solid again for McGuffey (3-1) with 24 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists. C.J. Cole tossed in 19 points and David Chapman added 13 points.

Keystone Oaks (2-2) had three players in double figures: Vonte Mitchell with 19 points; Frank Stumbo 14 points and Josh Snell 13.

Burgettstown 75, Southmoreland 53: A 22-4 first quarter run paved the way for Burgettstown’s 75-53 win over Southmoreland in a Section 4-AAA opener for both teams.

Burgettstown’s offense was paced by Jacob Schrockman, who had 17 points and 8 rebounds. Garrett Dhans scored 14 points and had 9 rebounds and Ryan Lounder poured in 13 points. Burgettstown is 3-1.

The visiting Scotties (1-3) were paced by Cade Ricter’s 15 points.

Trinity 56, Albert Gallatin 38: Trinity had four players score in double figures and sank 15 of 17 free throw attempts to produce a 56-38 victory over Albert Gallatin in a Section 1 opener in Class 5A.

Joey Koroly led the way with 17 points for the visiting Hillers (3-1). Dylan Kern scored 12 points and Jeff Ecker added 10. Zach Ecker had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Albert Gallatin (2-3) was paced by Nate English’s 10 points.

Fort Cherry 65, Carmichaels 56: Ryhan Culberson scored a game-high 25 points and Fort Cherry won its first game of the season, in the Section 2-AA opener, 65-56, over previously undefeated Carmichaels on the Mikes’ home court.

Carmichaels (0-1, 2-1) led 14-9 after one quarter but Fort Cherry (1-0, 1-3) came back to snag a 29-28 lead at halftime and increase the advantage to 45-39 after three quarters.

Carmichaels was within four points with two minutes remaining but the Rangers made four of five free throws in the fourth quarter to protect the lead.

Zac Vincenti scored 16 points for Fort Cherry while Nate Higham had 11 and Thomas Hamilton 10 to give the Rangers four players in ddouble figures.

Nick Mundell led a a balanced Carmichaels attack with 14 points. Matt Barrish followed with 12 and Al Cree had 10.

Thomas Jefferson 51, Ringgold 31: Thomas Jefferson held host Ringgold to 10 points over the middle two quarters and pulled away for a 51-31 victory in the Class 5A Section 1 opener for both teams.

TJ (1-0, 2-3) led 10-7 after one quarter, then outscored the Rams 26-10 over the next 16 minutes.

Isaac McNeil led the Jaguars with 16 points and Noah Palmer had 10.

Sophomore Chris Peccon had a good scoring night for Ringgold with 16 points.

Chartiers-Houston 61, Clairton 56: Cam Hanley and Zac Southern combined for 40 points and Chartiers-Houston made four free throws in the closing seconds to hold off visiting Clairton 61-56 in a nonsection game.

Hanley and Southern each scored 20 points as Chartiers-Houston improved its record to 3-1. The game was the season opener for Clairton.

C-H led by 10 points after one quarter but Clairton stormed back to take a 32-30 halftime lead. The Bucs led 48-46 after three quarters and did enough in the final eight minutes to pull out a win.

Andrew Clark scored 10 points for the Bucs and senior Noah Minnie made two free throws with four seconds remaining to seal the victory. Minney finished with nine points.

Khori Fusco scored 20 points for Clairton and Koran Boyd had 12.

Bethel Park 69, Peters Township 56: Peters Township got off to a slow start on offense and never recovered as the Indians suffered their first loss of the season, 69-62 at Bethel Park, in the Class 6A Section 2 opener,.

Bethel Park (1-0, 2-2) led 14-5 after one quarter and the Indians could never make a strong run at the Black Hawks. Ryan Neis led Bethel Park with 21 points, Alex Mullen had 16 and Jordan Neis 15.

Conor Pederson led PT (0-1, 3-1) with 17 points and Grant Mocharko followed with 12.

California 75, Jefferson-Morgan 45: Ben Wilson continued his strong start to the season with 23 points and California won for the fourth time, defeating visiting Jefferson-Morgan 75-45 in the Section 2-AA opener.

Wilson led three players in double figures for the Trojans (1-0, 4-1). Dur Miller followed with 14 points and Cochise Ryan had 12 for the Trojans, who didn’t break the game open until the second half. Cal led 27-21 at halftime and then scored 48 second-half points.

Devin Stoneking paced J-M (0-1, 3-2) with 13 points and D.L. Garrett had 11.

South Side Beaver 77, Beth-Center 63: South Side Beaver is expected to be one of the better teams in Section 4-AAA but the Golden Rams didn’t gain their first win until last night when they outscored visiting Beth-Center 77-63.

Jake McDougal (23 points) and Logan English (22) combined for 45 points for South Side (1-0, 1-3), which rode a 28-point second quarter to take a 41-30 lead.

Beth-Center (0-1, 2-3) had four players score in double figures but the Bulldogs couldn’t overcome being outscored 28-17 in the pivotal second quarter. Jacob Dobbs scored 18 points to lead B-C. J.J. Green followed with 15 points, Andrew Bower had 12 and East McDaniel 11.

Elizabeth Forward 79, Waynesburg 73: After being shut out in the first quarter, Waynesburg almost pulled off an improbable come-from-behind win before falling to host Elizabeth Forward 79-73 in the 3-AAAA opener.

EF (1-0, 2-2) led by an amazing 21-0 score after one quarter. Waynesburg (0-1, 1-3) then scored 73 points over the final three quarters, including 30 in the fourth.

Will Greijack led EF with 26 points including 10 in the big first quarter.

Darton McIntire led Wayensburg (0-1, 1-3) with 21 points. Jimmy Straight followed with 20 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter. Lucas Garber had 17 points.

South Allegheny 61, Charleroi 42: A 24-4 run in the second quarter helped visiting South Allegheny roll to a 61-42 victory over Charleroi in a non-section game.

South Allegheny (3-2) was sparked by Derek Lockhart’s 26 points. Caleb Carson scored 13 points for Charleroi (1-4).

Frazier 57, Bentworth 56: Brendan Lovis hit a three-point field goal with 21 seconds to play to give Frazier a 57-56 victory over Bentworth in the Section 2-AA opener for both teams.

Bentworth had three chances to win the game after Lovis’ basket but missed on all three shots.

Justin Novak scored 20 points, Brad Poling 13 and Luke Santino 11 for Frazier (1-2).

Bentworth was paced by Steven Harner’s 17 points. Levi Jordan added 16 points and Ray Logan 14.

Girls result

Bentworth 35, Jefferson-Morgan 34: Bentworth stopped a potential game-winning shot with four seconds left in a 35-34 win over Jefferson-Morgan in a non-section game.

Jenna Vito scored 12 points and Hailey Kellerman added 11 to pace the visiting Bearcats (1-3), who outscored J-M 20-19 in the second half.

Sadie Fowler and Krista McCartney each scored 7 points for the Rockets (1-4). Eryn Boyd had 10 rebounds.