Feb 23, 2018 4 min read

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BALDWIN – As the Trinity student section, the so-called Hiller Hooligans, rose to begin its “I believe that we will win” chant with to open the second half Friday night, there was some hesitation.

When they rose again with less than three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, following a 13-3 run as the Hillers jumped out their biggest lead of the game, there was no hesitating from the Hooligans as McKeesport fans made a mass exodus from Baldwin High School.

For the second straight game, the Trinity boys basketball team recovered from a double-digit deficit, defeating fourth-seeded McKeesport 48-39 in a WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinal.

Trinity advances to the WPIAL semifinals for the first time in school history.

“It’s second to none,” said senior guard Dylan Kern. “We’ve been working at this for four years. The last two years we’ve been knocked out in the first round. We’ve been working every single day, from guys going from football to basketball, spending six to eight hours a day working their butts off. We didn’t take a single day off. Tonight, we didn’t take a single play off.”

The fifth-seeded Hillers, who advance to the semifinals against top-seeded Mars Tuesday at a site and time to be determined, didn’t have the ability to take a rest on any plays after trailing 19-8 early in the second quarter.

Down 33-31 entering the fourth quarter, Trinity (20-4) took its first lead of the game after a hook shot by Jeff Ecker and a free throw on its ensuing possession from Joey Koroly.

It was all downhill from there for McKeesport, who split its contests with the Hillers in the regular season and won the section title.

The Tigers only made two field goals in the final quarter as Trinity, behind a capacity crowd, had five different players find the scoresheet to outscore McKeesport (15-9) in the final eight minutes, 17-6.

“It’s not the first time we’ve been down,” said Trinity coach Tim Tessmer. We weren’t playing our best basketball. We weren’t doing the little things right. We just had to clean a few things up and hopefully knock shots down. A lot of it is getting comfortable. Our kids were excited. This crowd, this environment, they get amped up. Once you get them calmed down and get them refocused they dial it back in.”

Kern, who led the Hilers with 14 points, scored nine in the second half to spark the comeback.

“We knew that we could come back,” he said. “We knew what we are capable of. We practice those situations all the time. It was just like our last game when we were down a bunch going into the fourth quarter. Not a single guy on the bench panicked. We step on the floor and do what we have to do.”

Unlike the first half, when McKeesport’s Terron Taylor made a trio of three-pointers that led to his game-high 17 points and gave the Tigers a 23-20 halftime lead, there seemingly was a lid on the basket for the Tigers in the fourth quarter.

Dausen Marry and Kern converted with layups on back-to-back possessions to give Trinity a 44-35 lead with 2:45 remaining.

“It’s special,” Kern said about the atmosphere. “I’m so glad (the Hooligans) showed out for this game. We needed it. We fed off it. If there is a year where we’re going to do something at Trinity, a year where we’re going to raise a banner, it’s this year.”

Zach Ecker, who kept the Hillers close early, finished with 11 points, all coming in the first half. Koroly scored eight despite not making a field goal until the third quarter.

“It was the same as Tuesday,” Tessmer said of the Hillers’ comeback in a 61-52 win over Greensburg Salem.

“We were down. We were struggling. Then all of the sudden we make a couple of shots. The crowd goes crazy and blows the roof off. We have other goals to get to, but these are memories that nobody can take away from us. But we’re not done yet.”