Mar 9, 2018 2 min read

South Fayette held District 9 champion Clearfield to only 15 second-half points, including three in the third quarter, and rallied for a 55-44 victory Friday night in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A boys basketball playoffs at St. Mary’s High School.

South Fayette (17-8) advances to the second round Tuesday night against WPIAl champion new Castle at a site and time to be determined. New Castle knocked South Fayette out of the WPIAL playoffs in the quarterfinals, 55-45.

Clearfield (15-10) held a 29-23 lead at halftime but South Fayette had a strong third quarter and outscored the Bison 16-3 to take a 39-32 lead.

Tim Locher and Connor Mislan led the second-half charge for the Lions and finished with 16 and 14 points, respectively.

Hickory 92, Belle Vernon 52: Brandon Beader scored 21 points and District 10 runner-up Hickory earned its first PIAA win since 1995 with a 92-52 victory over Belle Vernon in a Class 4A first-round game at Sharon High School.The 92 points is the most Hickory has scored in a state playoff game.

Hickory (21-5) dominated the first half, forging a 46-23 lead, then put up 27 third-quarter points.

Donald Whitehead scored 17 points for Hickory and Jaylen Jarvie scored all of his 14 points during the second half.

Joe Sabolek had a big game for Belle Vernon (18-7), scoring 19 points, all coming in the first three quarters.

Girls results

Coudersport 50, California 23: California had a long trip to St. Mary’s for a Class 2A first-round game and the Trojans never did get their offense going.

Shaelyn Black scored 19 points and District 9 champion Coudersport defeated California 50-23.

California (15-9) trailed 19-9 after one quarter and then was held to one point in the second quarter and 13 points in the second half.

Haley Keck scored 14 points for Coudersport (20-3).

Love Porter was the leading scorer for California with nine points.