Jan 5, 2019 6 min read

BURGETTSTOWN – Coaches typically shy away from quick turnarounds and early afternoon games less than 17 hours after the final buzzer sounded the previous night.

But after a 32-point “hammering” against section rival Mt. Lebanon on its home floor Friday night, Canon-McMillan High School boys basketball coach Rick Bell was the exception.

“When you have time, you can start to feel sorry for yourself,” Bell said. “Getting a chance to play today is huge because we can’t sit around and be like, ‘Oh, woe is me.'”

The only woes felt in the Big Macs’ game Saturday afternoon was from Washington’s offense.

Continuing to experiment with the triangle-and-two defense, Canon-McMillan limited the best players for the Prexies, made nine three-pointers and dominated the glass to rebound with a 65-47 win over Washington in the annual Chuckie Mahoney Classic at Burgettstown High School.

“We couldn’t feel sorry for ourselves because we would have got beaten again today,” Bell said. “You get hammered last night, lose again today then have to go to Upper St. Clair, which is undefeated, it can rattle your confidence. I was anxious to see how we were going to respond.”

That response started where Canon-McMillan (7-4) succeeds most – on defense.

Playing man-to-man against Washington’s Zahmere Robinson and Dan Ethridge with zone help underneath, the Big Macs frustrated the Prexies’ standouts. For three quarters, the duo was held scoreless, scoring its first points with 4:14 remaining in the fourth quarter. They combined for 11 points, nine coming in the fourth quarter from Ethridge.

It forced Washington (4-5) to turn young, secondary scorers into primary offensive threats, which caused trouble for an inconsistent offense.

“When you do it, you have to pick and choose your spots,” Bell said. “Every game I see Robinson and Ethridge in the box scores. We’ve used it against Latrobe, Bethel Park and Trinity. We’ve been doing it a lot more this year.”

The only player to score in double-digits for Washington was freshman Tayshawn Levy with 11 points.

“We knew (Canon-McMillan) was going to do that,” said Prexies coach Ron Faust. “There are times where nobody needed to play (defense) and we can’t make layups. We sometimes struggle doing layup drills with no defense.”

The shots the Big Macs missed against Mt. Lebanon they made Saturday. Ethan Beachy led the team with 13 points, including a three-pointer with three seconds remaining in the second quarter to give C-M a 30-16 lead at halftime.

Luke Palma, Elliott Waller and Tommy Samosky each finished with 10 points.

“I had them come in early and told them my expectations haven’t changed because of what happened,” Bell said. “Actions speak louder than words. Adversity exposes character. For us to lose by 36 last night and win decisively today is good.”

Trinity, 57-34

Michael Koroly led all scorers with 18 points and eight different players scored for Trinity as the Hillers defeated McGuffey, 57-34, for their fifth victory in the last six games.

“They were a confident group on Dec. 7 and a confident group today,” said Trinity coach Tim Tessmer. “The difference is them trying to do it their way as opposed to our way. You see the execution is better. We are making the extra passes and getting a lot better shots.”

Trinity (5-5) started the season 0-4.

Koroly also grabbed seven rebounds and limited McGuffey’s C.J. Cole to 12 points. Jake Hancher reached double figures for the Hillers with 11 points and seven rebounds.

McGuffey (8-4) struggled to find offense outside of Cole and Colin Walters, who also scored 12 points. The Highlanders were limited to six points in both the first and third quarters, trailing 35-17 at halftime.

“Their guys came to play and our guys didn’t,” said McGuffey coach Mike Fatigante. “It’s as simple as that.”

Wier, W.Va., 59-56

Luka Haught scored all of his 14 points in the second half to guide Weir, W.Va., to a comeback victory over host Burgettstown, 59-56.

Trailing by six at halftime, 28-22, Haught led Weir on a 10-2 run to get it back into the game at the beginning of the third quarter.

After the teams traded the lead down the stretch, Haught gave the Red Raiders a 47-45 lead it wouldn’t surrender with 6:49 left in regulation.

“Luke Haught took over the game,” said Burgettstown coach Tim Murray, who coached him as an assistant at Weir two years ago

Weir’s Reed Reitter led all scorers with 20 points.

A combination of Weir missing free throws down the stretch and the Blue Devils converting from the foul line trimmed the deficit to as little as three points before time ran out.

Bobby Kozares led Burgettstown (6-5) with 16 points. Dylan Poirier finished with 13 points.

“I still love how our guys maintain poise and don’t stop fighting and clawing,” Murray said. “We were in a very tight game last night, trailing by three with 40 seconds to go. We won in regulation. Tonight we had a chance in the end. As bad as thing may have went in the final four or five minutes we still had a chance.”

Cornell, 68-55

Using athleticism to spark a big third-quarter run, Cornell kept its winning streak intact with a 68-55 victory over Chartiers-Houston.

The Raiders, who turned the game into a track meet in the second half, outscored Chartiers-Houston () 17-5 to pull away in the third. They had a 10-point run between the first and second quarters to build their lead.

“We played excellent two-thirds of the game,” said Chartiers-Houston coach Eugene Briggs. “The other third we played poorly. That’s the difference.”

It was the sixth consecutive win for Cornell (9-2) as four players finished with double-digits. Zaier Harrison scored a game-high 14. Isaiah Langston and Jeovontae King-Walker each scored 12 points, while Kaden Divito finished with 10.

Chartiers-Houston (6-6) trimmed the deficit with a second-quarter run of its own, scoring the final seven points to trail 19-15 at the half.

Anthony Tomassetti scored 14 points off the bench for the Bucs. Austin Arnold had 11.

“Most games we do a pretty good job by slowing it down and getting (the game) back under control,” Briggs said. “With Cornell being so athletic, they didn’t allow it. They got out quicker than anybody we’ve played. In the half-court, we defended them. In the open court their athleticism makes all the difference in the world.”