Peters Twp. does it in style, beats C-M

CANONSBURG — It wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t the style coach Joe Urmann prefers his team to play.
Nonetheless, Peters Township got a needed win over Canon-McMillan, 54-36, in 2021’s first “Battle of 15317.”
In Peters’ first win of the season last Friday against Baldwin, the Indians scored 72 points, and that’s the type of offensive production Urmann generally expects to see.
“We like to play fast,” he said. “We like to play faster with less fouls. We don’t like all those whistles. Less travelling, less fouls. Tempo is kind of our thing.”
Urmann is hoping that winning in 2021 will be their thing, and the past week has been a good start.
After last Tuesday’s 63-43 loss to Mt. Lebanon, the Indians were 0-3. But back-to-back double-digit wins have given Peters momentum. Tuesday night, they did it with defense.
Peters held the Big Macs to six points in the first quarter, 13 in the second, 11 in the third, and six again in the fourth.
Aside from Gavin Miller, who was the only player from either side to score in double figures with 13 points, the Big Macs didn’t get much done on the offensive end, shooting 14-for-34 from the field and 6 of 19 from beyond-the-arc. This is becoming a trend for Canon-Mac, who combined to score just 95 points in their two prior games.
“Peters, the way they play is very disruptive,” Canon-Mac coach Charles Murphy said. “When we played (Upper) St. Clair last week on Friday, it was kind of the same deal. We’re having trouble holding on to the ball. We’re averaging over 20 turnovers a game right now. Up until today, we were shooting well. Today, we didn’t shoot well.”
The Big Macs have a lot of growing to do, replacing four starters. Murphy feels that the effort is there, but the execution needs to come along.
“We have great kids and they play really hard,” he said. “We just have to play with a little more urgency.”
“Two of our first three games we’ve had bad first quarters. Bad first three minutes, and if we’re starting bad consistently, that’s on me. That’s something we have to change, and the kids have to play a little bit together.”
Peters Township will look to keep the good times going in a non-section game at Thomas Jefferson Saturday evening at 7:30. For Urmann, the team has work to do stylistically, but the right mentality is there.
“Our situational basketball IQ needs to get a little bit better, but our effort has been great so far,” he said. “Our buy-in has been great. I’m proud of our guys tonight.”
For Canon-Mac, the quest for win No. 1 continues Friday night against Penn Trafford.