High school basketball roundup: Fort Cherry cruises to tournament championship
Owen Norman scored 20 points and Fort Cherry rode a big first half to a 59-36 victory over Chartiers-Houston in the championship game of the Avella Stocking Stuffer boys basketball tournament Friday night.
Fort Cherry (8-2), which won three games in as many days to win the title, jumped out to a 16-6 lead after one quarter and a 34-10 advantage at halftime.
Shane Cornali joined Norman in double figures with 13 points. The Rangers have won six in a row.
Chartiers-Houston (8-2), which had its five-game winning streak snapped, received seven points from both Avery Molek and Nate Gregory.
Norman was named the tournament MVP. Cornali and Chartiers-Houston’s Manny Ntumngia were chosen to the all-tournament team.
McGuffey 59, Burgettstown 45: Jantzen Durbin scored a game-high 23 points and McGuffey defeated Burgettstown 59-45 in the third-place game at the Avella tournament.
Amir Maltony and Trsitan McAdoo each scored 10 points for the Highlanders, who improved their record to 7-5.
The Blue Devils were led in scoring by Zack Schrockman’s 16 points. Caleb Russell followed with 11. Burgettstown slips to 3-5.
Western Beaver 54, Avella 41: Levi Gray and Chantz Cottrill combined for 43 points as Western Beaver defeated Avella 54-41 in the fifth-place game at the Avella tournament.
Gray scored a game-high 25 points as Western Beaver improved its record to 6-4. Cottrill chipped in with 18 points.
Avella (2-8) fell behind 16-3 after one quarter and thus was looking for its second come-from-behind win in as many days over a team from Beaver County. This time the Eagles didn’t have enough offense to fuel another comeback.
Westley Burchianti led Avella in scoring with 15 points.
Belle Vernon 87, Southmoreland 67: Zion Moore scored 31 points, Quinton Martin added 23 and Belle Vernon won the Charleroi tournament with an 87-68 victory over Southmoreland late Thursday night.
The Leopards (4-4) took control early, leading 27-12 after one quarter and 55-30 at halftime.
Alonzo Wade scored 11 points for BVA and Trevor Kovatch had 10.
Ty Keffer led Southmoreland (7-2) with 22 points.