Seeing is believing for Fort Cherry
McMURRAY – There is only one team remaining in the PIAA basketball playoffs from the Observer-Reporter’s coverage area.
If you predicted that it would be the Fort Cherry boys, then you made the correct call. If you didn’t expect the Rangers to be heading to the state quarterfinals this weekend, then you haven’t seen them play.
Fort Cherry used a fast-paced attack, its trademark gritty and relentless play and had scoring from everywhere as it defeated Serra Catholic 88-71 in a PIAA Class 2A second-round game Wednesday night at Peters Township’s AHN Arena.
The win sends Fort Cherry (22-6) to the quarterfinals Saturday against Jeannette, which defeated Greensburg Central Catholic, 48-46, in overtime.
In the opening game of the doubleheader at PT, Oakland Catholic eliminated WPIAL champion South Fayette 48-28 in a Class 5A girls contest.
“We do what we do and we do it well,” Fort Cherry coach Eugene Briggs explained. “You don’t want to change things at this point.”
There is nothing from Fort Cherry’s latest performance that needs tinkering. The Rangers forged a 42-28 halftime lead and fought off several comeback attempts by Serra (18-10).
Earlier this week, Briggs talked about the importance of getting complimentary scoring – points from players other than point guard Derek Errett. The Rangers got production from everybody against Serra.
Blake Sweder more than doubled his average by scoring 21 points and Errett was right behind with 20. Shane Cornali scored 13 of his 19 points in the first half and Matt Sieg, playing in his second game since an ankle injury in January sidelined him, finished with 10.
Jack Kitzmiller and Corey Bouchelle added eight points each for the Rangers.
Pete Burke scored a game-high 25 points for Serra. Isiah Petty had 23 and Owen Dombrowski scored 19. The trio kept Serra within striking distance until the final three minutes.
“Those three guys for them are good,” Briggs said. “But this is four straight games in which we played intelligent basketball at the end. (Serra) kept making runs and we put the brakes on them and kept it at a 10-point game.”
A 9-3 spurt by Serra to start the second half cut the FC lead to 45-37. The Eagles never got that close again until early in the fourth quarter, at 71-63. Sweder had five points in the fourth quarter, and Errett, Cornali, Sieg and Bouchelle each scored four to end any thought of a Serra comeback.
Fort Cherry had a slow start before ending the first quarter with a flurry and led 19-11 after eight minutes. The Rangers’ lead grew to 24-11 after a Cornali three-pointer with 7:10 left in the half.
Serra closed to within 30-24 midway through the second quarter, but Errett scored five straight points and the lead was back up to double figures.
Oakland Catholic, 48-28
Josephine Fontana led three Oakland Catholic players in double figures with 14 points and the Eagles rode a big first half in their victory over the Lions.
South Fayette was slow starting, falling behind 6-0 and 10-2. The Lions had five turnovers in the first quarter, which ended with Oakland Catholic leading 15-4. The Lions looked tentative and uncertain against Oakland Catholic’s 1-2-2 zone defense and were in need of a spark. Not even the season debut of Ryan Oldaker could help.
Oldaker, who was a key reserve on last year’s PIAA runner-up team, suffered a knee injury during the summer and was cleared to play for the first time Wednesday. Oldaker played in every quarter but did not score.
“We were shocked they played zone,” South Fayette coach Bryan Bennett admitted. “We’ve seen that zone all year but didn’t practice against it this week.
“We had open looks but didn’t convert. We didn’t make shots and we had open looks.”
Oakland Catholic stretched its lead to 27-10 at halftime and looked much like the undefeated team that had been given the top seed in the WPIAL playoffs. The Eagles lost twice in the WPIAL tournament. Oakland Catholic entered the PIAA playoffs as the fourth-place team from the WPIAL.
From midway through the second quarter to game’s end, Oakland Catholic was content to spread out South Fayette, run a delay game and look for a layup or uncontested shot. It worked because the Eagles were able to move the ball quickly and avoid double teams from the Lions’ changing defenses.
Point guard Alaya Bivins scored 13 points for Oakland Catholic and Kaylee DeAngelo had 12 on four three-pointers.
Juliette Leroux led South Fayette with 10 points.
“I’m proud of these kids,” Bennett said. “At the beginning of the year nobody was thinking about us. But they came to practice, worked hard and we were able to do what we did because we’d play 32 good minutes. We didn’t get that tonight.”