Trinity finds no comfort at home
By Dave Whipkey
For the Observer-Reporter
newsroom@observer-reporter.com
The WPIAL postseason was a short one for the Trinity boys basketball team.
Facing long odds at a lengthy playoff run, the Hillers did take solace that they had a home game as a 16h seed in the Class 5A playoffs, hosting the 17th-seeded Woodland Hills Friday evening in a preliminary round game at Hiller Hall.
Had they overcome the Wolverines, the Hillers would have had a date with the top-seeded Moon Tigers in the first round. Woodland Hills had other ideas as it took control early and sent the Hillers home for the season with a resounding 64-42 win.
Woodland Hills (9-13) will travel Monday to Moon and try to become a Cinderella story.
“They’re a well-coached team with a lot of talent,” Wolverines coach Jared Zych said in reference to Moon outside the Woodland Hills locker room. “We hope we can be that Cinderella team that everyone talks about this time of year.”
The Wolverines were paced by 6-8 forward Lamar Williams, who finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocked shots. Amere Brown also had 14 points for the Wolverines while Troy Akins and Jayden Hill chipped in with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
“He’s a special, special player,” Zych said in reference to Williams. “He has the ability to play on the next level for sure.”
Trinity coach Tim Tessmer said the Wolverines’ speed along with Williams’ ability to control the paint was a huge factor.
“He was a presence inside for sure,” Tessmer added. “Any time we got close it seemed as if he was there to swat it back. Then we just started throwing things up.”
Trinity got as close as 43-35 in the fourth quarter, but Williams went to work. He scored 10 points in the final quarter, eight of which came on dunks.
Wolverines point guard Scoop Smith was also a catalyst as he was able to penetrate the Hillers’ zone defense to find either Williams for a dunk or open shooters all night long.
“He gets us in our offense and gets us set,” Zych said about Smith. “He was big for us tonight.”
Woodland Hills’ perimeter shooting was also a catalyst as it knocked down eight three-pointers.
“We know teams are gonna play us zone, so we need to make those to open things up,” Zych noted. “That comes with repetition and practice and it showed here tonight.”
Trinity was able to get as close as four points in the early stages of the third thanks to a Jonah Williamson bucket and two Anthony Giorgi free throws. But a Williams dunk extended the lead back to six and Trinity got no closer.
Giorgi led the Hillers (10-13) with 13 points while Kaden Hathaway finished with 10 points for Trinity.
The Wolverines got off to a strong start in the first quarter as they took a 16-9 lead. Williams announced his presence defensively with four first-quarter blocks. Akins’ seven first-quarter points helped stake the visitors to an early lead.
Trinity make a push and pulled to within 23-22 in the later stages of the half, thanks to back to back buckets by Giorgi. But Woodland Hills ended the half on a 10-2 run to push their halftime lead to 33-25.