Dec 8, 2018 9 min read

Sparked by 24 points from guard C.J. Cole, McGuffey held off Waynesburg 59-54 in the championship game of the Highlanders’ season-opening tournament Saturday night.

McGuffey won its tournament for the fourth consecutive year, but this time it had to fight off a second-half comeback by Waynesburg, which trailed 32-16 at halftime.

Lucas Garber led the charge by the Raiders by scoring 26 points, including 16 in the fourth quarter. Richard Bortz had 10 points.

Cole, who was the tournament’s MVP, had a double-double, finishing with 13 rebounds. Colin Walters had a strong game with 16 points for the Highlanders, who made 27 of 35 free throws.

South Fayette 52, South Park 39: Conner Mislan scored a game-high 17 points and South Fayette defeated South Park 52-39 to win the South Park tournament.

Like Mislan, Joe Alcorn was double figures for the second consecutive night, scoring 12 points. Drew Franklin had 10 points.

Jacob Scariff scored 10 points for South Park (1-1).

Peters Township 64, Thomas Jefferson 62: Peters Township rallied from a poor first quarter to topple Thomas Jefferson, 64-62 in the Peters Township-Baldwin Tipoff Tournament.

Colin Cote led PT (1-1) with 19 points. The Indians trailed 26-14 after the first quarter but outscored TJ (1-1), 50-36, over the final three quarters.

Isaac McNeil scored 24 points and Shane Stump added 16 for the Jaguars.

Jeannette 51, Belle Vernon 47: Belle Vernon is still trying for its first win under new coach Joe Salvino after losing to Jeannette 51-47 in the Hempfield tournament.

The game was close throughout with Belle Vernon leading 15-12 after one quarter. The first half ended tied at 26-26, and Jeannette surged ahead int he third quarter. A.J. Sharp scored 11 points for the Jayhawks (1-1) and Seth Howard had 10.

Jeannette made 11 of 14 free throws compared to only eight of 15 for Belle Vernon. The Leopards received a game-high 17 points from Cam Nusser.

Belle Vernon is at Washington on Monday night.

Beth-Center 56, Jefferson-Morgan 45: Beth-Center bounced back from a close loss to the host team on Friday to defeat Jefferson-Morgan 56-45 in the consoaltion game of the California Tournament.

J.J. Green led the way for B-C with 24 points. The Bulldogs led 18-2 after one quarter but J-M, behind a 24-point performance by Tahj Jacobs, bounced back and closed to within 33-20 at halftime and 40-37 after three quarters. Beth-Center secured the win by outscoring the Rockets 16-8 in the fourth quarter.

Burgettstown 60, Fort Cherry 35: Scott Ferris led four Burgettstown players in double figures with 16 points, including 14 in the first half, as the Blue Devils cruised past Fort Cherry 60-35 in the consolation game of the McGuffey tournament.

The teams will meet against Tuesday night at Burgettstown.

The Blue Devils broke open the game in the middle quarters, outscoring the Rangers 26-9.

Cole Shergi had 14 points, Bobby Kozares 13 and Dylan Poirer 10 for Burgettstown.

Fort Cherry, which had only three players in the scoring column, was led by Maddox Truschel’s game-high 21 points. Zach Vincenti had 12.

Turkeyfoot 95, Mapletown 59: Tanner Colflesh scored 28 points and Blake Nicholson had 20 as Turkeyfoot trotted on Mapletown, defeating the Maples 95-59 in the consolation game of the Geibel tournament.

Turkeyfoot scored 51 first-half points.

Mapletown’s Lance Stevenson matched Colflesh by scoring 28 points. Ryan Tuttle also was in double figures with 14 points.

Chartiers-Houston 72, West Greene 51: After struggling from the field in its season opener, Chartiers-Houston bounced back by scoring at least 17 points in all four quarters to defeat West Greene, 72-51, in the Brownsville tournament.

The Bucs (1-1) were led again by Anthony Tomassetti, who finished with a game-high 25 points. Sophomore Austin Arnold had a double-double for C-H with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Seth Dunn chipped in 10 points.

West Greene (0-2) couldn’t recover from a sluggish start. The Pioneers trailed 18-6 after the first quarter. Austin Crouse scored 22 points, while Nathan Brudnock finished with 13.

• In other games, Trinity lost to Altoona, 60-45, in the consolation game of the Canon-McMillan tournament. Hopewell was a 64-40 winner over Avella at the Carlynton tournament. Ringgold was a 69-52 winner over Mt. Pleasant. No game details were made available.

Girls results

Peters Township 81, Thomas Jefferson 52: Makenna Marisa scored a game-high 36 points as Peters Township dropped Thomas Jefferson, 81-52 in the Peters Township-Baldwin Tipoff Tournament.

Marisa had 10 three-point field goals for the Indians (2-0). Isabella Mills added 12.

Alyssa DeAngelo tossed in 21, Jenna Clark 13 and Dalaney Ranallo 11 for TJ (1-1).

South Fayette 56, Upper St. Clair 38: South Fayette used a 28-point performance by Maura Castelluci and held Upper St. Clair to two points in the second quarter en route to a 56-38 victory over the Panthers in the championship game of the Lions’ tournament.

Castelluci made five three-pointers to fuel South Fayette’s offense, and the Lions’ defense stymied USC in the second quarter when they outscored the visitors 17-2 to open a 33-18 halftime lead.

Clare Relihan scored 11 points for South fayette. USC was led in scoring by Lindsay Meyer’s 12 points.

Chartiers-Houston 49, Geibel Catholic 23: Chartiers-Houston received big scoring games from two underclassmen and rolled to a 49-23 victory over Geibel Catholic in the consolation game of the Brownsville tournament.

Freshman Dominique Mortimer scored a game-high 17 points for lead the Bucs (1-1) and sophomore Zamierah Edwards was close behind with 16 points. C-H took charge of the game in the first half, building a 11-1 lead after one quarter and a 25-7 advantage at halftime.

Sara Ehrhardt led Geibel (0-2) with eight points.

Waynesburg 68, Jefferson-Morgan 32: Claire Paige Miller and Nina Sarra each scored 15 points, leading Waynesburg to a 68-32 victory over Jefferson-Morgan in the consolation game of the California tournament.

Miller and Sarra paced a Waynesburg attack that pit four players in double figures. Jules Fowler and Emma Mankey each contributed 11 points as the Raiders scored 42 first-half points and led 23-4 after one quarter.

Autumn Gustovich was Jefferson-Morgan’s leading scorer with 14 points.

Penn-Trafford 71, Belle Vernon 59: Bella Long scored a game-high 26 points and Penn-Trafford, bolstered by a 30-point second quarter, defeated Belle Vernon 71-59 in the McKeesport tournament.

Penn-Trafford (1-1) led 13-12 after one quarter but broke the game open by outscoring Belle Vernon 30-13 over the next eight minutes.

Belle Vernon (0-2) had four players in double figures, led by Lindsay Steeber with 20 points. Grace Henderson followed with 13 points, Rachel Wobrak had 12 and Taylor Rodriguez 10.

McGuffey 41, Mapletown 30: McGuffey held Mapletown to one point in the first quarter and the Highlanders went on to a 41-30 victory over Mapletown in the consolation game of the Avella tournament.

Abby Donnelly led the Highlanders’ offense with 15 points and Kiera Nicolella followed with 11 points.

Taylor Dusenberry scored 10 points for Mapletown, which outscored McGuffey in the second half but couldn’t dig out of a 13-point hole at halftime.

Brownsville 73, Bentworth 19: Brownsville, led by Aniya Tarpley’s 16 points, rolled to the championship of its own tournament by defeating Bentworth 73-19 in the title game.

Caroline Rice had 13 points for Bentworth.

Beth-Center 49, Freedom 46: Elizabeth Trump made a three-pointer with 8.7 seconds remaining in overtime as Beth-Center completed a comeback to down Freedom, 49-46, in the consolation game of the Freedom tournament.

Beth-Center (1-1) trailed 36-29 entering the fourth quarter but was sparked by Oliva Greco. The junior guard scored 10 of her game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, including a pair of game-tying shots in the fourth.

Greco was named to the all-tournament team.

Freedom falls to 0-2.

Carlynton 50, Fort Cherry 26: Carlynton jumped out to an early lead in the first half and cruised to a 50-26 victory over Fort Cherry.

In their home tournament, the Cougars limited Fort Cherry (1-1) to eight first-half points, three in the first quarter and five in the second, to lead 23-8 at halftime.

Jada Lee paced Carlynton with 12 points.

McKenzie Faure’s seven points was a team-high for Fort Cherry.

Beaver 65, Monessen 21: Emma Pavclek outscored the entire Monessen team as Beaver trounced the Greyhounds, 65-21, in the Charleroi tournament.

Pavclek scored 31 points.

Beaver (2-0) led 30-13 at halftime then continued to create separation from the Greyhounds in the second half by outscoring them 27-4.

Jahnell Jackson led Monessen (0-2) with eight points.

Southmoreland 60, West Greene 47: Unlike West Greene’s first game when it opened the third quarter on a huge scoring run, the opening minutes of the second half plagued the Pioneers in the Southmoreland tournament.

The Scotties extended their nine-point halftime lead in the third quarter to defeat West Greene, 60-47.

Four players for Southmoreland (2-0) scored in double figures, including a 17-point night for Maggie Moore and 11 points from Grace Stadaro.

After being outscored in the third quarter 15-6, West Greene (1-1) tried to make a late comeback in the fourth quarter but fell to the Scotties, who are in Class 4A.

McKenna Lampe scored a team-high 16 points. Kaitlyn Rizor also reached double-digits with 12 points for the Pioneers.

Burgettstown 33, Avella 27: The second quarter proved to be the difference as Burgettstown defeated Avella, 33-27, in the championship game of the Avella tournament.

The Blue Devils, who improve to 2-0, outscored Avella 8-2 in the second quarter.

Burgettstown’s Emily Parsko and Avery Havelka tied for a game-high with 10 points.

Colleen Kinney also scored 10 points for Avella (1-1).

Charleroi 39, Carmichaels 29: Bella Skobel scored 19 points to power Charleroi to a 39-29 win over Carmichaels in the Charleroi Tipoff Tournament.

Charleroi (2-0) outscored Carmichaels (0-2), 24-21, in the second half.

Gina Ranieri had 12 points for the Mikes.