Feb 23, 2015 By Eleanor Bailey 5 min read

After the quarterfinal round of the WPIAL Quad-A boys’ basketball playoffs, all four Section 4 teams lived to play another game – but only one advanced to the Final Four.

By virtue of a 65-50 triumph over Upper St. Clair (17-7), Chartiers Valley (21-3) moved on to the semifinals. The Colts will play No. 11-seed North Hills 8 p.m. Feb. 25 at Moon. The Indians (13-10) upset No. 3 seed Mt. Lebanon, 37-33, in a quarterfinal game played at North Allegheny. The Blue Devils, who tied CV for the Section 4 title, dropped into the consolation bracket to determine state tournament berths. Lebo was scheduled to face USC at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 24 at West Allegheny in a PIAA play-in game. Lebo (18-6) beat the Panthers in two previous section games.

Meanwhile, Bethel Park (16-8) gave top-seed North Allegheny (22-2) a scare before dropping out of the Quad-A tournament with a 65-63 loss Feb. 23 at North Hills. The Hawks, who finished runner-up to CV in Section 4, also slipped into the PIAA play-in round and faced Hempfield at 8 p.m. Feb. 24 at North Hills. The Spartans dropped a 44-39 decision to Fox Chapel.

For the Colts, it is their second straight trip to a semifinal game, but first at the Quad-A level since winning in 2004. They competed in Class AAA and won a title in 2010. They were AAA runners-up last year.

Immediately after dispatching USC, head coach Tim McConnell noted a few things regarding CV’s return to a Final Four. “I’m proud of my guys, but we have done nothing yet. We’ve got to keep going.”

And to get past North Hills, which made the semifinals in 2009 and lost to Lebo and in 2005 and lost to USC, the Colts must play defense and make free throws. Against USC, they converted 20 of 35 shots from the charity stripe. They also surrendered easy buckets in the final frame.

“We are going back to school and practice foul shots and prepare for North Hills,” McConnell said immediately after beating the Panthers.

“Two things that disappointed me was our defense in the fourth quarter and our foul shooting. If we are going to be a championships caliber team, then we can’t allow the easy baskets and we need to make our free throws.”

CV did make its three-pointers when it counted. Twice when USC cut the margin to seven points, 28-21, in the second stanza and eight points, 39-31, the Colts buried a three-pointer. Matt McConnell hit a buzzer beater to end the first half. He dished up an assist on Ross Wilkerson’s trey at the 2:24 mark in the third quarter. The bucket sparked a run that resulted in a 51-31 advantage one minute into the fourth quarter.

McConnell topped all scorers with 33 tallies. Wilkerson finished with 12 points and Jake Ritson managed 10 markers.

Though CV jumped ahead 11-1, USC closed the gap, 19-16, on a basket by Nick Beeler. Foul trouble, however, prevented the Panthers from drawing nearer. They trailed at the half, 31-21, and 46-31, after three frames. In the fourth quarter, Marcus McGinniss, Beeler and Zack Cherup all fouled out of the contest. McGinniss and Che-rup as well as Doug Wagner finished with nine markers. Andrew Wheeler led USC with 11 points.

“I’m disappointed,” said Danny Holzer, who earlier in the season defeated CV, 68-64. “We played a real good team. In order for us to beat them, we needed to play well and we didn’t. Foul trouble certainly didn’t help. But that was because we fought and they battled. That’s one thing our team does is play tough defense. We play hard on defense.”

North Hills certainly played tough defense against Mt. Lebanon. The Indians held Jonny David to four points, 12 below his average.

Nick Sabolovic fired in 14 points and buried two critical 3-pointers for North Hills. Nick Smith also finished in double digits for the Indians, pumping in 12 markers. With 18 points, Patrick Ehland was tops for Lebo.

Meanwhile, Bethel Park dropped a heartbreaker to the top-ranked Tigers. With 1.7 seconds to play, Cole Constantino scored the game-winning bucket. He totaled 26 points.

Joe Mascaro contributed 23 tallies to BP’s offense, including 11 in the fourth quarter. He drained a 3-pointer from the corner to tie the contest at 63 with 1:12 to play. Levi Metheny followed with 13 points.

The Hawks fell behind early, 19-10, and trailed at halftime, 39-30, before waging a comeback. With 4:37 to play in the third quarter, BP pulled to within four points, 41-37, on a pair of baskets by Jake Dixon and a 3-point field goal from Mascaro. Josh Duda’s trey cut the margin to 43-40. Heading into the final frame, the Tigers led, 51-47.

In Class AA quarterfinal action, defending WPIAL champion Seton-La Salle slipped past Our Lady of Sacred Heart, 60-54, while Bishop Canevin dropped a 74-51 decision to Aliquippa.

For the Rebels, Ryan Norkus pumped in 22 points. Cletus Helton and Christian Del Greco both finished with 10 tallies for SLS, which jumped to a 21-10 first-quarter advantage and stretched the margin to 31-20 by halftime.

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Mt. Lebanon had reached the quarterfinals with a 77-60 win over Norwin. Jonny David (24), Patrick Ehland (21) and Mark Lamendola (11) all finished in double figures for the Blue Devils.

Bishop Canevin opened tournament play with a 63-54 win against Apollo-Ridge. Justin Dix led the Crusaders with 23 markers. Mitchell King and John Weldon followed with 13 each and Walter Bonds finished with 11 points.

Seton-La Salle slipped past Shady Side Academy in the playoff opener. For the Rebels, Ryan Norkus (18), Paris Ford (13) and William O’Malley (10) scored in double figures.

After beating Steel Valley, 77-58, South Fayette dropped out of the WPIAL Class AAA boys’ playoffs with a loss, 69-46, to Beaver Falls. Brett Brumbaugh tossed in 12 tallies in defeat. He had 17 in the victory. Jack Relihan led all scorers with 28 against the Ironmen. Nick McKee provided 11 points.