South Hills basketball squads look to fill vacancy at the top
With the move to Class 5-A for Chartiers Valley, neighboring rivals Bethel Park, Canon-McMillan, Mt. Lebanon, Peters Township and Upper St. Clair will now battle for basketball supremacy in the South Hills. The five hoop powers, along with Baldwin and Connellsville, have climbed the classification ladder to 6-A and will compete in Section 2 this winter.
Last year, the closest competitors to the Colts, who played in the now-defunct Section 4-AAAA, were BP and Baldwin. Each finished four games behind CV in the standings followed by PT and Lebo, six games behind. USC and CM trailed after that, failing to make the playoffs.
So the 2016-17 campaign promises to be full surprises, not to mention competition, as the fierce foes race to fill the vacancy at the top.
Graduation took a heavy tool on teams, particularly Bethel Park, which lost all five starters and its top seven players, from a squad that finished fifth in the WPIAL and competed in the PIAA playoffs before finishing 19-8 overall under first-year skipper Joshua Bears.
Upper St. Clair
The Panthers also graduated their full-time starters, including Andrew Wheeler, Doug Wagner, Ryan Harkleroad and Zach Patras, who is playing at Allegheny College. The Panthers finished a dismal 6-8 in the section and 11-11 overall last season.
Despite those negatives numbers, Dan Holzer is optimistic as the Panthers tip off the season hosting their own tournament Dec. 9-10. USC plays Monessen at 7:30 on Friday and will play either in the consolation game at 6 p.m. or the championship contest at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday against the winner between CV and Bishop Canevin.
“Our goals as always are to improve as the year progresses, play as a team, win the section, WPIAL and state,” Holzer said. “We need to mesh on offense and defense as soon as possible because we have a well-balanced schedule and the entire section contains our toughest opponents.”
Individually, Gabe Houy could be opponents’ toughest assignment to defend. The University of Pittsburgh football recruit is a 6-7, 270-pound center. Additionally, Chris Pantelis is a sophomore guard with plenty of experience at the point position. Both were nursing injuries heading into the tip-off tournament but, Holzer predicts, should make an impact on the Panthers’ play this season.
Darius Radfar, a guard, is the lone senior on the club.
The Panthers benefit from a host of talented, multi-sport athletes as Jack Hansberry, Matt Kissinger, Colin McLinden and Quentin Nelson are football players like Houy and Pantelis. All are capable guards, except Kissinger and Nelson, who will be utilized as forwards.
Kyle Meinert, Mike Hess, Nathan Liptak and Brett Moore are key juniors, who will fill roles as guards while Jesse Fera, Tanner Gensler and Luke Geisler are sophomores, who round out the varsity roster.
“Our guard play should be solid,” Holzer said, “but we don’t have much experience. It’s a young team with only two seniors.”
Peters Township
The Indians return just one starter from last year’s 14-9 club that tied Lebo for the final playoff spot. Mike Cortese averaged 13.5 points last season. The 5-10 senior guard is expected to fuel PT’s attack.
“He can flat out score,” coach Gary Goga said.
The Indians, however, must fill the gap on offense created by Nick Valentic’s departure to Waynesburg. Valentic averaged 20.8 points per game last year. Kelson Marissa, Ben Doyle and Clayton Yeates also were starters lost to graduation.
Goga plugs in senior Matt Thelk at the point position while Dax Ploskina, Jake Cortes and Conor Pederson provide a lot of promise to the starting line-up. Ploskina is a sophomore sharpshooter. Cortes excelled at quarterback for the football team. Pederson is a transfer from Seton-La Salle.
“Dax really can shoot the ball. We are excited to watch his progress,” Goga said. “At 6-5, Jake gives us some size inside and Conor coming back gives us good luck because he can get to the rim and create.”
The Indians will also rely upon sophomore guard Vinnie Cortese, along with Grant Mocharko, Kory Hilliard, Danny Kita, Matty Stuck, John Brucker and Josh Casilli, a freshman. According to Goga, Cortese and Stuck are excellent shooters. At 6-5, Mocharko gives PT depth inside. Hilliard is solid and coming back from a horrific ankle injury. Kita provides grit, leadership and toughness while Brucker gives the Indians versatility.
“We are young but we can shoot,” Goga said about the squad’s strengths and weaknesses. “If we rebound and defend, we can reach our goals, which are to compete and get better every day. It’s going to be another crazy year. However, Canon-McMillan is the team to beat. They are experienced, talented and return excellent guards.”
Canon-McMillan
Indeed it could be the year of the Big Macs as C-M returns four starters. Jordan Smith graduated but Britton Beachy, RJ Bell, Carson Miller and Jake Davey return from a 3-11 team that lost many games by narrow margins last season.
Beachy averaged 16 points, six rebounds and four assists. Bell managed 12.2 points to go along with six boards a game. Miller tossed in a dozen a night and grabbed seven rebounds. Davey’s production was eight points and four rebounds an outing.
Bringing quickness and athleticism to the team and line-up are Kenyan Lewis, Jason Fowlkes, Colin Torpey, Elliott Waller, Drew Engel and Cameron Walker.
As always the Big Macs have carved out typical goals: qualify for the playoffs, win the section title and gain a PIAA tournament berth. To do so the Big Macs will take advantage of their strengths, which are depth, basketball IQ and leadership.
Mt. Lebanon
The Blue Devils make the division competitive because they return four starters. Head coach Joe David welcomes back Mark Lamendola, Antonio Garofoli, Sean Loughran and Joey Passodelis from last year’s line-up that produced a 7-7 section record, which resulted in a playoff appearance.
A senior point guard, Lamendola led the team in scoring with 16 points per game. He pulled in six rebounds. A sharpshooting junior, Garafoli averaged 11 points and led the team in 3-point field goals. A sophomore, Loughran managed eight points while Passodelis, a junior, put up six points and five rebounds an outing.
While Lebo lost one starter in Eddie Jenkins, playing sprint football at Penn, they will boast a strong bench and expect Mike Palmer Brice Miller, Caden Hinckley, Sean Witte, Lucas Decaro and Blaine Gartley to contribute mightily.
While the Blue Devils lack a “big man”, they offset that weakness with crucial assets.
“Shooting and ball handling with numerous guards are our strengths,” David said. “If we shoot the ball well, defend and out-work the opponent, then we should reach our goals.”
David defined Lebo’s expectations as winning the section, WPIAL title and states. “Always the same,” he said, “and improve as the season progresses.”