Seton-La Salle beats East Allegheny in OT
Mark Walsh had words of wisdom for his players. “Don’t get discouraged,” he told them. And the Rebels didn’t.
Despite losing its two leading scorers in the game to fouls, Seton-La Salle rebounded from as much a 38-29 deficit and defeated East Allegheny (12-8) in overtime, 57-52, during a WPIAL Class 3-A boys’ basketball playoff game.
“Our kids played with a lot of heart. It was so gutsy for them to comeback and get to overtime.”
When the Rebels pushed the contest into an extra frame, Michael Bigley took over. The freshman converted five of his six free throws to cement the victory and vault SLS into the quarterfinals against Lincoln Park (19-4). That game is set for Feb. 23.
In addition to Bigley, Nick Deanes and Matt Banbury played key roles in the triumph. Deanes, who finished with eight points, scored the bucket that knotted the game at 47 with 10 seconds left in regulation to force the overtime. Banbury buried three, 3-point field goals, two in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter to keep pace with the Wildcats.
Before fouling out in the fourth quarter, George Mike and Jakob Richardson led the Rebels’ attack. Each finished with 13 points.
“It wasn’t looking too good when Mike and Jakob fouled out but we had guys step up. We went to a constructive style of play and when we went to a zone defense we got back into the game because we forced them to take the deep shots.”
East Allegheny, which was outscored, 18-9, in the final eight minutes of action had trouble from the foul line. The Wildcats made just 8 of 25 attempts from the charity stripe. They missed seven of eight in the overtime.
“Free throw shooting was a key,” Walsh said. “We held our own from the line.”