Upper St. Clair coach nets 400th career win
When it comes to milestones, Danny Holzer and his Upper St. Clair boys’ basketball teams have a flair for the dramatic.
Six years ago, the long-time Panthers coach needed a double-overtime win against Peters Township, 67-62, to post his 300th career win. On Feb. 1, Holzer only needed one extra quarter to record career win 400.
“Yes, absolutely,” he said, “this is memorable. The way it happened. We missed like a million free throws.”
Not exactly. The Panthers were 19 of 35 from the line.
Plus, USC (18-2, 7-2) also overcame as much as an 11-point deficit to manage the victory.
“This team has been like this all year. We have found ways to win despite not doing some things that you need to do to win big games. You would think you couldn’t miss that many free throws and still win. But we have done that a couple of times. Sometimes we make all of our free throws and maybe not do some other things.
“The thing is we never gave up. That is the way this team is.”
The Panthers fell behind immediately, 18-9, in the first frame and spent the next three quarters climbing back into the contest. They took their first lead of the game, 57-55, ironically on a 3-point play by Chris Pantelis with 3:07 remaining in regulation.
Free throws from Alex Mullen knotted the contest, 59-59, for Bethel Park and pushed the game into overtime.
In the extra four minutes, USC opened up a 73-64 advantage on the strength of Tanner Gensler’s play. He scored nine of his team-high 23 points in the period.
Pantelis finished with 14 markers and Ben Sandusky provided 13 tallies.
For the Hawks, Mullen (19), Ryan Meis (18) and Ron Zeiler (10) all finished in double figures.
The win solidified USC’s hold on second place in Section 2, 6A and further bolstered the Panthers’ bid for a high seed in the upcoming WPIAL playoffs, a familiar place for Holzer. He has captured two WPIAL championships, one in his first season as head coach in 1995 and the other in 2005, when Dallas Cowboy Sean Lee was on the squad.
“Twenty-four great years. It’s all the players, good coaches and fans,” said Holzer, who is the 12th active WPIAL coach to reach 400 and stands at 400-198 overall. “I am humbled to be in this position and to coach in this school district and this program. I hope there are more years to come because I love this place and I love the kids here.”