Peters Township settles for silver
Mickey Vaccarello (44) and Thomas Aspinall stand dejected after Peters Township’s loss to Penn Hills in the WPIAL Class 5A boys’ basketball championship game.
Peters Township players Cam Mills, Brendan McCullough and Jake Ziegler are inconsolable after their loss, 70-65, to Penn Hills in the WPIAL Class 5A boys’ championship basketball game.
Eleanor Bailey/Almanac
Nate Miller (3) makes his move on Noah Barron during WPIAL Class 5A boys’ championship action.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Brendan McCullough has his shot contested by Julian Dugger. Dugger was called for goaltending and the basket counted for McCullough during second-quarter action in the WPIAL Class 5A boys championship game Thursday night.
By Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Peters Township’s Nate Miller has the ball tipped away from him by Penn Hills’ Kenyan Smith (12) during the WPIAL Class 5A championship action Thursday night. The game ended too late for a story to be included in this edition. Visit www.observer-reporter.com for complete game details.
Eleanor Bailey/Almanac
Robert Thomas attempts to block a shot by Mickey Vaccaerllo during WPIAL championship action.
PITTSBURGH — It took Peters Township’s boys basketball program 14 years to return to the WPIAL finals. Unfortunately for coach Joe Urmann’s squad, the Indians will need to wait at least one more year to bring home WPIAL gold.
The top-seeded Indians battled tooth and nail with the second-seeded Penn Hills Indians on March 2 in the Class 5A title game at the Petersen Events Center on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. However, Penn Hills’ length and athleticism proved to be a bit too much for Peters Township as the top-seeded Indians fell 70-65.
With the win, Penn Hills brings home its sixth WPIAL title and first since 2018. Peters Township finishes as the No. 2 seed from the WPIAL entering the PIAA Class 5A playoffs. The Indians start their state title quest on March 10 when they will play Milton Hershey in the opening round.
“I knew what I had in our locker room,” Penn Hills coach Chris Giles said after the game. “We knew what we had in there and felt good coming in.”
Penn Hills (21-3) had four double-digit scorers. Noah Barren led all players with 22 points. Daemar Kelly added 21 and Robert Thomas and Division I football recruit Julian Dugger each had 10.
Peters Township was paced by Brendan McCullough’s 19 points. Jack Dunbar, who was hobbled by an upper leg injury suffered in the first quarter, chipped in 15 while Nate Miller had 11.
“I’m proud of my guys,” Urmann said. “They battled as hard as they could.”
Peters Township played uphill much of the second half as the Penn Hills began the third quarter with an 8-0 run to take a 37-30 lead. Dealing with the stingy Penn Hills defense proved extremely difficult for Peters Township, which missed its first six shots of the third quarter.
“We had some looks that were halfway down and out,” Urmann lamented. “We missed a close-in chippy as well. Those go down, it may have been a different game.”
A Dugger old-fashioned three-point play along with a Barren bucket pushed the Penn Hills lead to 42-32 midway through the third quarter. Penn Hills parlayed a 15-4 run in the third to push its lead to 44-39 at the end of the quarter.
A McCullough driving layup pulled Peters Township to within three early in the fourth. But Penn Hills then went to work on the offensive glass as a Thomas putback pushed the lead to 56-45 with 3:13 left.
Peters Township would not quit and made a late push. Five points by McCullough pulled the Indians to within 56-51 with 2:54 left in the game. A Thomas Aspinall three-pointer made it a four-point game at 58-54 with two minutes to go, but it would be as close as Peters Township would get as Penn Hills sealed the win from the foul line, going 8-for-10 in the game’s final moments.
McCullough added he is proud to be one of the seniors that helped change the culture at Peters Township (22-4).
“It started at the end of last year with our open gyms,” he noted. “We just came together as a team and decided to make it happen. I’m proud to be part of this group.”
Peters Township didn’t let the bright lights of the Oakland Zoo phase them early as Dunbar again got the top-seeded Indians off to a hot start, making his first two shots to stake Peters Township to an early 5-0 lead. Cam Mills contributed four points in the opening quarter as Peters Township carried a slim 15-13 lead into the second quarter.
It was during this period that Dunbar appeared to tweak his left leg.
“Looked like it was a hip flexor,” Urmann noted. “That was something that just popped up and never happened before.”
Dunbar was able to finish the game but was liberally substituted out during the course of the contest.
Barren dragged Penn Hills along as he scored 16 first-half points, most of which were off drives and floaters in the lane. Barren capped a 12-2 run with 4:10 left in the half that gave Penn Hills a 23-18 lead.
Peters Township ended the half on a 12-6 push that was driven by six points from McCullough. His last bucket of the half was scored amongst some taller Penn Hills player late in the period to give Peters Township a 30-29 lead at the half.
Notes
Penn Hills outrebounded Peters Township 32-23. They also held Peters Township to 6-for-22 shooting from behind the three-point line. … Penn Hills shot 54.3 percent from the field while Peters Township shot 43.6 percent.