The Penn-Trafford boys’ basketball team knew going into their Jan. 5th game against the 5A section leaders wasn’t going to be an easy task. Their competition, the Gateway Gators, had an eight-and-one record that season with their only loss being a close game to Upper St. Clair. They were leading the section and had not lost a conference match-up yet.
The game, which took place at Penn-Trafford High School, was close throughout the first quarter with the teams always being within four points of each other. Gateway was leading for the majority of the first quarter due to some good plays by senior Alex Dunsmore who had two blocks and a lay-up near the end of the quarter.
Additionally on the Gator side was senior Alex Lowry, who had a key three-pointer in the first few minutes to help take the lead. Even though Gateway came out playing great basketball, P-T also came out of the gate hot with two steals by senior Carmen Metcalfe, a three-pointer by junior Brayden Stone, and a vital lay-up by junior Jack Weishaar to end the first with a score of 13-9 in the Warriors favor.
Going into the second, P-T changed their defense from man defense to zone defense and subbed in senior Keith Otto, junior Tyler Anonthy, and Weishaar. Unfortunately for the Warriors, these changes didn’t show many great results with Gateway going on a scoring streak with early three-pointers by junior Steph Ricketts and senior Taili Thompson. Those three-pointers along with a rebound and score by Gator sophomore, Mykel Bruce-Mccrommon, forced Penn-Trafford to switch back to man defense. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to stop Gateway from adding points to the scoreboard. But a back-court violation by Gateway near the end of the quarter allowed for senior Tyler Freas to score a three-pointer to try to help the score, but it wasn’t enough and the Warriors were down 18-23 going into halftime.
Penn-Trafford came out of the locker looking to score some points in the second half, but several different fouls forced them to sub out some guys and allowed Gateway to lengthen the lead to 27-18.
Then a tough lay-up by sophomore Zach Feldman hoped to rally some points for the Warriors, and it did as it was quickly followed by a three-pointer by senior Ian Temple, a lay-up by Freas, a three-pointer, and an “and one” by junior Evan Gross. Despite P-T’s efforts to take the lead at every turn, the Gators answered back with their own scores, including two lay-ups by senior Vito Campolo and a fast break with score and a three-pointer by Lowry. The Gators were able to hold onto their lead with them being up 34-31 heading into the last quarter.
Despite being down, Penn-Trafford showed that they hadn’t given up with a great “and one” by Temple then a three-pointer by Gross to take the lead 37-35. This score change made Gateway start to full-court press and attempt to stop P-T, and it worked for a little bit and didn’t allow the Warriors to score so they called the first time-out of the game with 4:23 seconds left.
Unfortunately, the time-out didn’t help them put many more points on the board, and a couple of different penalties gave the Gators a look at some free throws that let them again take the lead 41-39. Temple tied the game back up with two made free throws, which helped build up hope. A lay-up by Bruce-Mccrommon along with another foul on P-T’s end allowed Gateway to go up 44-41. A lay-up by senior Bryson Pavlik and both free throws made by Campolo ended the game with the Gateway Gators winning with a final score of 49-43. Despite the loss, Penn-Trafford doesn’t feel down and is looking forward to continuing the season.
“We definitely have a lot to build on– a lot of positives from the game, but we need to find a way to finish out these close games. We really defended well and held them to 49, but we need to sustain the effort for the fourth quarter” stated assistant coach Andy LoNigro after the game.
Mia Williams, Business Manager