Hickory tops Warren, 58-45, in D-10 Class 4A quarterfinals; Grove City defeats Slippery Rock
Feb. 25—SHARON — One positive when your team is an underdog: If it pulls off the upset, you can howl at the moon.
"I love it!" Hickory High boys' basketball Coach Chris Mele said following his Hornets' 58-45 District 10 Class 4A quarterfinal-round win over Warren.
Considering Hickory advanced to last season's PIAA championship game, Mele relished the role of the 'dog, which relaxed his Hornets.
"It feels fantastic, it feels great! The first one's always the toughest 'cause if you lose, you go home. Now we know we have at least two more games to play," Mele mused.
At Sharon's Tiger Gymnasium Thursday night, reigning 3-time D-10 titlist Hickory (15-7) harvested a 16-8 first-quarter lead and never trailed.
Warren (14-9) rallied from double-digit deficits to draw within 45-39 with 3:27 remaining on Parks Ordiway's left-wing triple; however Coach Jeff Berdine's Dragons drew no closer.
During the 4th frame Hickory converted 13 of 20 free-throw attempts, led by Aidan Enoch's 6-for-8 marksmanship. The Hornets had a substantial edge from the line — 16 for 24, compared with Warren's 8-for-10 output.
Tyson Djakovich drained a pair of triples and Jackson Pryts and Joey Fazzone divided an additional 8 points, hoisting Hickory to a 16-8 first-quarter lead.
"We haven't done a great job of that this year," mentor Mele admitted, "but we got off to a fast start. We were movin' the ball really well, we were cutting off the ball — a lot of teams are doubling on our 'bigs' (Pryts and Fazzone) — but we were able to cut off the ball, and you saw some beautiful passes ... "
To that point, Tyler Mele mustered some back-cuts from the corner and was on the receiving end of a pair of Pryts passes.
Hickory assisted on 16 of its 19 made field goals, led by Fazzone and Djakovich (4 apiece), Pryts (3) and Enoch (2). That led to a quartet of double-figure scorers including Pryts (game-high 16 points), Djakovich (13, including a trio of treys), and Mele and Fazzone (10 each).
Fazzone sprained his right ankle with 3:49 remaining in the 3rd period and did not return to the floor; however Mele said, "Joey's a fighter. If I know Joey he'll do whatever he can to play (next Tuesday), if he can go. We'll assess him and see what he can do."
Warren was led by J.T. Blum's 14 points and game-high 9 rebounds and Tommy Nyquist, who notched 12 points and dished out 4 dimes. However as Mele noted, "We did a great job on Ordiway. He's their leading scorer; he had one 'three.' That was a key. They had a couple other guys step up, and we knew they would.
"But we played a complete team game," Mele continued. "The last few we hadn't had that, except for Sharon (regular-season finale) and the scrimmage (against Girard) we had it. Hopefully, it's a sign of good things for us."
Notes: Hickory hit 19 of 43 floor shots (44.1%), committed 10 miscues — 6 during the 2nd half — and out-rebounded Warren, 32-23, led by Djakovich (8) and Pryts and Fazzone (7 each). Pryts also blocked 3 shots. ... Warren went 17 for 44 from the field (38.6%) and the Dragons were guilty of just 9 turnovers. Off the bench Jeff Berdine bucketed 8 points and Braylon Barnes bombed 2 treys. ... Hickory will face Fairview — a 64-32 winner over Corry — Tuesday night at a site and time to be announced.
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Also Thursday:
D-10 Class 4A Quarterfinals
— Grove City 46, Slippery Rock 37 — At Sharon High School, the Eagles scored a third-round knockout Thursday.
After sweeping the regular-season series from the Rockets (51-47, 41-33), Grove City eliminated their Route 173 rivals in the District 10 Class 4A quarterfinals and advanced to the semifinals for the 4th year in a row.
"We all know each other and we're all friends," Grove City senior Landon Haggart said. "We play multiple sports against each other and they always play hard. Coach (A.J.) Motta is doing a great job with them, but this was so much fun. We had a great week of practice and we're so excited to keep playing.
With their defense taking the lead, Grove City (14-8) advances to Tuesday's 4A semifinals and will face Oil City (15-8) — who beat Harbor Creek 39-36 — Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.
"To be honest, we're taking the survive and advance mentality," Grove City Coach Chris Kwolek said. "We're going one game at a time, but we need to get this out of the way and take a look at how we can get better before spending two days on preparing for Oil City. I can tell you this much if that team is beating Harbor Creek and they're beating Fairview (Oil City) is no joke."
With the loss, Slippery Rock (13-10) must say goodbye to seniors Brady Prementine, Shane Thompson and Walker Vogan.
"My heart just breaks for my seniors," Rocket Coach Motta said. "Brady and Shane have been with me all three years that I've been here. They've poured their guts into this program and have transformed it into what it's become. I owe a lot to them. I wish we could keep going for them and I wish we could've written a different outcome, because I never want a season to end, especially this way to a region rival."
Thursday evening, the Eagles harassed the Rockets into 14-of-36 shooting and 14 turnovers, while limiting Slippery Rock standout guards John Sabo and Dylan Gordon — who combined to average 25.4 points a game — to a combined 15 points in their first District 10 playoff game.
"Defense always travels," Kwolek said. "We take pride in how well we defend and we have a goal of no more than 40 every game. If we hold our opponents to less than that, I think that gives us the best chance to win."
After Grove City took a 20-11 lead late in the second quarter, the Rockets forced their way back into the game over the first half's closing moments and the first 40 seconds of the third quarter to force a 20-all stalemate on a traditional three-point play from Jacob Wolak — who scored 7 of Slippery Rock's 9 points during the run.
"We talk about coming out in the first three minutes and being aggressive and trying to close the gap or build on our lead," Motta said. "We were able to do that and made a couple really nice plays. We got some stops defensively, too. We were feeling pretty good at that point, but we knew there was still a lot of game left to be played."
With Josh Dreves, Gavin Lutz, Landon Haggart and Dylan Stull each contributing baskets, the Eagles immediately snatched the momentum back with a 9-3 run and take a 29-23 lead.
"In practice, we run drills where the varsity team is down 10 points and we have to come back in two minutes," Haggart said. "We run those drills for a reason and tonight was that reason. We just kept our composure, which was good. We played like men not boys tonight!"
After Lutz and Gordon traded 3-balls to open the fourth quarter scoring, Grove City took the air out of the ball a bit before using an 8-2 run over a 60-second span late in the quarter to pull away and open up an 11-point lead (45-34).
"Our battle-tested schedule helped us out," Kwolek said. "I really believe that. Because we go so deep into fall sports, we don't get the chance to start playing our best basketball until after Christmas or the new year."
The Eagles jumped out to an early 4-0 lead on a Haggart layup and free throws from Stull and Kamden Martin and later used a 6-2 mini-run to take a 13-7 lead into the second quarter.
After buckets from Vogan and Thompson pulled the Rockets to within 13-11, Grove City used a 7-0 run to set up the climatic second-half performance.
"There's a lot of unanswered questions about our basketball team only because of the inexperience on the floor," Kwolek said. "We started two sophomores and a freshman against a team that you know is a little more experienced than you are and was playing their best basketball at the end of the season.
"So there were some question marks coming in(to tonight). Were we going to play nervous? Were we going to come in unplayoff experienced like we were? I think we set the tone early in the game with that 10-5 score. During a timeout at that point, I said the hard part's over with we just have to go out and play."
Haggart led the Eagles with a 13-point, 5-steal, 4-rebound effort. Lutz chipped in with 7 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals, while limiting Sabo to just 6 points. Freshman Nate Greer finished 8 points, including a pair of key putbacks.
"We have the four seniors but the rest of the team is underclassmen and they're all doing great," Haggart said. "Gavin has been terrific all year. Nate, wow! He's done a great job offensively and defensively."
Wolak posted a game-high 14 points and 5 rebounds for Slippery Rock, while Gordon lent 9 points and 4 boards.
"I'm sure I'll have a better perspective in a few days, but this was a great season," Motta said. "We exceeded expectations. We did things and beat teams that people didn't think we could do. Going into next year with four starters back and a bunch of other guys who are ready to contribute, it's looking good."
Notes: Grove City swept the regular-season series from Slippery Rock. ... Prementine was in street clothes and did not play for unspecified reasons. ... Slippery Rock led just once 23-22 on a Sabo third-quarter trey. ... Grove City had just 6 turnovers, while making 18-of-44 shots. ... Martin and Vogan had 6 rebounds for their teams — Submitted by Herald Sports Correspondent Corey J. Corbin.
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DISTRICT 10 CLASS 4A
QUARTERFINALS
WARREN 8 8 14 15 45
HICKORY 16 12 11 19 58
WARREN — Nyquist 4-4-6-12, Ordiway 1-0-0-3, Blum 5-4-4-14, Becker 1-0-0-2, Vega 0-0-0-0 Berdine 4-0-0-8, Greene 0-0-0-0, Barnes 2-0-0-6, Blair 0-0-0-0, Hoffman 0-0-0-0, Rich 0-0-0-0. 3-pt. goals: Barnes 2, Ordiway 1. Totals: 17-8-10-45.
HICKORY — Mele 3-3-4-10, Pryts 7-2-2-16, Fazzone 3-4-7-10, Enoch 0-6-8-6, Djakovich 5-0-0-13, C.Evangelista 0-1-2-1, Swanson 1-0-0-2, Daniels 0-0-0-0, Uberti 0-0-1-0. 3-pt. goals: Djakovich 3, Mele 1. Totals: 19-16-24-58.
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SLIPPERY ROCK 7 8 10 12 37
GROVE CITY 13 7 12 14 46
SLIPPERY ROCK — Sabo 2-1-2-6, Gordon 2-4-4-9, Thompson 2-0-0-4, Wolak 6-2-2-14, Vogan 2-0-0-4, Pyle 0-0-0-0, L. Prementine 0-0-0-0. 3-pt. goals: Sabo 1, Gordon 1. Totals: 14-7-8-37.
GROVE CITY — Stull 2-2-4-7, Greer 4-0-0-8, Loughry 1-0-0-2, Pereira 0-0-0-0, Haggart 6-0-0-13, Dreves 2-0-0-4, Lutz 2-2-4-7, Martin 1-3-4-5. 3-pt. goals: Stull 1, Haggart 1, Lutz 1. Totals: 18-7-12-46.
