Upper St. Clair boys basketball coach Danny Holzer is starting to get used to this milestone thing.
Last month, he celebrated his 60th birthday.
Last week, he began his 30th season as head coach of the Panthers.
On Tuesday night, he guided his top-ranked USC team to a victory over Norwin in the Section 2-6A opener, 57-42.
It was career victory No. 500 for the Thomas Jefferson High School and Alliance College grad.
“I’m really proud of the program,” Holzer said afterward. “When something like this happens, it’s really about the players. All the kids we’ve had over the last 30 years have done such a great job for us. I’ve played such a small part in this.
“I’ve been very fortunate and don’t take it for granted that we’ve had a great run of support from many people and most of all, the kids. They’ve always done what we ask them to do and they’ve done so collectively.”
While the victory and the celebration were nice, it didn’t come easy against a Knights team that played with poise, moved the ball effectively on offense and hung with the defending champions for most of the game.
Norwin became the first opposing team to score 30 or more points against Upper St. Clair. The Panthers defense entered the game allowing an average of 24.6 points per game.
“My biggest disappointment was our defense,” Holzer said. “We had a game plan to make sure (Mario Csukas) didn’t get open looks, and he did multiple times. We worked on it, and that was one of the things we wanted to take away and we did not accomplish that goal and as a result, they scored early and stayed in it.”
Csukas, a junior, hit two 3-pointers as the Knights trailed by only two points after the opening quarter, 12-10.
Csukas hit three free throws in the second quarter and had 12 points by halftime. He ended up with a team-high 18 points.
“We just couldn’t get going, and I give Norwin credit,” Holzer said. “I told our team, ‘We’re getting everybody’s best shot.’ They came in here wanting to battle and expecting to do well and they did.”
The Panthers did not shoot the basketball well, but their rebounding edge was a big factor in slowly pulling away.
While the Knights’ two tallest starters were 6-foot-2 juniors Alex Graney and Chris McKnight, the Panthers come at opponents with waves of size with 6-10 senior and Miami (Ohio) commit, Tyler Robbins, his younger brother, 6-6 sophomore Ryan Robbins, 6-6 senior Kaamil Jackson and off the bench, 6-3 senior Dane York.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well, but our size did help us,” Holzer said. “We can overcome a bad shooting night, but we can’t overcome a bad defensive night.”
Tyler Robbins once again led the Panthers, scoring 13 of his game-high 19 points in the first half.
Jackson, who was a demon on defense in the second half, scored 13 points with 11 of them coming in the second half.
In dropping its section opener, Norwin falls to 2-2 overall and will visit Connellsville on Friday.
Upper St. Clair improves to 4-0 overall and now Holzer will look for win No. 501 in another home section game when Central Catholic visits Friday.
“People always ask how much more (I will coach) and I say, ‘I don’t know, 15 or 20 more years if God is willing and I’m healthy and they will continue to have me,’” Holzer said. “I love this place and I love this program.”