Jeannette had just won its second WPIAL championship and first since 2008 but the players weren’t tired. Far from it, in fact.
“I want to start states tomorrow,” sophomore guard Markus McGowan said.
The Jayhawks wanted the crew at Petersen Events Center to leave the lights on.
“Let’s play tonight, let’s go,” junior point guard Kymon’e Brown said.
Longtime coach Adrian Batts loved his team’s energy but turned the temperature down a bit: “Let’s take tonight and tomorrow off.”
Give the champs at least one maintenance day. A little suspended animation.
Batts, the 16th-year leader of the Jayhawks who won his first WPIAL title as a head coach and second overall — he was an assistant in ’08 — hopes this wave of momentum carries over into the PIAA postseason.
Jeannette (23-2) will open the state tournament at 1 p.m. Saturday at home against Mercyhurst Prep (18-7), the third-place team from District 10.
The Jayhawks have been on a point-preventing defensive tear since the second half of a quarterfinal win over Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
The Jayhawks limited the Chargers to 15 points in the second half in a 55-50 comeback win. Then, they slammed the door on No. 2 Sewickley Academy early in a 45-25 win.
“We’ve stressed defense and rebounding,” Batts said. “We have to defend and rebound. We’ve had a tremendous defensive effort throughout the whole tournament.”
On Friday night, they stayed on track with a 63-39 win over No. 8 Union. Consider: Jeannette has limited Brentwood (9), OLSH (4) and Sewickley Academy (7) to single digits in the fourth quarter.
Union scored 15, but the game was all but decided by then.
“They transition defense into offense,” Union coach Mark Stanley said. “They wore us down and our guys were tired.”
Offense was balanced in the finals: Sophomore Jayce Powell had 14 points, McGowan added 12 and junior Odorisio-Farrow added 11 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Noah Sunder scored eight.
Nine players scored as Batts cleared the bench late.
Jeannette had a shoot-around Friday afternoon at Duquesne before arriving for game time at the “Pete.” The team came to Pitt’s home arena confident and prepared, firm in the belief they were the better team.
“We’ve only been having one-hour practices,” Batts said. “Our guys know what to expect at this time of year. In high school sports, you have to learn how to win and grow. They’ve done that.”
Batts said he first saw championship potential in his group over the summer when Jeannette lost to Belle Vernon in the Tre Cunningham Memorial basketball tournament.
“Our guys had just come back from a 7-on-7 (football) tournament at Penn State,” Batts said. “Belle Vernon had all their guys. We lost, but we competed with them. I had a feeling we could be really good.”
Batts is a firm believer that a successful football season — Jeannette made the WPIAL Class A semifinals as a No. 13 seed — has played a large part in this basketball run.
Familiarity with one another has been a pivotal also.
“We’re always underdogs,” McGowan said. “That motivates us. We all play AAU together, so we know each other so well.”
McGowan, Brown, Powell, Odorisio-Farrow and others have been playing together in the Runnin Rebels for nine years.
“On to states,” Brown said. “I feel like we can win states. Let’s run it back next year.”
Next year is a long away off, but Jeannette will return all five starters in Brown, Powell, Odorisio-Farrow, McGowan and Sunder.
The team went two rounds in the PIAA playoffs last year, so the tournament is not entirely new. Jeannette also won its only state title in boys basketball in 2008.
Jeannette planned to scrimmage South Allegheny this week to stay sharp for the state bracket.
Said McGowan: “Job’s not done.”