Liam Gallagher wore a different jersey number in the PIAA basketball second round, going with No. 4 instead of his usual 14.
The old jersey wasn’t available to the senior guard from Greensburg Central Catholic, but there is a reason.
“I ripped it in half after the Union (loss in the WPIAL quarterfinals),” Gallagher said. “I didn’t think it would tear so easy, but it did.”
Gallagher tore through the nets while wearing his new threads Wednesday night, making 6 of 8 3-pointers — all in the second half — and scoring 22 points in a 66-50 win over Neshannock that moved the Centurions (25-3) into the 2A state quarterfinals, where they will play rival and WPIAL champ Jeannette (25-2).
The much-anticipated showdown will be Saturday at a time and site to be determined.
“It came down to a desire to win,” Gallagher said outside his team’s locker room at North Allegheny’s UPMC Court. “We knew what we had to do. We wanted this.”
GCC beat Jeannette twice during the season, and many thought those teams would be WPIAL finalists.
But the rubber match had to wait.
Jeannette went on to win the WPIAL title, and GCC fell to Union before rallying back to make a state run like their counterparts.
Jeannette edged GCC in the state second round last season 48-46 at Norwin.
“We had to come back from that,” Gallagher said.
Sophomore AJ Tarpley added 16 points, junior Samir Crosby had 12 and senior Brady O’Rourke had 10 for GCC, which led by double figures for most of the night against Neshannock (22-5), the fourth-place team from the WPIAL.
GCC, the fifth-place team, looked sharp as it never trailed to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2017.
“One of the keys was how we played in the first four minutes,” GCC coach Christian Hyland said. “We needed to get off to a fast start, and we did that. Against McConnellsburg (in the first round), we played catch-up from the beginning.”
GCC jumped out to a 17-7 lead after the first quarter — it was 8-0 early — using balanced scoring and a couple of early blocks by O’Rourke to kindle a spark.
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Neshannock cut a 10-point lead to four late in the first half on back-to-back 3-pointers from seniors Jake Rynd and Talan Anderton.
Crosby connected on a corner 3 to stretch it back to double figures, and the Centurions took a 27-20 lead at the half.
A 22-point third quarter allowed GCC to race to a 17-point advantage and begin to pull away.
O’Rourke made a 3 early in the frame, and Gallagher hit three more to push the lead to 49-32.
Tarpley’s layup stretched the margin back to 10 after Neshannock made a mild 6-0 run that included back-to-back runners from junior guard David Kwiat.
Tarpley made 8 of 10 shots, getting downhill and finishing at the rim.
Neshannock’s shots were challenged all night.
“They really played disruptive defense,” Neshannock coach John Corey said of GCC. “One through five, they are a very athletic team. That gives them freedom to sub guys out. We weren’t able to be as disruptive as them.”
The Lancers hit six 3s, two each from Anderton and Rynd, who scored 12 and 10 points.
Kwiat, a career 1,000-point scorer, led with 13.
“We liked the matchups,” Hyland said. “They have the big guy (Tony Perrotta) and four guards who can really shoot it. We wanted them to be on their toes as soon as they caught the ball. Our guys executed our defensive game plan to a T.”
Gallagher opened the fourth with another 3, and GCC opened a 21-point lead after a tip-in by Crosby and a short jumper by O’Rourke.
“Liam was on fire,” Hyland said. “I can tell by his release what kind of night he’s going to have. I don’t think he hit the rim tonight.”
Neshannock played in 3A last year and lost to Franklin in the first round.
“We battled back,” Corey said. “We stayed together. GCC had too many transition points, and we talked all week about stopping that.”