That a streak was broken was a bonus for Mark Katarski, the first-year boys basketball coach at Mt. Pleasant.
His first win came quickly, and the program needed it.
The Vikings won their opener last week, a much-needed victory for a team that hadn’t been on the right end of a score since 2024.
The 51-26 win at Yough — and another rookie coach in Devin Owens — snapped a 25-game losing skid for Mt. Pleasant, which went 0-22 last season.
At the time, the streak was the second longest in WPIAL boys basketball. Mapletown had dropped 30 in a row.
“Really happy for this group of young men,” said Katarski, a 1995 Vikings alum and a former women’s basketball coach at Chatham and Seton Hill. “They’ve wanted this in their minds, but they just needed to have it happen on the court.”
New coaches
Five local programs opened the season with new coaches, and two them already have a win.
Katarski won his opener with Mt. Pleasant, and Ricky Tyburski of Belle Vernon started 1-0 when the Leopards edged Ringgold, 70-67, in the MVI Shootout Classic at West Mifflin.
Belle Vernon went ahead on Curty Wade’s 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds remaining.
Another new coach with local ties, Tim Tyree, also picked up his first win last Friday when Bishop Canevin beat Elizabeth Forward, 65-55. Tyree is a Monessen grad.
He coached against Tyburski, a fellow Monessen alum, in the second game of the MVI Shootout. Belle Vernon won 75-67.
Other local first-year coaches Austin Butler of Hempfield, Tim O’Rourke of Greensburg Central Catholic and Devin Owens of Yough were still waiting for their first game.
Tournament week
Two prominent local tournaments will be played this weekend.
The 21st annual Hempfield Tip-off Tournament and Franklin Regional’s Mike Rettger Memorial Tournament will be Friday and Saturday.
The Hempfield schedule Friday at the Spartan Field House has Greensburg Salem vs. Connellsville at 4:45 p.m., Indiana vs. Greensburg Central Catholic at 6:15 and Penn-Trafford vs. Hempfield at 7:45.
On Saturday, it will be Connellsville vs. Penn-Trafford at noon, Greensburg Salem vs. GCC at 1:30 and Hempfield vs. Indiana at 3.
Games at the Rettger Tournament Friday are Pine-Richland vs. Norwin at 6, and South Fayette vs. Franklin Regional at 7:30.
On Saturday, the losers will play at 11 a.m. in the consolation game, with the championship set for 1 p.m.
Kentucky derby
Jeannette will play a team from out of state Saturday.
The Jayhawks (2-0) will take on Woodford County, Ky., at 3:15 p.m. at the Pittsburgh Grassroots Showcase at CCAC-Allegheny.
Woodford County is coached by former Pitt guard Jaron Brown, a native of Lexington, Ky.
DeCerb starts fast
Latrobe standout Ian DeCerb did not waste time getting started.
In the team’s opener last Friday — a 70-31 win over Richland in the Latrobe tip-off tournament — DeCerb scored 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds. The thing is, he did all of that in the first half.
Latrobe played several backups in the second half.
DeCerb, who had 15 points in the first quarter, also had a pair of dunks to get the crowd going early.
He scored 20 in the second game of the tournament, a 71-58 win against Indiana.
Brown off and running
Jeannette senior point guard Kymon’e Brown didn’t need much time to get into basketball shape after another strong football season.
He had 19 points, 11 steals and eight assists — in 28 minutes — as the Jayhawks thumped Indiana in the opening game 78-53.
Always active around the ball, Brown also had 10 deflections.
Layup lines
Franklin Regional alum and former Panthers coach Steve Scorpion has Woodland Hills off to a 2-0 start. He is in his second season coaching the Wolverines. … Of the six games in the Latrobe tip-off tournament, five went to the mercy rule. … Thomas Bridges, the TribLive Westmoreland Boys Soccer Player of the Year and an all-state defender, decided not to play basketball this season.