Lights in the gymnasium flickered a few times as high winds ripped past Greensburg Salem on Monday evening.
The school’s boys basketball team had a similar effect against Mt. Pleasant. Their play was lights-out on the opening day of the Greensburg Salem Holiday Classic.
Greensburg Salem started the second half with the same liveliness it had in a buzzing first half, sharing the ball and attacking the rim to sprint past the Vikings, 74-40, for their fifth win of the season, matching last year’s total (5-17).
The 74 points are a season high for the Golden Lions (5-5).
“We knew we could beat them, and we came out firing,” Golden Lions sophomore forward Jackson Stevey said. “We came out with a lot of energy from the start.”
Stevey led five Golden Lions in double figures with 17 points, with sophomore guard Solomon Cain adding 15, senior guard Ty Harkcom 14, senior forward Noah Dudek 13 and senior swingman Brody Burkholder 11, as a tight game early was subjected to the 30-point mercy rule in the final three-plus minutes.
“We talked about Mt. Pleasant, one of the better teams they have had in a number of years,” said veteran Greensburg Salem coach Paul Sapotichne, who used to be the namesake of the tournament until he returned for a second stint with the program. “Coach (Mark) Katarski is doing a nice job. We talked about not letting them believe that they can beat us. We also talked about a fast start.”
Both teams had lost three of four coming in, but the Golden Lions reversed course with a pair of 16-0 scoring runs in the first and third quarters.
“(Greensburg Salem) played really well,” said Katarski, the Vikings’ first-year coach. “I saw this with proper context: They played a lot better than what we saw on film. They played fast and confident.
“This was our worst performance of the season, and that is on me to fix.”
Mt. Pleasant (3-6) rallied from 18-2 down to get within 29-24 late in the first half, but it could not keep up with the Golden Lions’ pace.
Stevey’s basket late in the second quarter started a 16-0 run that bled into the third and saw Burkholder score off a steal at midcourt and again on a driving layup.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Cain, a promising point guard, stretched the lead to 51-26.
Greensburg Salem outscored the Vikings, 20-8, in the third.
The advantage never dipped below 20 from there, with a 13-0 spurt by the Golden Lions making it 72-38.
“They played a wide zone, and the thing for us is we didn’t want to be wider than their zone,” Sapotichne said. “Our kids have worked really hard the last two days, and it showed today. We needed this win.”
Junior guard Cole Massari led the Vikings with nine points on three 3s.
The Classic concludes Tuesday with three games: Greensburg Central Catholic (1-8) vs. Ligonier Valley (4-5) at 2 p.m., Connellsville (3-6) vs. Mt. Pleasant at 3:30 p.m., and Hempfield (6-4) vs. Greensburg Salem at 5 p.m.