On the same day that the NFL’s second-longest coaching rivalry may have ended with the resignation of Mike Tomlin from the Pittsburgh Steelers, which came a week after the dismissal of John Harbaugh by the Baltimore Ravens, one of the great coaching rivalries in WPIAL boys basketball wrote another chapter Tuesday.
Host Upper St. Clair scored eight of the final nine points after Mt. Lebanon had tied the game with more than a minute and a half left in regulation to claim a hard-fought win, 43-36.
The victory keeps the Panthers ahead of the Blue Devils in the battle for second place in Section 2-6A.
Danny Holzer is in his 31st year at Upper St. Clair and Joey David is coaching in his 25th season at Mt. Lebanon. This was meeting No. 47 between the two in the regular season and 53rd clash overall.
“It’s amazing how many times Joe (David) and I have gone against each other. It has to be close to some kind of record,” Holzer said. “I don’t know who has won how many, but my guess is its close to being even.”
The Panthers claimed victory Tuesday in another grind-it-out affair between the programs that have won every WPIAL Section 2-6A crown since 2017.
“It’s two great programs, and the kids know each other,” Holzer said. “This was a defensive battle on both sides. If you like gritty, tough basketball, this was the kind of game for you.”
Mt. Lebanon scored a bucket on its first possession before Upper St. Clair answered with a Jake Foster 3-pointer for the lead.
The Panthers never trailed again.
USC led by four points after the first quarter, 12-8, and then built up one of its biggest leads of the game at the half, 23-16.
At the end of both the first and second quarters, the Blue Devils ate clock for the final shot only to be stymied both times by the Panthers defense and forced to take buzzer-beating shots that weren’t close.
As time was winding down in the third quarter, Upper St. Clair had the ball, clinging to a two-point lead when Jude Ausi nailed a 3-pointer as time expired to extend the lead to 31-26.
“That was a big play,” Holzer said. ‘Everybody is contributing a key moments, and that’s how you win games.”
Two other big plays for USC came in the final 90 seconds of regulation with the game tied 35-35.
Foster missed on a 3-pointer, but junior Finn Beggy got a big offensive rebound and putback to put the Panthers up for good.
“We tell those guys you have to make the big plays at the key times, and that does not necessarily mean scoring points. It’s rebounding, defending, loose balls,” Holzer said. “In that case, it was both the rebound and the putback that was a great play on his part.”
The exclamation point in the Upper St. Clair win came with 37 seconds remaining when Foster drew a crowd and found senior Luke Marchinsky on the cutter to the hoop for an and-one that put the Panthers up by five points.
“That was another key play,” Holzer said. “We moved the ball real well, and we knew they were going to trap us, and we were able to get loose and Jake made a great pass and Luke finished it.”
Liam Sheely led Mt. Lebanon with 14 points as the Blue Devils fall to 4-3 in the section and 10-4 overall.
“We missed some opportunities,” David said. “We missed an uncontested layup, two free throws and a backdoor pass that was poorly thrown. We didn’t follow the game plan, which you have to do against a good team. Credit USC, they played great defense and deserved to win.”
The loss ends a three-game winning streak for Mt. Lebanon.
USC had a balanced attack led by 11 points from Marchinsky and 10 points for Ryan Robbins.
The two-time reigning Class 6A district champion Panthers have won nine straight games as they improve to 6-1 in the section and 13-1 overall as they prepare to host first-place Central Catholic (13-1, 7-0) on Friday.