At a time of the year when defensive efforts tend to stand tall, a 15-13 game at the half turned into a 15-point victory Tuesday night.
After No. 4 Moon and No. 13 Penn-Trafford were locked in a defensive battle in the first half, the host Tigers pulled away for a 45-30 victory in the WPIAL Class 5A boys basketball first round.
“Our goal is to hold teams under 40 every game, and we got that done,” Moon coach Gino Palmosina said. “You have to give (Penn-Trafford coach Doug) Kelly credit. They slowed it down and took this game to a pace we really didn’t want to play at. We couldn’t do much against the zone, but we found a way to get it done. Whether it’s ugly or not, the goal is to advance.”
It was a 14-2 third quarter for the Tigers (19-3) that made the difference, as AJ Buford scored six of his eight in the stanza, while Jackson Bauman also scored six of what turned out to be a game-high 20 in the third.
The Warriors (11-12), who tied the score at 15-15 early in the frame, made only that one bucket, a shot by Tyler Boss, in the entire eight minutes.
“They’re tough. Gino and his staff do an amazing job,” Kelly said. “You can never tell quite how good they are on defense until you play them. It’s the way they load it up, their ball pressure, the way they’re active with their hands. … They rebound. It’s physicality.”
Kelly said his team doesn’t normally employ a zone, going as far as to say they aren’t a zone team, but thought that tactic gave his players the best chance to score a second straight upset as a double-digit seed in the first round after knocking off No. 2 Baldwin last year.
“It was our best chance to zone up. Our guys did a nice job. We just couldn’t score enough,” Kelly said. “We’re proud of our guys. They punched. They fought. They came in with a good mentality. You don’t get a ton of looks against a team like that.”
Eight Warriors scored in defeat as Penn-Trafford’s season came to an end.
Bauman’s 20 led the way for Moon. Eleven of those came in the second half, and Bauman hit the only two triples for the Tigers.
“The stage isn’t going to bug a kid like him,” Palmosina said. “He went out there and had some big moments for us tonight.”
Penn-Trafford made only one 3-pointer with more than 10 attempts from beyond the arc. No scorer reached double figures, with the talented frontcourt of Ethan McDonald and Zach Feldman being held to a combined 10 points from the floor.
“We just try to make everything difficult. We try not to give easy ones up, put pressure and make everything difficult for them,” said Palmosina.
The Tigers advance to play fifth-seeded Gateway, which edged No. 12 Indiana in overtime Tuesday night to advance. Gateway is led by talented scorer Mykel Bruce-McCrommon.
“It’s a tough task,” Palmosina said. “We’ll have a tough task, but we’ll be ready.”
Kelly, whose team finished its season with its eighth straight playoff appearance, said the Warriors are still working.
“It’s a tribute to our kids, the families and our community and where they come from,” he said. “There’s a lot of winning going on. We’re trying to get to the point where we can be relevant more than one game, and we’re not there yet. It’s not for lack of fight.”