Last year, Ligonier Valley made the 54-mile trip to Keystone Oaks for a Class 3A boys basketball first-round playoff game. The Rams were bounced from the postseason in a 15-point loss to the Golden Eagles.
So when the teams were matched up again Tuesday in the opening round of this year’s playoffs at the same venue, the thought of making another trip home from the South Hills of Pittsburgh with a season-ending loss made the Rams defensive.
Despite a slow start on offense, 11th-seeded Ligonier Valley played great defense and took the lead for good late in the third quarter and held on for a 47-44 victory over sixth-seeded Keystone Oaks.
Ligonier Valley (13-10) advances to the quarterfinals for the first time since the school returned to the WPIAL and will play South Park on Friday.
“It means so, much,” Ligonier Valley coach Dante Porter said. “This is what this group of seniors wanted to do. They wanted to come leave their mark. We didn’t get the section championship that we wanted, but we got a program-defining win in the playoffs.”
Porter said his team’s strategy paid off.
“We were going to coach hard to the game plan, and we asked the players to stick to the plan and they did,” Porter said. “This was a group that was hungry for a playoff win, and they knew that the game plan was good enough to win.”
The game plan did not include a barren opening quarter.
The Rams did not score until the 2 minute, 19-second mark when a missed 3-pointer by senior Michael Wisniewski was tipped home by senior Cameron Kunkle.
It would be the only points Ligonier Valley scored in the first quarter, but the Rams trailed by only seven because Keystone Oaks hit three 3-pointers but missed plenty of other open looks. That was a theme throughout the game.
The Rams offense came to life, and they took their first lead of the game with 2:16 left in the half when sophomore Greyson Daugherty blocked a shot on one end and hit a layup on the other end to make it 23-22.
Ligonier Valley continued in its triangle-and-two defense in the second half as Keystone Oaks continued to miss behind the arc.
“We knew a lot ran through (Erond) Jakupi and (Joey) Colton, and they do a good job of making everyone else on the floor better,” Porter said. “Our game plan was to take them out as much as possible, contest the 3s and rebound hard on the back end.”
Jakupi, a senior who had a game-high 25 points in the win last year and is averaging 20 points this season, was scoreless until he hit a free throw with just over six minutes left in the fourth quarter.
“We knew they were going to go triangle-and-two, so you can force feed your two players or you can trust your other guys,’ Keystone Oaks coach Gary Goga said. “We missed a lot of shots.”
It was the defense of Rams junior Noah Knupp that kept the ball out of the hands of KO’s leading scorer.
“Noah is such a great defender, and we knew that when somebody has a really good guard, we can stick Noah on him,” Porter said. “It may not always show on the scoreboard by putting the ball in the hoop, but he really impacts the game.”
Jakupi fouled out with 2:29 left with only five points.
Senior Joey Colton led Keystone Oaks with 14 points, and sophomore Aaron Beck had 12 points. KO finished the season 17-5.
Senior Michael Wisniewski led a balanced Rams attack with 12 points, and sophomore Greyson Daugherty scored 10.