Third-seeded South Park was struggling mightily offensively in the first half of its WPIAL Class 3A boys basketball quarterfinal matchup with No. 11 Ligonier Valley on Friday night.
The Eagles trailed only by three points, but they were shooting a woeful 6 of 29 from the field.
“(Ligonier Valley) took us out of a lot of stuff with the box and one, little bit of triangle and two, and they got us out of rhythm,” South Park coach Chad Pappasergi said. “And, you know, everything looks ugly when the ball doesn’t go through the hole. And we just told the guys shots are going to fall in the second half.”
In the second half, the Eagles’ shots indeed started to fall, but it was their defensive intensity that allowed them to claim a 56-39 win over the Rams at Charleroi High School.
“Our defense really changed it for us,” Pappasergi said. “We lead (3A) in scoring defense. That’s our bread and butter. And we knew as long as long as we kept getting stops, as long as we kept getting wide-open shots, there’s nothing else we can ask for.”
In the third quarter, South Park (20-3) used an 18-4 run to take a 38-27 lead it never relinquished. During that run, Ligonier Valley (13-11) shot 2 for 6 and had two turnovers.
The Eagles’ defensive intensity fueled a better second-half performance offensively. After their slow start, they made 13 of their next 24 field goals and scored 36 points. The key was to never lose confidence in the shots they were getting.
“I have 100 percent trust in my teammates,” Luke Scarff said. “Those shots aren’t falling; I’m just going to keep telling them to shoot. I mean, they’re going to fall eventually, and they did.”
Said Cooper Hochendoner, “Yeah, the first two quarters, we just weren’t getting shots to fall. I feel like we were playing good basketball, getting good looks. … But in the third and fourth quarter, after half, we had a clear mind. We’ve been in close games all year, and you know, we said we’re not going to stop shooting because we’re a good shooting team.”
Even though Scarff (23 points) and Hochendoner (15 points) were the “marked men,” as Pappasergi called them, they still combined for 38 points to lead South Park.
“You know, they both have played in big games,” Pappasergi said. “They kind of relied on that, and they play really well off one another.
“They complement each other really well. They’re not selfish with their stuff — share with one another. And they keep pushing each other to be better. … It’s a team effort, but they’re the marked men every game, and for them to do what they did tonight and not get frustrated was really impressive on both their parts – really proud of them.”
To start the game, Michael Wisniewski was the spark plug for the Rams. In the first quarter, he netted three 3-pointers to lead Ligonier Valley to a 15-8 lead. He had 11 of his team-high 16 points by halftime, and Ligonier Valley led 23-20. The Rams were outscored 20-9 in the third, though, after South Park went on its 18-4 run.
With the win, South Park advances to the semifinals to face No. 2 Aliquippa. Against the team tied for the most WPIAL titles in history, Pappasergi knows the importance of the next three days of prep.
“Jobs not finished as we keep saying,” he said. “We can’t say we’re satisfied with being in the semifinals. We got to be ready to play, because they’re going to come after us from the jump. So we got to be ready for their intensity.”