WPIAL Class 6A boys basketball championship

No. 1 Upper St. Clair vs. No. 2 New Castle

9 p.m. Friday, Petersen Events Center

Audio broadcast:Trib HSSN

WPIAL titles: Upper St. Clair 5 (2025, ‘24, ‘21, ‘05, 1996); New Castle 14 (2021, ‘19, ‘18, ‘17, ‘14, ‘13, ‘12, 1999, ‘98, ‘97, ‘93, ‘82, ‘36, ‘27)

Upper St. Clair (23-1)

Coach: Danny Holzer

Projected starting lineup

No., Name, Ht., Cl., Pos.

1, Luke Marchinsky, 6-1, sr., G

3, Jake Foster, 6-0, sr., G

4, Andrew Gaither, 6-0, so., G

23, Finnigan Beggy, 6-4, jr., F

25, Ryan Robbins, 6-7, jr., C

How they got here: Upper St. Clair defeated No. 8 Fox Chapel, 56-41, in the quarterfinals; and No. 4 Seneca Valley, 42-35, in the semifinals.

Notable: Upper St. Clair has won back-to-back WPIAL championships, including a 65-43 win over New Castle last season. The Panthers held a 36-20 advantage in the second half. Guard Jake Foster had 10 points in the win, and center Ryan Robbins added nine points off the bench. … The Panthers have won 19 straight games since an overtime loss to Central Catholic on Dec. 12. … Foster and Robbins were named first-team all-section, and guard Luke Marchinsky was a second-team pick. Coach Danny Holzer was named the section’s coach of the year. … Upper St. Clair averages 62.2 ppg and allows just 42.7. … In the semifinals, Robbins scored 15 points with 11 rebounds, and the USC defense held Seneca Valley to just 20 points through three quarters. … Holzer has coached USC since 1995. He surpassed 500 career wins last season and has won five WPIAL titles.

New Castle (23-1)

Coach: Ralph Blundo

Projected starting lineup

No., Name, Ht., Cl., Pos.

1, Marino Graham, 5-9, fr., G

2, Damian Harrison, 6-4, sr., G/F

10, Chase Lemmon, 5-9, sr., G

12, Kai Cox, 6-2, so., G

32, Jayden Shaffer, 6-2, sr., F

How they got here: New Castle beat No. 7 Mt. Lebanon, 6-49, in the quarterfinals; and No. 3 Central Catholic, 52-49, in the semifinals.

Notable: New Castle is in the WPIAL championship game for the 11th time since Blundo became the Red Hurricanes’ coach 16 years ago. He has guided them to seven titles. … The Red Hurricanes are searching for a 15th title. They are tied with Aliquippa for most in WPIAL history with 14. … New Castle was the most recent team to win three straight titles in the largest classification (1997-99), which USC could equal Friday. … Guards Damian Harrison, Kai Cox and Marino Graham were first-team all-section selections. Coach Ralph Blundo was named the section’s coach of the year. … Like USC, New Castle averages 62.2 ppg and allows just 42.6. … Graham led New Castle in the semifinals with 19 points and found Harrison for a layup in the final second for the winning basket. … Harrison averaged 17.1 ppg this season.

Next up: The winner will open the PIAA playoffs March 7 against the eighth-place finisher from District 3. The loser will play the District 3 seventh-place finisher.