Aliquippa’s Qa’lil Goode unleashed a 30-point barrage to pull away from South Allegheny in a 65-54 victory Saturday in the WPIAL Class 3A boys basketball championship that gave the Quips their third title in the past four years.
Goode spearheaded a 12-1 run in the fourth quarter, leading the Quips to their 15th district title, breaking a tie with New Castle (14) for the most championships in WPIAL boys basketball history.
“It feels great,” senior guard Antonio Reddic said. “We’re not new to this, so we knew what we had to do coming into this, and that’s what we did.”
In last season’s title game, South Allegheny downed Aliquippa in the late stages of the game. This year, Aliquippa was able to pull away.
Goode said his mindset was the same. He wanted to win every possession, no matter how big of a game it was.
“Awards and accolades don’t really matter,” he said. “When you get out here, you’re stepping into a dogfight. You’ve got to be a dog and survive.”
Goode’s scoring output was bolstered by a quick first step, beating the Gladiators to the basket, along with points in transition. He grabbed eight rebounds (four offensive), had two blocks and collected three steals that led to timely buckets.
“We knew what to expect out of Qa’lil because he’s that type of player,” Aliquippa coach Mrryce Smith said. “He’s our senior leader. When we need a bucket, we can go to him, and he got it done tonight.”
Goode attacked the basket relentlessly, crashed the glass, and swiped steals that led to game-changing runs.
“I just go out there and hoop,” Goode said. “I do what feels right in the moment.”
Reddic and Dejuan Hill added 13 points apiece for the Quips (18-6). Hill stepped into the starting lineup for an injured Cam Evanochko. Dyson Gilbert added quality minutes, tallying five points and five rebounds, while protecting the rim.
It was quite an accomplishment for Aliquippa to return to the WPIAL finals after losing Josh and Jeremiah Pratt, who transferred to Lincoln Park, and missing two starters in Evanochko to injury and Anthony Ingram, who was serving the second of a two-game suspension after being whistled for two technical fouls in the quarterfinals.
Reddic commended Hill’s and Gilbert’s ability to open up the offense in transition. This was Hill’s first career start.
“They help a lot,” Reddic said. “Hill’s been stepping up this whole run. We knew he could do it. Dyson coming in and filling in has been pretty good.”
After an even first half with both teams tied at 26, and a competitive third quarter, Aliquippa led 41-37 going into the final period of play.
Goode fueled the offense, swiping a steal and going the other way for his 23rd point of the game.
Gilbert and Hill followed up with back-to-back layups to give Aliquippa a 47-37 lead with seven minutes to play.
Goode made another layup, driving into the Gladiators’ defense and mustering the score. After South Allegheny’s Drew Cook made one of two free throws, Goode notched another bucket.
The Quips rode the hot hand as Goode drove for another score to go ahead 53-38, capping a 12-1 run.
South Allegheny’s Smaj Reason hit a 3 to cut it to 59-51.
Cook, who scored 28 points, made big shots to try and carry the Gladiators back, but Aliquippa pulled away for victory.
Aliquippa’s defense sealed the win, holding South Allegheny to 3 of 16 shooting from 3-point range.
“We just weren’t knocking down our shots,” Cook said. “We had great opportunities and open shots. We just couldn’t knock it out. We have great shooters and I’m confident in them shooting, but we just couldn’t knock any shots down.”
Cook said the Quips getting into transition in the second half was their downfall. Aliquippa used its size and physicality to get to the basket.
“All of their guys have similar builds,” Cook said. “They are all long and athletic. We just didn’t play as good defense, and I think in transition, that’s really where their points came from.”
The Quips forced 16 turnovers which proved to be a difference maker.
South Allegheny gained some momentum in the second quarter as Cook led a 13-5 run to take a 26-22 lead. However, Aliquippa tied it at 26.
Aliquippa looked to pull away in the third as Reddic buried an “and-one” layup to go up 31-28. A Goode putback followed by a Goode layup put Aliquippa ahead 35-28. It was a lead they would not relinquish.
“We just had to get our legs settled down at halftime, make a couple adjustments, and we came out hard like we normally do,” Smith said. “Even when we faced adversity, we kept playing.”
South Allegheny coach Tony DiCenzo wished his team would have done a better job boxing out, and keeping Aliquippa out of transition.
“If you look at our whiteboard, two of the biggest keys that identified success for us today were limiting their second-chance opportunities and controlling live-ball turnovers that lead to transition,” DiCenzo said. “If we could have maintained a half-court game, I thought that favored us. When it was a half-court game, I thought we won that portion of the game.”
The Gladiators made their second straight run to the championship game, but they were not satisfied with a runner-up finish.
“We came here to win, so we’re certainly disappointed at this moment,” DiCenzo said. “We thought we were capable of winning this game. We’ll probably reflect on it down the line after the dust settles, but right now we’re upset and dejected that we didn’t come out with the win. We’ve got a long way to go. The challenge now is regrouping.”
The Quips will open the PIAA playoffs March 7 against the District 9-10 subregional runner-up. South Allegheny will play the District 6 third-place finisher.