Raiders’ late flurry falls short
UPPER ST. CLAIR —Seneca Valley and Upper St. Clair experienced a role reversal Friday night.
In the first four minutes of the game, USC put the Raiders on their heels with a 10-0 run.
In the fourth quarter, it was SV calling the shots and making them, too. A 20-4 run pulled the Raiders to within two points at 45-43. But with a chance to win, a 3-point attempt at the buzzer was no good and the Panthers escaped with the narrow victory in a WPIAL Class 6A boys basketball quarterfinal playoff on their home floor.
USC (15-8) managed just four points in the final eight minutes, missing each of its seven field goal attempts while turning the ball over six times.
“Seneca Valley is so big and strong and their size and physicality wore us done,” said Panthers’ coach Danny Holzer. “We started to get tentative with the ball, but were able to hold on.”
SV’s last chance saw Connor Oros heave an inbounds pass across midcourt to Luke Lawson with two seconds left. With a defender in front of and behind him, he never got a chance to set his feet and his shot was well short of the basket.
“We figured it would be contested, but with two seconds, we thought he’d be able to get a dribble or two, but they defended it well,” said SV coach Kevin Trost.
There wasn’t much the Panthers didn’t do well at the start of the game. Julian Dahlem sank two baskets, including a trey, and USC was off and running to its 10-0 lead.
“Playing at home with fresh legs, we wanted to get off to a fast start,” said Holzer.
Afterward, however, the Panthers became very ordinary on the scoring end. But SV had struggles of its own and by the start of the fourth quarter, still trailed 41-23.
The rally began with back-to-back baskets from Aiden Lyczek. Andrew Roy hit a 3-pointer and Tyler Pepin another, the latter cutting SV’s deficit to 41-35 with just under four minutes to play.
The Panthers’ offense was reduced to free throws and they drained four big ones. Christian Ito Strerath made two with 3:13 left and, clinging to a 43-41 lead with 1:30 on the clock, Dahlem netted two more. They were the last points managed by USC, but proved to be enough on this night to earn for the team a sixth consecutive victory.
Dahlem was the lone Panther to reach double figures in points with 14.
Lawson and Lyczek paced the Raiders with 14 and 10 points, respectively.
A number of close losses early in the season put the Raiders down, but failed to break the team’s spirit. They finish the season with a 9-13 record.
“I love our guys and the way we battle,” said Trost. “They never quit and a lot of that is due to Luke and Connor (Oros), two of the best leaders in the WPIAL.”
SENECA VALLEY 43
Aiden Lyczek 5 0-5 10, Luke Lawson 4 6-6 14, Kai West 1 0-2 2, Connor Oros 2 0-0 5, Andrew Roy 1 2-2 5, Tyler Pepin 3 0-0 7, Jackson Wetzel 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 8-15 43.
UPPER ST. CLAIR 45
Julian Dahlem 5 2-3 14, Devin Hall 3 0-0 6, Nick Sukernek 2 0-0 6, Christian Wieczenski 1 0-1 3, Matthew Gaither 3 0-0 8, Peja Strobl 2 1-2 6, Christian Ito Strerath 0 2-2 2, Cody Marn 0 0-0 0, Marco Carone 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 5-8 45.
Seneca Valley 4 10 9 20 — 43
Upper St. Clair 17 14 10 4 — 45
3-point goals: Seneca Valley 3 (Oros, Roy, Pepin); Upper St. Clair 8 (Dahlem 2, Gaither 2, Sukernek 2, Wieczenski, Strobl)
