Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Bishop Carroll's Luke Repko is fouled by Neighborhood Academy's Cynthia Nicholson (right).
Written by Nate Ritchie
nritchey@altoonamirror.com
KITTANING — Leading by three points with 10.8 seconds left in overtime during a timeout, Bishop Carroll coach Koji Alikuo told his team not to let Neighborhood Academy take 3-point shots.
Aliquo was perfectly satisfied with giving up the drive to the hoop and told his team so.
The Huskies never imagined it would happen, but the Bulldogs' mental mistakes allowed exactly that situation to unfold.
Carroll didn't even have to touch the ball after it went through the hoop, so Neighborhood wasn't left with much time to do anything, as Bishop Carroll faced Neighborhood Academy on Tuesday night in PIAA Class 1A. The clock ran out for a thrilling 71-70 overtime victory. Second round of action at Armstrong High School.
“I told the guys no threes. They (Neighborhood Academy) didn't have timeouts so let's let them make layups,” Aliquo said. “I mean, they couldn't stop the clock. As soon as I saw him driving, I looked up at the clock and I saw like three seconds. They said we weren't even inbound. It’s…it’s over.”
The game was tied 61-61 after regulation, and the Huskies started the overtime session with a 3-pointer by Luke Repko, followed by a layup by Parker Alexander off a feed from Jace Casses on a backdoor cut with 2 remaining. They led 66-61 with minutes and 19 seconds left. go.
Junior Inwibko made the free throw before both teams turned the ball over.
Carroll, the District 6 champion, took advantage of a steal and kick from Gus Beke to put Repko ahead with a layup and a 68-62 lead.
Repko, who led all scorers with 34 points, made the second of two foul shots to extend the lead to seven points with 1:15 remaining.
Neighborhood's Kedron Gilmore made two free throws, but Repko again only made the second of two foul shots, making the score 70-64 with 46.7 points remaining.
Drea Mack, who had only had two points up until that moment, made a big trey for the Bulldogs, cutting the lead to three with 33 seconds left.
A 10-second violation on the Huskies gave the ball back to Neighborhood, and Courtney Wallace, who was fouled with 20.1 points left, scored her 20th point and hit her second freebie.
Repko was sent to the line with 10.8 points on the board and scored just his second point to give his team a 71-68 lead.
Aliquo immediately called a timeout following his make-to-talk strategy with his team.
“During the timeout, we talked about guarding the 3-point line and not fouling if they (Neighborhood Academy) were going to shoot,” Repko said. “And if they're going to drive, let them go. And if there's less than five seconds left on the clock, don't touch the ball because the time is running out.”
From a stop, Gilmore drove straight down a wide open lane when BC had a 3-point chance and was about to give up on the drive as instructed by Arico.
As the ball went through the net with five seconds remaining, Gilmore caught it, realized what he had done, and dropped the ball to the ground in dismay.
“The kids fought and gave it their all,” Neighborhood Academy coach Jordan Marks said. “There was a mental mistake at the end, but it was my fault. I take responsibility for that.”
The ball remained untouched as the final seconds ticked down, leaving the Huskies (17-10) heading into the quarterfinals against Union, which beat Elk County Catholic 64-62 on Friday. Place and time to be determined.
“What they (Bishop Carroll) are actually going through is not easy, it's tough,” Aliquo said. “Here's why. If I were soft on them, I don't think we would be here.”
Neighborhood Academy (19-7) forced three turnovers to start the contest and quickly took a 5-0 lead. Bishop Carroll settled in and started locking on targets from 3-point range. The Huskies made six field goals in the first quarter, five of them from long range. BC, which had trailed 9-5 on a layup by Sincere Nicholson of the Bulldogs, scored four straight points from downtown for a 12-2 run.
Alexander started the spurt with his second triple of the quarter. Repko sank three consecutive shots to give the Huskies a 17-11 lead with 42 seconds left in the first. Gilmore briefly gave his team a 21-20 lead in the second quarter with a baseline floater, but Casses contributed to BC's 10-2 run and scored seven points to take a 30-23 lead.
Casseth, who finished with 20 points, would score 14 of Bishop Carroll's 19 points in the second period, holding a 36-31 advantage at the half.
“We talked about getting a shutout because their (Bishop Carroll) shooters are so good,” Marks said. “We had some miscommunications on switches, but we have confidence in our defense. So (giving up) 36 points in the first half was too much.”
In the first half, the Huskies made 12 field goals, nine of them from beyond the arc.
“We were shooting the ball well, but there were some moments where we got turned over,” Aliquo said. “He was shooting pretty well, so I was hoping he would make a shot instead of turning it over.”
The second half turns out to be completely different, as Neighborhood Academy has taken many deep looks.
Fortunately, the Huskies had enough success with drives to the hoop, on-screens, curls to the hoop, and backdoor cuts that kept the Bulldogs off balance.
“We definitely made three-pointers in the first half,” Repko said. “In the locker room (at halftime) we talked about backdoor cuts and how we know we can't stay hot forever. So we need to work on our defense as well. I knew that.”
In the third game, both teams traded baskets almost from beginning to end, making it a close game with NA getting as close as four points in three innings, including the final score at 46-42 with over a minute left.
A driving layup by Repko and a triple by Casses gave Carroll a 51-42 lead going into the fourth. The Huskies trailed by 11 early twice, the second time making it 55-44 with 5:24 remaining. The Bulldogs led 8-1, capped off by an Inwibco layup, making the score 56-52 with 2:56 left.
After Casses' free throw, Neighborhood Academy ramped up its defensive pressure, turning BC around and scoring six straight points to take a 58-57 lead.
“It went up to about 10 with a few minutes left and we started to turn it around,” Arico said.
Both teams traded two points, and with 1:18 remaining, Repko knocked down a pair to give Carroll a 61-60 lead.
Inwibko posted a 38.9 and was fouled, but only hit 2 of 2 shots.
After the timeout, Repko kept the ball on top and continued dribbling until it was time to move. He drove into the lane, spun back to the right side, and the ball bounced wide with 4.1 left.
After another BC timeout, Repko was forced to fade away, but was no closer and the game went into overtime tied at 61-61.
“It’s great to be back in the state playoffs,” Repko said. “We knew if we could maintain our tempo in the playoffs, we could beat other teams and go far.”
Neighborhood Academy (70): Wallace 9 2-3 20, Inwibco 5 5-8 15, Nicholson 6 1-3 14, Gilmore 6 2-2 14, Mack 2 0-0 5, Brown 1 0-0 2, Evans 0 0-0 0. Total: 29 10-16 70.
Bishop Carroll (71): Casses 5 6-7 20, Oravec 3 0-0 6, Tremel 0 0-0 0, Repko 11 8-12 34, Alexander 4 0-0 11, Beke 0 0-0 0, Sekelak. 0 0-0 0. Total: 23 14-19 71.
Score per quarter
Neighborhood Academy 13 18 11 19 9 — 70
Bishop Carroll 17 19 15 10 10 — 71
3-Point Field Goal: Neighborhood Academy 2 (Nicholson, Mack). Bishop Carroll 11 (Cases 4, Repko 4, Alexander 3).
Records: Neighborhood Academy (19-7); Bishop Carroll (17-10).
Persons involved: Ed Baumkulak, Bud Bifano, Chip Mason.
