Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski. Bishop Carroll's Jace Casses is held up by Union's Rocco Galmarini Friday night at Norwin High School.
IRWIN — A year ago, the PIAA playoffs didn't exist for Bishop Carroll Catholic.
The Huskies didn't even get a chance to play in the District 6 postseason.
They will now play in the PIAA Class 1A semifinals after an 80-73 win over Union Area at Norwin High School in the quarterfinals on Friday night.
“This group is just working hard,” Bishop Carroll coach Koji Alikuo said. “(Not making the playoffs last year) made us even hungrier and we knew we had to work to get this far. Nobody's going to roll over. I knew I had to keep fighting.”
Aliquo, who emerged from the Bishop Carroll locker room after the game to a standing ovation from the players and the BC community, was a driving force behind the team reaching its full potential.
“We're doing a lot of conditioning,” Huskies guard Will Tremel said. “Coach tested us in October. That's why sometimes we're better than the team. (Ariko) is the best coach I've ever had. He's I really love Bishop Carroll. I don't think there's anyone who could coach this team who loves this team more than he does.”
Union led by five points midway through the third quarter, but Bishop Carroll's constant pressure and offensive speed began to get to the Scotties.
“It was because we weren't good at preventing dribbles defensively,'' Union coach Mark Stanley said. “We got a little tired. Credit to them. They play hard and keep coming. I thought we let our guard down with a few passes, but that's what changed the game. Ta.”
Bishop Carroll's relentless energy hurt Union on the offensive end as well. The Scotties made 10 3-pointers in the game, with Braylon Thomas scoring a career-high 30 points and Lucas Stanley adding 24 points, but the Union ended up making some tough shots in the fourth quarter. It has started.
The Scotties missed their first five 3-pointers, four of them likely due to fatigue, but the Huskies seized the opportunity.
Bishop Carroll opened the fourth quarter with a 13-5 run, turning a tied game into one that the Huskies were firmly in control of until the final midway point.
“I told the guys that if they don't stop a little bit, they're going to get knocked out,” Arico said. “Then we finally got the lead and ended up getting some stops, but man, they were great.”
Jace Casses scored seven of his 13 points in the stretch, some of which came off turnovers by a Union team that suddenly seemed to be moving in slow motion.
“We're not that deep and we can't really simulate that kind of pressure,” Stanley said. “We played a tough schedule and tried to prepare for it all year long, but it's going to wear you out. They know how to do it. They're smooth. (Caseth and Luke Repko) They’re two very good guards.”
With less than two minutes remaining, Union pulled back to four points on Rocco Garamarini's 3-pointer, but Bishop Carroll made enough free throws and aggressively drove to the basket in the final moments to stop Union. Not only that, but he extended his lead.
“There were times this year when we were up 10 points and kept it, but we had turnovers and bad shots,” Arico said. “I knew we had to get back to normal and stay aggressive and keep attacking, and it worked tonight.”
The Huskies will play Imani Christian Academy, the defending PIAA Class 1A champion, in Monday's semifinals. Imani defeated District 10 champion Farrell on Friday and will move up to Class 6A next season.
Repko and Casses both finished with 22 points for Bishop Carroll, which improved to 18-10, but the star scorer had plenty of help. Parker Farabaugh had 14 points and four 3-pointers, Tremel had 12 points and several key steals, and Max Oravec added 10 points.
“When you have Will, Max and Parker in double digits, it becomes difficult to protect Luke and Jace because they don't have much help,” Arico said.
This is the fifth time the Huskies have advanced to the PIAA semifinals, and the third time under coach Alikuo, who also led the Huskies in 2018 and 2014. They have never advanced to the state championship game.
“This feels amazing. We've worked hard for this, so I'm happy to be here,” Repko said. “We're happy to have this opportunity. We're going to work on it this weekend and hopefully we can go and beat them on Monday.”
Union (73): Thomas 12 2-3 30, Stanley 9 2-2 24, Gettings 0 3-5 3, Jonke 2 6-6 10, Blakely 1 0-0 3, Gunn 0 0-0 0, Garmarini. 1 0 -0 3. Total –25 13-16 73.
Bishop Carroll (80): Repko 7 7-11 22, Oravec 4 2-3 10, Alexander 5 0-0 14, Tremel 3 5-6 12, Casses 10 1-1 22, Beke 0 0-0 0, Sekerak. 0 0-2 0. Total – 29 15-23 80.
Score per quarter
Union 18 17 20 18 — 73
Bishop Carroll 18 12 25 25 — 80
3-point goals: Union 10 (Thomas 4, Stanley 4, Blakely, Garmarini). Bishop Carroll 7 (Alexander 4, Repko, Tremel, Casses)
Records: Union (17-12) Bishop Carroll (18-10)
Persons involved: John Lienert, Carl Greenidge, William Gabba
