North Catholic falls to Uniontown in WPIAL Class 4A boys quarterfinal
NORTH HUNTINGDON TWP — Where North Catholic had one, Uniontown had a few.
The Trojans’ Max Hurray wound up with a game-high 23 points Wednesday night, but was provided limited offensive help over the first three quarters of a 59-37 WPIAL Class 4A boys basketball quarterfinal loss to the Red Raiders (21-3) at Norwin High School.
Meanwhile, Uniontown’s Notorious Grooms and Calvin Winfrey both put up 16 points for an efficient offense that didn’t relent.
“They just controlled the game,” North Catholic coach Jim Rocco said. “We knew that we couldn’t speed them up. Normally, we can speed everybody up and teams can make bad decisions. They don’t do that.”
Hurray bucketed 20 of the Trojans’ 25 points prior to the final frame, which North Catholic (14-9) went into down 14.
”Our offense was poor,“ Rocco said. ”Our positioning on offense was really poor tonight. When we have bad positioning, we can’t create space and then we can’t get clean looks. We were trying to drive into multiple coverages and stuff.
“It was hard. It was hard for all of our guys to be in a position to search for space.”
The Red Raiders had a similar approach to the Trojans as they did last year in the postseason.
“Quite honestly, we had the same gameplan,” Uniontown coach Robert Kezmarksy said. “We didn’t want to chase their big guys. ... We played half-court man-to-man. We didn’t chase them.”
North Catholic began the contest on an 8-2 run before the Red Raiders stormed back with scores on five straight possessions. The first three — layups by Winfrey, Grooms, and Jamire Braxton — were prompted by a transition game that came of missed North Catholic tries.
“They were quick, contested shots,” Rocco said. “You can’t do that against Uniontown.”
Rocco added that his team has to worry about itself following the loss.
“I think we’ve got to focus on North Catholic — and North Catholic didn’t do a good job tonight,” Rocco said. “Uniontown’s really good. Guards — guards — win championships. Guards. ... They’ve got three, if not four, really good guards.”
Still, the Trojans had chances to work back into it as Uniontown didn’t add to its side of the scoreboard for 3:26 in the second quarter.
Hurray had North Catholic's only field goal make during the opponents’ drought, though. He narrowed North Catholic’s deficit to five points with 2:52 before halftime, but those were his team’s only points in the final 5:31 of the initial half.
A Grooms corner trey and an uncontested lay-in by Eric Townsend followed, providing a double-digit gap heading into the break.
Hurray scored all eight of the Trojans' points in the third frame before Jude Rottmann, Jason Fredericks, and Joe Waskiewcz chipped in the fourth.
The Trojans will play Knoch in a consolation playoff game Friday. The time and location is yet to be decided.
NORTH CATHOLIC 59
Max Hurray 7 6-8 23, Jude Rottmann 2 1-2 7, Jason Fredericks 2 0-0 5, Joe Waskiewicz 1 0-0 2. Totals: 12 7-10 37.
UNIONTOWN 59
Notorious Grooms 5 3-4 16, Calvin Winfrey 6 4-5 16, Jamire Braxton 3 3-5 9, Kelan Milsom 3 2-4 8, Jeremiah Hager 4 0-0 8, Eric Townsend 1 0-0 2. Totals: 22 12-18 59.
North Catholic 10 7 8 12 — 37
Uniontown 15 12 11 19 — 59
3-point goals: North Catholic 6 (Hurray 3, Rottmann 2, Fredericks); Uniontown 3 (Grooms 3)
