News

By: Steve Brodzinski – Pittsburgh Basketball Report

New Castle, Hampton, Kiski Area, North Allegheny, Bethel Park, and city league champion Allderdice, will be representing the WPIAL in the Class Quad A PIAA Playoffs, and once again, we get to beat up on each other, before meeting with the powers from the east.

In 2010, I was lucky enough to coach at Mt. Lebanon when we won the WPIAL Championship. On our way to the WPIAL title we played North Allegheny in the quarterfinals, and then we were again paired with them in the first round of the PIAA playoffs. We obviously won in our WPIAL match-up, but lost to them in the first round of the states. Now I am not saying this will happen to New Castle, but after defeating Bethel Park big in the quarterfinals, they are again paired with the Blackhawks in the first round of the PIAA playoffs.

Hampton will start off with city league champion Taylor Allderdice, who boasts three sets of twins Davaugh and Javaugh Moultrie (Sr.), James and Tim Jackson (So.), Kenny and Keith Robinson (So.) and one of the top sophomore guards in all of Pittsburgh, in Ramon Creighton. Hampton will have to rebound from a tough WPIAL Championship game loss to New Castle, and re-focus on a fourth potential match-up with them in the PIAA quarterfinals. Kiski Area and North Allegheny get to play teams outside of the WPIAL, in Erie McDowell and Altoona Area respectively. McDowell finished their season with a 22-3 record, while Altoona went 13-9 on the year. If North Allegheny can advance, they will likely match up with New Castle for the third time this season in the second round.

A couple opponents that our WPIAL teams should look out for on the bottom of the PIAA bracket include York, Haverford, Martin Luther King, Abington, and Pennsbury.  York won district 3 and finished 22-6 on the year with 6’3” junior guard Jahaire Wilson leading the. While only 15-10 on the year, Haverford has Levan Alston, a 6-3 guard with offers from Penn State, Rhode Island, Temple, La Salle and more, as well as, 6’7” sophomore Lamar Stevens. Martin Luther King HS went 23-5 and has junior guard Tyheem Harmon and 6’8” senior Jahmir Taylor. Abington was 22-5 on the season, and has 6’3” senior Anthony Lee, and junior Matt Penecale. Finishing 22-5 on the year, Pennsbury lost in the finals of district 1 to Chester. They have 6’8” junior Derrick Woods who already has a D1 offer from Binghamton, and schools like Hofstra and Temple hot on his trail, along with junior guards, Cameron Jones and Mekhai Bryant, who are both Division 1 recruits.

The big guns on the top of the bracket are my alma mater Roman Catholic, along with Chester, both Philadelphia area teams. Roman finished the season 22-4 winning the Philadelphia Catholic League Championship. Chester went 22-5 and won the District 1 championship. Chester has 6 8’ Tyrell Sturdivant who has signed with Division 1 Stonybrook, as well as, 6’’8 senior Gabe Adesina and 6’7” sophomore Marquis Collins. They are also led by guards Mahir Johnson who has interest from Coppin State, and Conrad Chambers who has offers from Drexel, RMU, Fairfield, and Wagner according to ESPN recruiting. Roman Catholic is led by their backcourt of Penn State commit Shep Garner and Drexel Commit Rashan London. They also have 6’5” wing Gemil Holbrook, 6’6” forward Treyvaugn Wilkerson, and four other contributors 6’6’ or above.

As always, it will be a tough task for the WPIAL teams as they start to run into the competition coming from Philadelphia and other eastern parts of the state. For New Castle to stay perfect, they will have to potentially defeat – Bethel Park, North Allegheny, Hampton and possibly, Pennsbury, and Roman or Chester. This will be no easy path for our WPIAL golden child, but should be fun to follow. Best of luck to all of the teams representing Class Quad A in the WPIAL playoffs.