Gateway Boys’ Basketball Punishes Penn Hills, 58-44

Posted on: by Big 56 Conference

The Gateway boys’ basketball team raced to a double-digit lead in the first quarter and cruised past Penn Hills for a 58-44 triumph in the Section 2-AAAA opener. The busted out in the first quarter for a 22-12 advantage behind the strong play of senior guard Etholian Vennie who scored 12 first-half points and buried to 3-pointers in the early going. Vennie, who also  dished out plenty of assists, finished with a team-high 19 points and was named the Player of the Game by the Quad-A Sports Network.

Gateway led 34-25 at the half and blew the game wide open in the second half and led by as much as 21-points, 56-35. Penn Hills did its best to bottle up 6-8 sophomore J.P. Kromka and limited him to 11 points, but the Indians couldn’t slow down the outside shooting of Vennie and senior Frank Bozicevic. Bozicevic totaled 13 points and dropped in a pair of 3-pointers.

The Indians were led by Sherron Shifino who scored a game-high 19 points. Junior Jeremiah Ligon left the game in the first half with an apparent head injury.

Following the one-sided win, Gateway improves to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in Section 2-AAAA. Penn Hills slips to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in section play.

"Game of the Week" Players of the Game

DATEPLAYERTEAMGAME
12/11Ionie BannerPenn HillsGirls BasketballPenn Hills at Gateway
12/11Etholian VennieGatewayBoys BasketballPenn Hills at Gateway
12/15Abby GonzalesNorth AlleghenyGirls BasketballPine-Richland at North Allegheny
12/15Curtis AikenNorth AlleghenyBoys BasketballPine-Richland at North Allegheny
12/21Justina MascaroBethel ParkGirls BasketballMt. Lebanon at Bethel Park
12/23Ross WilkersonChartiers ValleyBoys BasketballChartiers Valley at Upper St. Clair
1/7Makenna MarisaPeters TownshipGirls BasketballUpper St. Clair at Peters Township
1/8Andrew PetcashPine-RichlandBoys BasketballPine-Richland at North Hills
1/13Alayna GribbleNorwinGirls BasketballPenn-Trafford at Norwin
1/13Sean StinelliPenn-TraffordBoys BasketballPenn-Trafford at Norwin
1/21Mary KromkaGatewayGirls BasketballPlum at Gateway
1/21Jack MaroldPlumBoys BasketballPlum at Gateway
1/25McKenzie BusheeMt. LebanonGirls BasketballBethel Park at Mt. Lebanon
1/29Luke NedrowCentral CatholicBoys BasketballNorth Allegheny at Central Catholic
2/1Hailey Zeise North AlleghenyGirls BasketballSeneca Valley at North Allegheny
2/5Doug WagnerUpper St. ClairBoys BasketballUpper St. Clair at Mt. Lebanon