New Castle Wins Rubber Match for WPIAL Championship
Saturday’s Class 5A boys basketball WPIAL Championship Game at North Allegheny was the third meeting of the season between No. 1 Chartiers Valley (22-4) and No. 2 New Castle (21-2).
In all three games, the winning team won by double digits. New Castle took the rubber match and won their 14th WPIAL title with a 61-45 win. This was the first year the Red Hurricanes played in Class 5A after competing in Class 4A.
New Castle won each quarter, and led as many as 17 points in the second half, but saw their lead cut to four, 40-36, in the fourth quarter. They answered Chartiers Valley’s run to put them game away behind the performance of senior Sheldon Cox. Cox scored 19 of his 24 points in the second half and also had 10 rebounds.
Junior Michael Wells and sophomore Isaiah Boice finished with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
New Castle will play the District 9 or 10 champion in the quarterfinals of the PIAA playoffs on Friday, March 19.