Our Lady of the Sacred Heart eliminates Union from PIAA playoffs
WEXFORD — The Union High boys basketball team's season came to an end Wednesday night.
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart posted a 41-35 victory over the Scotties in the second round of the PIAA Class 2A playoffs at North Allegheny High School.
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'I thought defensively we did a real nice job,' Our Lady of the Sacred Heart coach Mike Rodriguez said. '(Lucas) Stanley is such a tremendous player and an amazing young man by the way. Coach (Mark) Stanley is a gentleman I have a great respect for as well — and his entire family. I think that team is a really good team. It's tough of course to beat a team three times, we all know that. I think the difference in the game was we executed defensively. Offensively, we struggled in the first half. We couldn't buy a basket...Execution was the difference in the second half but I think defensively we were incredibly aggressive in the second half.'
Union coach Mark Stanley told his team not to hang their heads after the loss.
'One game doesn't define our season. Credit to OLSH,' Stanley said. 'We had our opportunities. In the past, we've taken advantage of them and tonight we didn't. Sometimes that happens. That's why you compete...They left the door wide open by missing free throws. We just couldn't cash in on the other end.'
In the fourth quarter, Union reached five fouls to give the Chargers (21-7) the bonus and with 3:35 remaining in the game. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart visited the free-throw line eight times after receiving the bonus and were 5 of 16.
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'Honestly, I was just trying to stay positive with the kids,' Rodriguez said on the poor foul shooting. 'When Luca (Grisafi) missed his second shot, I know he was down but we had to remind him of the job he was doing defensively. He was guarding (Lucas) Stanley and sometimes when you're exerting that much on defense, your arms aren't going to be there.'
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart was 10 of 24 from the free-throw line.
'You shouldn't go 10 of 24 from the free-throw line and win a game,' Rodriguez said.
Shots weren't falling much for either team to start out the first quarter. Both teams entered the second with the game knotted at five.
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With 5:03 remaining in the second quarter, Landon Eckert hit a trey, which was followed up with a 3-pointer by teammate Lucas Stanley to take a 13-5 lead. Eckert netted a game-high 23 points for the Scotties (20-8).
'Landon's had a great year for us,' Coach Stanley said. 'He hit the shots when he was open; kept us in it which we needed. Credit to him. He's had success all year. Tonight was no different.'
Union entered halftime with a 20-11 lead over the Chargers.
'Our defense was excellent in the first half,' Coach Stanley said. 'Our defense was as good as it's ever been in the first half. They started penetrating a little bit which was one of our keys. We figured they'd make a run. Then, we settled down and it was right there for us. It wasn't no blowout. The shots we usually make just didn't go tonight.'
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In the third quarter, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart started chipping away at the Scotties' lead.
With less than four minutes in the third quarter, Tiernan McCullough hit back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game at 26 before teammates Lucca Grisafi and Frankie Igrec hit field goals to enter the fourth quarter with a 30-26 advantage. Rodriguez called McCullough's 3-pointers, 'huge.'
'Tiernan has been one of our leading scorers,' Rodriguez said. 'He likes to shoot it when he's open and so does Jake (Johnson). They like that. Those were big. He's very confident, he doesn't get down on himself, he knows he needs to keep his head in the game and of course as coaches we're always telling him 'Next shot, next shot, next shot. Don't worry about the last one.''
McCullough paced Our Lady of the Sacred Heart with 13 markers.
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Union loses three seniors — Lucas Stanley, Maddox Thompson and Jamel Mitchell — on its roster.
'They're everything,' Coach Stanley said on his seniors. 'If Maddox and Jamel don't come out (to play for us this season), we're not here. And Lucas...you know. We'll miss them all.'
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