Belle Vernon weathers storm, beats EF for 3rd time
BELLE VERNON – Over his long and storied coaching career, Joe Salvino has said numerous times about his disdain for layoffs between the end of the regular season and the start of the WPIAL playoffs.
Wednesday night was no different, but Salvino’s top-seeded Belle Vernon Leopards made just enough plays to advance to the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals with a 55-51 win over neighboring Elizabeth Forward.
“I think we were rusty, and being off two weeks took a lot out of us,” said Salvino, who now has 742 career wins. “It took time for us to settle down and score some buckets.
“We didn’t play very well defensively, especially at the beginning when we allowed them to shoot their threes.”
EF (18-6) made a trio of 3-pointers in the first quarter and added three more in the second, but Belle Vernon (19-4) still led 13-12 after the first and 34-29 at the half.
Down 6-1 early, Belle Vernon received a scare when Zion Moore, the second-leading scorer in school history, appeared to roll his ankle with 5:49 to go in the first quarter. The senior returned with 3:45 left in the frame and played the rest of the way, finishing with a game-high 17 points.
EF coach Nolan Larry spoke about a defensive adjustment his team made that caused the Leopards some problems.
“We worked on a triangle-and-two for two-and-a-half or three days, and it is hard to prepare for it,” he said before turning his attention to the one drawback from playing the specific defense. “Defensive rebounds are at a premium and we couldn’t grab as many as we needed to, and that is what did us in.”
Salvino agreed that EF’s defensive strategy gave his team some problems.
“EF did a nice job when they went to the triangle-and-two,” Salvino said. “I tried to show (the Leopards) what we should be doing, but showing them and showing them out on the court (at practice) are two different things.
“We weathered the storm. We didn’t score for the longest time in the fourth quarter and came out ahead.”
Belle Vernon upped its lead to 49-39 on a Moore 3-pointer late in the third, but then it struggled to score the rest of the game, in part due to EF’s defense.
The Leopards led 49-41 going into the fourth quarter, but EF scored the first five points of the frame to rim the Belle Vernon lead to 49-46.
With 3:48 left, EF’s Cy Herchelroath attempted a game-tying three, but it was just off.
The Leopards finally scored with 2:19 to go when Tommy Davis hit a layup on a pass from Trevor Kovatch.
EF’s Justin Flourney trimmed the Leopards’ lead to 51-48 with 1:50 to go, but Moore hit one of two free throw attempts with 1:19 left to give the Leps a four-point lead.
James Gile scored an old-fashioned three-point play for EF to cut the BV lead to 52-51, but Davis hit another layup with 35 seconds remaining.
The Warriors missed a trio of 3-pointers on their last possession, and Kovatch sealed the game making the second of two free throw attempts with four seconds to play.
After hitting six three-pointers in the first half, EF didn’t make any in the second half.
“This was a testament to my five guys, because they played the entire second half,” he said. “I did not substitute. They were rolling on all cylinders.
“It is obviously disappointing, (losing to Belle Vernon) a third time, two times very close at their place, but we have to hold our heads up high. They had a little more in the tank at the end and made the plays.”
Davis (14) and Kovatch (12) joined Moore in double figures with Curty Wade grabbing nine rebounds and having four assists. Kovatch also had four assists and Moore grabbed eight boards.
Gile led EF with 15 points, Herchelroath had 14 points, 10 rebounds, two steals, and two blocks, and Daniel Spence added 11 points.
With the win, Belle Vernon plays fourth-seeded Avonworth (18-5) 3 p.m. Saturday at Peters Township’s AHN Arena.
EF plays at Knoch (17-7) in a 7 p.m. consolation game Monday and must win to extend its season.