FARRELL – There was 64 minutes of basketball played at EJ McCluskey Gymnasium on Thursday night.
It was the start of the District 10 Class 4A boys basketball tournament. And both games came down to adjustments in the final eight minutes of the quarterfinals.
Sharon opened the night with a 57-53 win over General McLane, and Hickory followed with a 42-35 victory over Slippery Rock.
The win by Sharon and the Hornets will set up a rematch between the rival schools on Tuesday. A site and time will be announced at a later date.
SHARON VS. GENERAL MCLANE
General McLane, the eight seed, opened the night strong.
The Lancers (10-12) were 8-for-13 (61 percent) shooting from the floor in the first quarter. That gave GM a 17-8 lead heading into the second quarter.
GM was in control until a Santino Piccirilli layup off a Lamont Austin assist sparked an 8-0 run. The scoring spurt helped the Tigers (20-3) cut the deficit to 25-24 before halftime.
“That was very big for us. Gave us some energy,” Sharon head coach Louis Brown said. “It gave us energy on defense and we fed off that. It’s contagious. It was big to go on that run and cut into that lead before half.”
Sharon took the lead after back-to-back fouls by the Lancers to start the fourth quarter.
Levi Hailstock was fouled on a 3-point attempt with the Lancers ahead 38-37. He made the first two, but missed the second. Piccirilli grabbed the offensive board and was sent to the line as well. Piccirilli split the pair at the stripe, but the Tigers held a 40-38 advantage.
“(Piccirilli) got on guys about rebounding, defense and doing the right things,” Brown said. “
The top-seeded Tigers limited General McLane to 4-for-14 shooting in the fourth quarter.
General McLane’s Jacob Zietz led all scorers with 17 points while grabbing six rebounds with two assists. Logan Anderson pitched in 10 points with seven rebounds, and Jared Corwin came up just shy of a double-double, finishing with nine points and eight boards.
Piccirilli led Sharon with 15 points, three rebounds and a pair of assists. Derek Douglas added 11 points, three rebounds and a game-high four assists. Hailstock was right behind, scoring six of his 10 points in the fourth quarter along with three boards. Mister Ham scored four points with a team-high five rebounds.
“We’ve been in these types of games, but it’s one and done,” Brown said. “I was nervous for my guys that it might be too little, too late. But we went on a run in the second half to cut into the lead.”
HICKORY VS. SLIPPERY ROCK
The nightcap was just as entertaining, featuring two familiar opponents in Hickory and Slippery Rock.
Slippery Rock won both meetings with the Hornets in the regular season, 57-52 on Jan. 23 in Hermitage and 53-40 on Feb. 9 at Slippery Rock.
In Thursday’s meeting, the Hornets defense shut down the Rockets in the fourth quarter. Hickory held the Rockets to 2-for-9 shooting in the final frame. The Rockets also committed three turnovers in the fourth.
“We’ll take it. I don’t care if it’s ugly or close, we’ll take it,” Hickory head coach Chris Mele said. “It’s a good team.
“I think the key tonight was our pressure. We forced them into some turnovers. We had a nice half-court trap in the fourth quarter.”
Hickory was in control early, leading 13-6 by the end of the first quarter. But slowly, the Rockets began to make their way back into the game.
The game was tied at 30 heading into the fourth. Levi Prementine gave the Rockets (14-9) the lead on a 3-pointer, but the Hornets responded with an and-one from Landon Bean.
Slippery Rock couldn’t make it to halfcourt before Rylan Dye forced a turnover and converted it for a go-ahead layup. That score triggered an 8-0 run that gave Hickory some breathing room.
The Rockets went almost exactly five minutes between their two baskets in the fourth.
“The ball just didn’t fall, ya know? We hit an early three with five minutes left and don’t score again until late in the quarter,” Slippery Rock head coach A.J. Motta said.
Prementine is the lone senior from this year’s squad, so almost the entire starting lineup could come back next season. Prementine finished with five points, two rebounds and an assist.
“For our senior, we feel really bad,” Motta said. “We wanted to go out and win to keep our team together and keep doing the things we wanted to do this season.”
Slippery Rock forward Josh Book led all scorers with 17 points while grabbing fiver rebounds. Max Kovacik scored six points with five rebounds and a team-best three assists.
For the Hornets (16-7), Trevor Borowicz totaled 11 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double. Dye led the way in the scoring category with 13 points, and Marco Miller added four points, seven rebounds and a game-high six assists.
THE NEXT ROUND
Tuesday’s semifinals will be the rubber match between the Tigers and the Hornets. They split the season series this year, with the home teams pulling out victories on last-second baskets.
Now it will be on neutral court with their respective season’s on the line.
“Can it get any better, Mercer County? Everybody’s going to look forward to this game coming up,” Mele said. “Hopefully it will be an instant classic like the first two were.”
DISTRICT 10 CLASS 4A QUARTERFINALS
GEN. McLANE 17 8 13 15 53
SHARON 8 16 13 20 57
GEN. McLANE – J. Zietz 7-3-6-17, I. Zietz 3-0-0-6, Anderson 4-0-0-10, Beachly 1-0-0-3, Rhodes 3-0-0-8, Locke 0-0-0-0, Boulder 0-0-0-0, Corwin 4-1-2-9. 3-pt. goals: Anderson 2, Rhodes 2, Beachly 1. Totals: 22-4-8-53.
SHARON – Ham 2-0-2-4, Austin 2-0-0-4, Douglas 4-3-6-11, Hailstock 2-6-11-10, Fromm 1-0-0-2, Root 3-2-2-8, Piccirilli 7-1-3-15, Schenker 1-0-0-3. 3-pt. goals: Schenker 1. Totals: 22-12-24-57.
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HICKORY 13 7 10 12 42
SLIPP. ROCK 6 10 14 5 35
HICKORY – Dye 6-1-2-13, Robich 2-0-0-4, Turosky 0-0-0-0, Borowicz 4-3-5-11, Huff 0-0-2-0, Miller 1-2-6-4, Reimond 0-0-0-0, Bittler 1-0-0-2, Uberti 0-0-0-0, Bean 3-2-3-8, Kovac 0-0-0-0. Totals: 17-8-18-42.
SLIPPERY ROCK – Prementine 2-0-2-5, Kovacik 3-0-0-6, Popovec 1-0-0-2, King 1-0-0-2, Franco 1-0-0-3, Book 6-4-4-17. 3-pt. goals: Prementine 1, Franco 1, Book 1. Totals: 14-4-7-35.
