BY MIKE MASTOVICH
JOHNSTOWN — York Suburban Catholic started slow but finished with a high-percentage shooting flurry in a 61-46 victory over Johnstown High during Friday’s PIAA Class AAA playoff game.
York Suburban made only two of its first 13 shots from the field.
But in the final three quarters, the District 3 team hit 19 of 28 shots from the floor.
“They’re a great shooting team and they got hot,” Johnstown coach Neil Cobaugh said after his District 6-AAA champs closed a 21-4 season. “The bad part is we got real cold and they got real hot. Everything they put up seemed to go in. Everything we put up didn’t seem to go in.
“We had layups. We couldn’t get the ball to fall in the second half. That’s a credit to those guys (York Suburban).”
Johnstown led 13-4 after the first quarter and held a six-point advantage, 25-19, at halftime.
But York Suburban outscored the local Trojans 20-3 in the third quarter.
“In the first quarter we were shooting poorly and we are a very good shooting team,” York Suburban coach Tom Triggs said of his 23-5 Trojans. “No. 24 (Cliff Eddins) lit us up in the first half. He was one guy that we really wanted to be aware of.
“We wanted to stop the dribble penetration, which we did a decent job of by going with a little bit more zone in the second half. The third quarter, we outscored them 20-3 and did a real nice job breaking their press.”
After falling behind by as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter, Johnstown pulled within five, 46-41, on a conventional three-point play by Quayshawn Thompson with 4:28 left, and again at 48-43 on two Isaiah Haselrig free throws at 4:05.
But the District 3 Trojans made some big rebounds, hit a few more key shots and were solid at the line in the final minutes.
“I’m so proud of these kids and how they grew throughout the year,” Cobaugh said. “A lot of things that people didn’t think Johnstown was able to accomplish, we accomplished. We played as a team. We were exciting to watch. We played great defense. That’s a tribute to these guys character-wise. They rose to the occasion.”
Eddins led Johnstown with
21 points. Thompson had nine rebounds and seven points.
Haselrig scored eight points and had six boards. Kevin Donahue led York Suburban with
23 points, including three
3-pointers in the second quarter. Sean Hinnenkamp had
16 points.
“We had a guy who went on vacation with the family and another kid got suspended,” Cobaugh said. “It was a tough week for us. But the will for these guys to keep playing showed a lot about the character this group has. I’m proud of the way we played.”
