City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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ALTOONA — When Andre Anderson finally emerged from a sullen Carlisle locker room, all sorts of disappointment stretching from one side of his face to the other, he really did not want to admit that yet another postseason run was over.

Yet it was.

And while Anderson’s Thundering Herd watched everything come to a close one year and one round earlier at the same venue, Tuesday night’s all-or-nothing contest did not unfold quite the same as it did some 12 months hence.

While the Herd struggled in the second half of last season’s finale against an experienced Allderdice club, they found the third quarter and parts of the fourth a bit stodgy as a quality Pine-Richland began to take command.

Carlisle, however, made one valiant run in the remarkably hectic final minutes that brought the Herd oh, so close and had their fervent backers howling as they pulled within a single deep look of tying their suburban Pittsburgh adversary.

They would not get any closer.

Despite putting three players in double figures — DeShawn Millington scored 22 points, Ethan Houston added 17 and Gavyn Barnes tacked on 14 — Carlisle tumbled 65-60 to Pine-Richland in a PIAA Class 6A semifinal-round scrap at packed Altoona Field House.

“We didn’t have a lot of negatives to say, because it was such a storied season for us,” admitted Anderson, a Carlisle alum who later played at the University of Vermont. “But we can’t start that late. We can’t start that comeback that late.”

Millington added four assists in his final high school outing, while the 6-6 Houston added five rebounds and three assists. Yet it was Barnes that knocked down a pull-up trey with 16.3 seconds remaining to pull the Herd (21-9) within three (63-60).

But Pine-Richland was able to solve Carlisle’s scathing pressure one last time as an Andrew Kristofic finish — off a Greg Shulkosky dish — closed out the Herd and propelled Jeff Ackermann’s talented Rams (28-1) into their first state title game.

While Notre Dame football commit Phil Jurkovec paced Pine-Richland with 19 points, Andrew Petcash (16), Evan Luellen (15) and Kristofic (11) also cracked double figures as Ackermann’s balanced Rams set up their showdown for the Class 6A championship with Reading Saturday night at Hershey’s Giant Center.

“Once again, four guys in double figures for us,” stated Ackermann, who piloted Moon to the 2004 Class AAA championship. “We get four guys in double figures, we’re really tough to beat. There’s not a whole lot of teams that can put four guys in double figures.

“When we can do that, we really like our chances.”

“We always have role guys stepping up,” Petcash said. “No different today.”

Reading sidelined Archbishop Ryan 57-51 in the other 6A semi.

The 6-6 Kristofic added 14 rebounds — five more than the 6-5 Jurkovec — and Luellen dished out eight assists as Pine-Richland rebounded from its first-half shooting woes to connect on nearly 73 percent of its field-goal tries (16-for-22) after the break.

And Ackermann’s Rams, thanks to a convincing 43-22 edge on the glass and a bunch of layups that resulted from solving Carlisle’s pressure, were able to construct a 58-42 lead with 3:02 remaining when Kristofic bagged the front end of a 1-and-1.

Some 45 seconds later, following Jurkovec’s finish, Pine-Richland was up 61-45.

Suddenly, that Carlisle heat caused all sorts of problems for the Rams and ignited a furious Herd rally. Ten consecutive points later — Millington’s layup, Houston’s trey off an inbounds pass and a pair of Barnes scores — Anderson’s bunch was down 61-55.

Luellen quieted the storm momentarily by bagging both ends of a two-shot look, but Barnes knocked down a pair of freebies before canning his deep rip from the left wing to make it a one-possession contest at 63-60.

“There at the end, we were hanging on for dear life,” Ackermann said.

One successful press break later, the game essentially was over.

While Millington was sensational early — the 6-1 senior flashed to the hoop or connected on some short pull-ups en route 13 first-quarter points — the Rams just tried to contest everything the slashing all-state guard put up from that point on.

“DeShawn’s a good player,” Jurkovec admitted.

Regardless, the Herd led 33-27 at the break.

Struggling from the floor in the first half — Pine-Richland nailed just nine of its 31 field-goal tries and was a mere 2-for-20 in the second quarter — the 6-4 Petcash bagged his first four looks in the third quarter … including all three of his treys.

“Just came out a little flat, shot wasn’t falling,” said Petcash, who compared Tuesday’s outing to his first half in the WPIAL title game. “I knew they’d start falling.

“I’m just glad we won, man.”

Jurkovec also started to get cranked up, collecting 10 of his 19 points in the third quarter as the Rams caught and passed the Herd, grabbing a 33-27 lead.

Ackermann had challenged his stars at the break and they responded. Once that happened, everyone else quickly got in step and followed along.

“I just cut to the chase,” Ackermann recalled. “Phil and Andrew are our two best players and they weren’t playing very well. We aren’t going to beat too many teams without them playing well. We need them to be at their best.

“Once Andrew goes, we go.”

“We’ve been the top two scorers and we’d been held down in the first half, so he just looked at us and said, ‘Come on guys. This is not going to be the last time we play with each other.’ So we just decided we were gonna go all out,” Jurkovec said.

“We made a lot of mistakes in the second half, but at least we were going all out.”

“Those two turned it on,” Anderson said. “Petcash turned it on in the third quarter and he’s a good player. They handled the ball real well, aside from that last minute-and-a-half. We just needed to come out with a little bit more energy.”

“I’d like to see what would happen if we did that.”

Plus, how good were the shots Pine-Richland was able to get? Ackermann’s Rams assisted on 19 of their 25 field goals, with the 6-6 Kristofic adding four to Luellen’s eight.

Jurkovec and Petcash finished with three apiece.

When Carlisle tried to pick up the Rams at the start of the fourth, Pine-Richland utilized the pass and its superior length to move the ball down the court in transition and score a number of easy buckets that enabled the WPIAL champs to extend their lead.

Luellen had nine points in the fourth quarter, Kristofic racked up six and Jurkovec chipped in five as Pine-Richland’s cushion mushroomed to 16.

Once Carlisle’s pressure really kicked in — the Rams committed nine of their 19 turnovers in the final quarter — nothing was effective. Also hampering Pine-Richland was the loss of Petcash, who fouled out with 2:13 to play.

While things suddenly grew eerily close, the Rams held on and bounced off in joyous fashion, celebrating a victory that propelled them into their first state final.

“It’s exciting, definitely is,” Jurkovec said. “It’s crazy for us.”

“We got it done,” Petcash added.

Carlisle, denied again in Altoona, was stopped one round short of reaching its first final since Billy Owens and the 1988 Herd closed out a Class AAAA four-peat.

“That’s a special group of kids [in there],” Anderson said. “We’re family here. We treat each other like family and it’s hard to see these guys go.”