City of Basketball Love

Dan Arkans (@danarkans)
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BETHLEHEM — The Constitution boys basketball team appeared to have knocked off the toughest competition in the eastern half of its bracket.

After all, the Generals got rid of some demons with a victory over Mahanoy, followed by another win over the defending state champs in Lancaster Mennonite.

Of course there are no easy outs in the PIAA Class 2A tournament. The Generals found that out the hard way Tuesday night as Holy Cross’ hot shooting buried Constitution 78-66 to book a trip to Friday’s state championship at Hershey’s Giant Center.

The Generals had beaten the Crusaders five consecutive times entering a semifinal matchup at Liberty High School. In fact, the Crusaders hadn’t won against Constitution since 2013.

But that streak came to a convincing end. The District 2 champion Crusaders will face WPIAL champ Aliquippa, a 65-53 winner over Fort Cherry in the other semifinal.

“They outplayed us,” Generals head coach Rob Moore said. “The score is indicative of one team needing to do all the things they needed to do to win and the other team didn’t. We missed free throws. I don’t know if they missed a free throw. They did what they had to do to win.”

Holy Cross shot its way into the state finals, not missing a 3-pointer in the first half or a free throw for the entire game. Meanwhile, Constitution (25-7), the District 12 champ, was just 4 of 8 from the line.

Point guard Mike Hughes (22 points) was brilliant, beginning with a drive and a 3-pointer that had Holy Cross up 5-0 moments into the game.

“We are very confident,” Hughes said. “We watched hours of film, we knew we could get a great win.”

Holy Cross (24-3) hit on 10 of its first 11 shots, including a wild make from Matt Lyons (21 points, eight rebounds) which hit the front of a rim, bounced up and went in during the first-quarter barrage.

“They were getting bounces,” Moore said. “I am a firm believer that when teams are getting bounces it’s because they are playing harder. There’s a karma to basketball, when a team’s playing better that’s going to happen within the flow of the game. That’s what happened today.” 

The Crusaders led 21-12 after one quarter and opened up a 32-19 advantage. Constitution answered with a 7-2 mini-run and trailed 34-26 at the half when Kyree Lattimore hit a bucket at the buzzer.

“I just think this year we had a little bit more guard play and speed which we didn’t have in the past,” Holy Cross head coach Al Callejas Jr. said. “You need guards in March. I thought our guards really handled the pressure defensively. We had to make some shots, and we did.” 

The Generals were a different team to start the third quarter. Constitution guard Perry Fields (19 points) scored a couple buckets, and after another one from Lattimer (24 points) drew Constitution within two, 34-32, with 6:42 to go in the third quarter, forcing a timeout from Holy Cross. 

The Generals didn’t back down and trailed 38-37 midway through the quarter. Lyons answered with a basket, and after a 3-pointer from Adam Badryka Holy Cross was back up by six points at 43-37.

“We just have to come back,” Hughes said. “They threw a hard punch at us to start the second half, but we knew we could rally back and go on a run. I just think we went back into our zone and that contained them.” 

“Every time we made a run they answered,” Moore said. “That’s unfortunately what happens sometimes. They get to go to Hershey on Friday, and I coach softball tomorrow.”

Constitution didn’t go quietly against the Crusaders’ efficient offense. The Generals even whittled the deficit down to 66-60 with 2:13 to go before Holy Cross finished the game 8 for 8 at the line.

“They outplayed us in every aspect of the game tonight,” Moore said. “They are well-coached. They can shoot. I knew they had all the pieces to do what they just did. I just thought we would have fought a little bit more. I thought we would have kept guys in front of us defensively, made it harder to get good looks. We just didn’t. What it boils down to is one team came out prepared and wanted to win it more.”

“We do a lot of shooting,” Callejas Jr. said. “I am a shooting coach. One thing we do not do is shoot 14 of 14 from the free-throw line. Our center, Matt Lyons, is about 49-50 percent, and when he went 4-for-4 I thought maybe this is our night.”

It was a difficult final contest for Constitution’s senior starters Kory Jones, Latimer, Fields and Speights. Still, it doesn’t lessen what that quartet has meant to the Constitution program.

“I am proud of the way the kids played all season,” Moore said. “We made it to the state semifinals. It’s a great group of kids. Is it what I wanted? No, but you can’t win every game.”

By Quarter

Constitution: 12 | 14 | 17 | 23 || 66

Holy Cross 21 | 13 | 19 | 25 || 78

Scoring

Constitution: Jones 13, Lattimer 24, Fields 19, Speights 6, White-Blaylock 2, Johnson 2.

Holy Cross: Hughes 22, Matrone 15, Lyons 21, Badyrka 10, Thompson 10.

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PIAA 2A Boys

Semifinals (Tue., March 19)
2-1 Holy Cross 78, 12-1 Constitution 66
7-1 Aliquippa 65, 7-3 Fort Cherry 53

Championship at Giant Center (Fri., March 22)
2-1 Holy Cross vs. 7-1 Aliquippa, 2 p.m.