City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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ALTOONA — Mike Gaffey’s basketball-playing Bishop McDevitt Crusaders definitely picked an opportune time to piece together a memorable result.

History-making stuff, actually.

Not just from a collective standpoint, though, as several McDevitt youngsters also spent Friday night generating some individual milestones.

Getting a monstrous double-double from James Williams and 18 points from Kobay White — Williams’ career-high 35 points was neatly complemented by his career-high 24 boards — fast-starting McDevitt side held off a fast-closing New Castle club 77-68 in a PIAA Class AAA quarterfinal-round scrap at the Altoona Field House.

Williams, in fact, had 20 points and 13 boards just in the first half.

Bryce Hall added 10 points and six assists as Gaffey’s remarkably athletic Crusaders (23-6) steamed into the PIAA state semifinals for the first time. McDevitt played for a PCIAA title in 1966, but lost to Bishop McCort in the title game.

“It’s exciting and we’ll enjoy it tonight,” said Gaffey, a McDevitt alum in his second season as head coach who promptly unleashed a brief tongue-in-cheek wisecrack.

“And when the clock strikes midnight, we’ll tell the guys how terrible they are and how they have to get ready for the next game.”

“It’s exciting,” Williams said.

“We haven’t been here in like 50 years, so it’s exciting to be a part of this.”

Up next for McDevitt is a date with Mars in Tuesday’s semis — probably back in Altoona. Mars (22-6) handled WPIAL playmate Highlands by a 77-48 score.

Marquel Hooker banked 21 points, Geno Stone chipped in 19 points and Marcus Hooker racked up a double-double (12 points/10 boards) for New Castle (25-3), which trailed 43-27 at halftime before rallying after the break.

Stone, just 5-11, backed the 5-11 Marcus Hooker with nine boards.

“Coming off a [62-60] win like Archbishop Carroll [in Tuesday’s second round], it’s kind of hard to bounce back into a game like this,” White said. “We got the win, so that’s all that matters. But I definitely think we can play a lot better.”

New Castle’s pressure also caused McDevitt to cough up the basketball 28 times, yet whenever Gaffey’s outfit was able to move the ball past the Red Hurricanes’ hectic D the Crusaders were determined to make Ralph Blundo’s club pay dearly.

“Those guys are Division I athletes,” Blundo said, commending McDevitt. “They forced us to mix up our pressure all night, because as soon as they got comfortable in it, they were off to the races. I thought their coach did a great job and they executed well. That wasn’t just good athletes out there playing and making plays.

“That was good athletes executing and playing good basketball.”

And those painful finishes occurred with regularity, as McDevitt cashed in on 59.6 percent of its field-goal attempts (28-for-47), a predictable conversion rate since the Crusaders were able to score repeatedly on layups and stickbacks.

“Our coaches are always telling us to crash the boards,” Williams said. “They just tell us to crash the boards and never give up on a play. That’s how I get a lot of boards.”

The 6-4 Williams, who had a five-inch height advantage on the ‘Canes’ tallest players, was 16-for-18 from the floor. Only one of Williams’ field goals came outside three feet, and that banked jumper came with just over two minutes to go.

“We had a hard time dealing with Williams,” Blundo admitted. “The kid played tremendously. Even when we could get a body on him, he was just bigger and even stronger. And he was able to finish.

“When we made mistakes, however subtle they may have been, they made us pay.”

“We always look for him, but tonight we really had to look for him even more,” Gaffey remarked. “And the only thing we said was, ‘You can get stuff on the glass tonight.’ … He got a lot of stuff there, too.”

McDevitt also forced New Castle to turn the ball over 17 times, nine early.

“A lot of people [have problems] with the way we pressure people,” Williams continued. “I think we surprise a lot of people with that. We try not to let people run their stuff and we get out and run all the time because we’ve got so many great players on the bench.”

McDevitt also collected 19 assists on its 28 field goals — with the Virginia-bound Hall (football) dropping a team-high six dimes. White tacked on four assists, while Williams and Jody Morales each delivered three.

McDevitt also outboarded the smaller Canes 43-25, including a 25-9 edge before the break. That’s one of the reasons Gaffey’s bunch led by as many as 20 points.

“We’re not the tallest team, but we pass the ball well and we play defense,” White admitted. “I think that’s what [got us through].”

Still up 43-27 at the halftime break, McDevitt watched a comfortable margin disappear in a hurry as Blundo’s opportunistic yet remarkably athletic Hurricanes began converting mistakes into scores. New Castle actually was within seven points (45-38) with 5:31 to play in the third following a Marquel Hooker finish at the tin.

While a 6-0 McDevitt run highlighted by four White points and two from Williams restored some order, the Crusaders’ lead was 10 (54-44) heading to the fourth.

The 6-2 White, ticketed for Boston College on a football scholarship, accrued 12 of his 18 points after halftime. The 18 points, by the way, matched his career high.

“Kobay’s a street fighter,” Gaffey said. “So tonight’s game was perfect for him because nothing fazes him. He’s gonna play the same way no matter who we play.

“So tonight was the perfect setting for him. I’m just happy he wasn’t one of the guys in foul trouble or that would have been a problem for us.”

More on those foul issues in a bit.

“Coach always says we have eight starters and everyone can play,” said White, who came off the bench yet played all 16 minutes of the second half. “Everyone comes in and does their job. Each day, I feel, it might be someone else’s day.

“Today they were double-teaming James a lot and I was getting open,” White continued. “I was trying to make my layups and I actually made my free throws (10-for-13) so I guess that helped.”

New Castle, however, was not about to go quietly back to western Pennsylvania.

“They just play hard the whole game,” Williams said. “They’re kind of like a Steel-High type team. Just really scrappy.”

Although McDevitt still led 68-57 with 1:48 to play after the 6-2 White knocked down the front end of a two-shot look, a 10-4 spurt had Blundo’s Canes within five on Garrett Farah’s score. Just 32.7 seconds were showing on the clock.

“Coming into the game, we said we’ve got to win the turnover statistic and we have to win the rebound statistic,” Blundo admitted. “You can’t get outrebounded [25-9] in the first half if you’re going to have a chance.

“It was really a bad first quarter that we had a hard time overcoming,” Blundo said of his Canes’ 22-13 deficit. “We thought if we could get it to four or five midway into the fourth quarter, maybe they’d tighten up just a little bit.

“It just happened too late.”

Once Blundo’s Canes forced another turnover, they appeared to be in great shape to make it a one-possession contest. However, New Castle handed the ball right back to the Crusaders and Gaffey’s group was able to polish things off at the line.

McDevitt, in fact, was 5-for-6 at the stripe in the final 26 seconds.

And while Friday night’s scrap flashed a frenetic pace that one McDevitt partisan accurately portrayed as a “horse race” — the Crusaders may have surprised the high-octane Hurricanes with their willingness to go up and down the floor at a brisk pace — fouls began piling up on both sides of the ledger and a high-pitched tempo rapidly slowed as the whistles increased.

“They force you to do that,” Gaffey said of the pace. “If you’re going to try to set up your offense against them, then shame on you. If they’re going to invite you to do that, then you have to attack. Again, as I’m watching the first quarter and we’re scoring and I’m happy about that, but I knew we wouldn’t continue to score like that the whole game. But every little bit we can get, we’ll take.”

Before the hoops-centric festivities finally came to a close, 56 personal fouls were assessed by the three-man officiating crew — McDevitt collected 30, four more than New Castle’s 26 and one particular fan was howling his displeasure at the gentlemen sporting the stripes — yet only three players were disqualified.

Yet, despite all of the stoppages that turned a free-flowing affair into a maddening traffic jam filled with way too much rubbernecking, it was Gaffey’s Crusaders who were giddy about a milestone victory that would move their season forward.

And, out of time despite a valiant second-half rally, Blundo’s Hurricanes would be going home following a second consecutive loss in the state quarters.

“That’s a really good basketball team,” Blundo said. “It’s real easy to see that that’s a team that’s built themselves into a good team over the course of the year.

“They’re playing their best basketball at the right time of the year.”

The latest season-ending setback was delivered by a McDevitt eight-man rotation featuring five players — White, Hall, Headen, Alex Marsico and Tim Kater — who were part of a Crusaders football team that last December reached the state semis before tumbling to Erie’s Cathedral Prep.

“We wanted a state championship in football and we couldn’t get one, so we’re just trying to go after a title in basketball,” White admitted.

Maybe Tuesday night, wherever they play, Gaffey’s Crusaders will emerge victorious yet again and earn one last chance to play just a few minutes from campus at Hershey’s Giant Center.

“We’re so excited, but before the game we said, ‘Look, this is a road game tonight,’” Gaffey said. “Our fans can’t get here by 7 o’clock. It’s impossible if you have work and you have people you have to get to practice and stuff like that, so if you want a home game you have to win two more if you want to get to the Giant Center. Then, you’ll get your home game.’ So that’s our goal right now.

“That’s our motto. We want to play one more home game.”

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Wednesday's scores

CLASS AAA QUARTERFINALS
Friday, March 11
Imhotep Charter 71, Delaware Valley Charter 54
Neumann-Goretti 78, Lower Moreland 52
Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt 77, New Castle 68
Mars 77, Highlands 48

CLASS A QUARTERFINALS
Friday, March 11
Math, Civics & Sciences 73, Philadelphia-Montgomery Christian 68 (OT)
Constitution 62, Shenandoah Valley 47
Kennedy Catholic 58, Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic 53
Sewickley Academy 62, Farrell 46