Published Saturday, March 8, 1997
PIAA A BOYS BASKETBALL STATE PLAYOFFS
Kennedy 56
Clairton 48
KC upsets No. 1-ranked Clairton
By Ed Farrell
Herald Sports Writer
WEXFORD _ Kennedy Christian High boys' basketball coach Joe Votino proudly held his hands, palms up, aloft for a postgame observer's inspection.
They revealed cuts and missing layers of skin, all from a rough week of practice during which the veteran mentor literally dove for loose balls in order to not only inspire, but demonstrate to his youthful club the price it had to pay in order to upset WPIAL champion Clairton, which entered the game ranked No. 1 in the state by The Harrisburg Patriot-News.
Kennedy Christian ``mighty mite'' Carlos Oatis sails in for a layup past
Clairton's Pete Dreher in PIAA Class A first-round action. The Golden Eagles upset the state's top-ranked Bears. (Clem Marion/Herald)
``We were just outhustled, we were outplayed the whole time,'' admitted first-year Clairton head coach Carol Gelet, following Kennedy's 56-48 PIAA Class A opening-round victory Friday night at North Allegheny High School.
By virtue of the victory, Kennedy Christian (20-8) will meet Homer Center -- a 54-37 winner over Otto-Eldred also Friday -- next Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.
``Fantastic!'' Votino beamed regarding his club's performance. ``And just believing that they could beat a good team. We've been getting on their case all year about, `We haven't beat a good team.' We've lost to some good teams, but we really haven't beaten a good team. And the teams we have lost to are in the playoffs, which is no embarassment, but we needed to beat a good team, I mean, like a 23-2 team.''
An ecstatic Lamar Jefferson lets out a scream just moments after the
Golden Eagles' state playoff upset of No. 1-ranked Clairton. (Clem Marion/Herald)
Whereas the Golden Eagles squandered a fourth-quarter lead in a District 10 semifinals setback to Saegertown, they coerced Clairton into a handful of turnovers and 3-for-14 shooting during the decisive fourth frame. The Bears managed only eight points in the game's final eight minutes. Conversely, Kennedy connected on 8 of 13 free throws during the same span, led by Carlos Oatis' 4-for-6 marksmanship.
Kennedy set the tone by harassing the Bears into a 10-for-29 (34.5) first- half shooting performance.
``We shot, like, 32 percent in the first half. You can't win a ballgame shooting 32 percent,'' Gelet acknowledged. ``As much as things have gone smoothly for us all season long _ and when you're winning, things are going well _ that's just exactly how everything dropped out of the bottom for us. Shooting was down, rebounding was down, we were outhustled, stuff like bad passes led to turnovers ... ''
Which is vintage Kennedy Christian basketball, as the Golden Eagle's myriad of defensive looks confused Clairton, and the result was a 19-for-57 (33 percent) shooting performance.
``I'm not quite sure if they knew if we were in zone, man or some special defense we had, that I don't want to say in public,'' Votino noted. ``They never ran their man-to-man offense once, and that's what we wanted to happen, because they would kill us man-for-man, but we were in a man sometimes, though. But we were also in zone and a little tricky defense some other times.
``But I think when we were in man, they thought we were in zone and they were running their zone offense, which takes away their penetration, 'cause if they go man-for-man offense, they drive the ball down our throats. But I think our changing defenses confused them a little bit.''
Neither club shot well during the first frame _ Kennedy 6 of 18 and Clairton 6 of 15 _ and the difference occurred when Terrell Armstrong followed up his own missed shot with 59 seconds left for a 15-14 Clairton lead. Justin Green's 5-point, 5-rebound effort kept Kennedy close.
The teams traded the edge throughout the second stanza before the Bears built what proved to be their last lead, 25-23 with 50 seconds left until halftime on a Terrence Johnson tip-in. But Kennedy finished with a flourish, as Erik Hemsing ended an 0-for-5 shooting drought by drilling the game-tying jumper with 18.6 seconds left, then Ryan McElhinny's steal and subsequent score provided the `Birds with a 27-25 margin at intermission.
A Hemsing jumper and Damon Clayton's four free throws enabled the Eagles to assume a 33-25 bulge less than two full minutes into the third period, but Clairton responded with a 13-4 spree, culminating in Willie Harris' 3- point jumper from the wing and Keven McLean's layup off a lobbed inbounds pass, providing the Bears with a 38-37 lead with 2:35 left. McElhinny's corner jumper regained a 39-38 Eagles' edge, before Dontae Sanders scored off Kennedy's seventh turnover of the period for a 40-39 Clairton margin with approximately 11 seconds remaining in the frame.
However, Oatis drilled a trey as the buzzer droned for a 42-40 Kennedy margin at the third-quarter turn. The Golden Eagles never again trailed.
With Oatis opening the final frame with a freebie and slashing to the basket on a drive, Kennedy built the first of its four 5-point leads, the last being 51-46 with 40.2 seconds to play. But Johnson's jumper five seconds later narrowed Clairton's deficit to 51-48. That proved to be the Bears' last score, however, and Green and Oatis secured the win with free throws in the final 29.1 ticks.
``Our game plan was tempo,'' Votino asserted. ``We definitely wanted to slow the game down, but we also wanted to break when we had it. I thought we broke in the first half and it was effective. Now, we didn't break as much in the second half, but I really thought that on offense we set tempo and on defense we slowed it down. I thought that was a very important point to the game.''
The veteran Votino will try to impress upon his fledglings they need to act like they've been here before.
``I thought we played hard. I thought we played real hard and I thought we came through at crunch time, and I can't be more pleased.
``But what I wanted to make sure is that we didn't celebrate. I don't think you should celebrate. We really didn't win anything, we just advanced another round in the state playoffs.
``Now I'm ecstatic to be in the `Sweet 16,' ecstatic!'' Votino emphasized, ``but we want to take it one game at a time. I'm sure Homer Center won, and the last time we played Homer Center they beat us. But this ws a big win as far as, we had to win, and if we didn't we were out of it, and now we got that out of our system. ... This next couple of weeks is crucial to these guys, to see if they can handle the pressure of the games and do what they're instructed to do...''
Notes: Kennedy connected on 20 of 53 (37.7) floor shots and 14 of 20 (70 percent) free throws. ... with Green, Clayton and John Reimold grabbing nine, eight and six caroms, respectively, Kennedy outrebounded Clairton (23-3), 42-33.
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Updated March 8, 1997
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