Published Saturday, Feb. 28, 1998
DISTRICT 10 PLAYOFFSLawrence rewarded his coach's confidence with a driving layup with :06 remaining in the game as the Knights collected a heart-pounding 48-46 victory Friday before some 2,000 fans at Westminster College's Buzz Ridl Gymnasium. ``I talked to him at halftime and said to keep taking it,'' Hager said of Lawrence, who finished with 12 points _ 8 coming in the fourth quarter _ on 3-for-13 shooting. ``And he did a heckuva job.''
Following a timeout, Sharon's Marty Barnett took the ensuing inbounds pass with four seconds remaining and drove the length of the court, getting off a running 10-foot jumper amid heavy traffic near the foul line at the buzzer that glanced off the glass and rim.
``It was the kind of game where two very good teams matched up and played their hearts out,'' said Tigers coach Gary Revale, whose squad will face either Belle Vernon or Blackhawk (WPIAL No. 4) Friday in the first round of the state playoffs. ``I'm so proud of my guys, but we made a few too many mistakes and missed a couple key chances to make some big plays. And Lawrence made a couple of bigtime plays in the fourth quarter.''
Sharon's Earl Chapman had an opportunity to break a 46-46 tie with 1:11 remaining, but missed a pair of free throws, giving Franklin (22-5) the opportunity to hold the ball for the last shot.
``You get in these kind of games and you have to be able to shoot better than 50 percent at the foul line and that was the key,'' said Revale, whose squad finished 9 of 18 at the charity stripe, while Franklin was 10 of 12. ``We lost it at the foul line.''
It was Franklin's first victory over the Tigers (20-6) in three outings this season. Sharon had won earlier by 51-45 and 62-51 margins.
``I've got so much respect for Sharon,'' said Hager, who won his second D-10 crown in his 5th year at the Knights' helm. ``I think they're a great basketball team. We're just so happy to be able play with them and pull this thing out.''
What helped Franklin ``pull this thing out'' was a change in defensive strategy to open the second half that saw the Knights of the Tri-County Athletic Conference rally from a 27-20 halftime deficit to forge a 32-32 tie entering the final frame.
That change came in the form of a full-court trapping press that forced Sharon turnovers on five of its first seven third-quarter possessions. It also coerced Sharon, which had hit 12 of 23 from the floor in the first half, into 2-of-10 shooting in the frame.
``We've lived with that all year long and we said, `Why back down now? If we let them get in a halfcourt game now, we're going to be in trouble,' '' Hager said. ``The pressure hurt them with a few turnovers and got us back going a little bit.''
``It didn't surprise us at all,'' Revale said of the trap. ``I knew they had to do something. We just got a little bit lazy and made a couple of mistakes. And we dropped a couple of 3-on-1 chances to make baskets. You play against a good team, you can't make as many mistakes as we did.''
Which was something Franklin appeared to be worrying about early on. The Knights shot to a 15-7 lead at the 2:50 mark of the first quarter, but connected on only one basket over the next 9 1/2 minutes as Sharon rode an 18-2 surge to a 25-17 advantage with 2:21 left in the first half before settling for the 27-20 edge.
Barnett canned 11 of his team-high 16 points in the half on 5-of-6 shooting, but attempted only three field goals after the intermission as the Franklin defense succeeded, for the most part, in taking him out of the game.
Chapman added 10 points and 5 boards; Bobby Roberson tallied 7 points, all in the fourth quarter; Bear Shimrack had 7 points; and Jeff Valentino contributed a team-best 7 rebounds and 5 points on 2-of-13 shooting from the floor, including 0-for-8 in the second half.
``I think the kids did themselves proud tonight and I think they did the school proud,'' Revale said.
The Knights, slated to face the WPIAL's No. 6 team, were led by Todd Burchanowski, who scored 17 points, including hitting all 5 attempts behind the arc. He entered the contest scoring at a 6.0 per game clip. Leading scorer Jeff Loeffert (17.7 avg.) was limited to 9 points.
Notes: Sharon shot 6 of 20 from the floor in the second half, finishing the game 18 of 42 (.429). ... Franklin was exactly opposite, hitting 8 of 16 from the floor in the second half to finish 16 of 38 (.421). Led by Burchanowski's effort, the Knights finished 6 of 10 on 3-point attempts. ... How close was this game? From the 4:13 mark of the third quarter until the final shot, neither team led by more than 2 points. There were 11 ties and 9 lead changes in the game.
Updated Feb. 28, 1998
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