Shady Side Academy coasts to 89-44 win
DORMONT — The Waynesburg Central boys basketball squad hung tough with Shady Side Academy through the first eight minutes, but the Indians’ outside shooting eventually did in the Raiders for an 89-44 defeat in the WPIAL Class AA preliminary round game last Saturday afternoon at Keystone Oaks High School.
Shady Side Academy nailed 12 shots from beyond the arc and dominated the middle quarters with a 55-24 scoring advantage. The Indians (14-8) will now play second-seeded Lincoln Park on Wednesday at North Allegheny.
“We were surprise with how many threes they had today,” Waynesburg coach Kirk King said. “When we watched their film over their last two games, they were a more inside and penetrating offense. Obviously, they have a couple of good shooters and we couldn’t combat their outside shooting. We tried to throw a zone at them, but it didn’t work.”
The Raiders (11-9) won eight of their last 10 games in the regular season to get into the playoffs, but their offense couldn’t keep up with their opposition’s red hot shooting.
Darton McIntire scored a team-high 27 points for Waynesburg, while Mitch Warman chipped in with eight.
Etai Groff poured in 45 points for Shady Side Academy and made five treys in the win. Kirf Olander also tallied 23 points for the Indians.
Waynesburg fell behind early 9-1 in the opening two minutes of the game, but managed to trim the deficit to 11-9 thanks to an 8-2 rally.
Groff responded with seven straight points for the Indians before the teams traded baskets the rest of the quarter. The Raiders trailed 25-15 at the end of one quarter.
Nate Blair collected an old-fashioned three-point play for Waynesburg to make the score 30-22 in the early minutes of the second, but Shady Side Academy ended the quarter on a 20-4 run.
The Indians had four 3-pointers in the run and held a 50-28 lead at intermission.
McIntire scored all 11 points for the Raiders in the third quarter, but the Indians’ shooting didn’t cool down in the second half with four more shots from beyond the arc. SSA scored 30 points in the third quarter for an 80-39 lead.
“We had some kids in foul trouble and that force us to a zone defense,” King said. “We are more of a man-to-man defensive type of team and it was hard to stop them. We got some points in the third to keep it close and we knew we couldn’t trade baskets with them. Shady Side is a bigger team than what I thought and they were physical with us.”
With the mercy rule in effect and both teams emptying their benches, Shady Side Academy held a 9-5 scoring advantage in the final eight minutes.
Despite the postseason loss, Waynesburg is looking to build off their third place finish in Section 4-AA and their second straight playoff berth. The Raiders lose three seniors and return a strong nucleus of players back for next season.
“For the second half of the season we started two juniors and three sophomores,” King said. “We are young and I’m glad we could reach the playoffs. We had three seniors and they were big for us, but we are hoping to build off of this. We are not satisfied with our performance today, and we are looking to get better every game.”