Gators end long playoff drought with impressive win over Leechburg
Rob Burchianti | 蘑菇视频
Geibel Catholic蘑菇视频 Enzo Fetsko puts up as Leechburg蘑菇视频 Eli Rich defends during Saturday afternoon蘑菇视频 WPIAL Class A first-round playoff game at Thomas Jefferson. Fetsko scored 20 points in the Gators鈥� 65-58 victory.
Geibel Catholic's Drew Howard (23) splits Leechburg's defense to score聽during聽the fourth quarter of Saturday afternoon's WPIAL Class A first-round playoff game at Thomas Jefferson. Howard scored all 15 of his points in the second half of the Gators' 65-58 win.
Rob Burchianti | 蘑菇视频
Geibel Catholic蘑菇视频 Cole Kendall puts up a twisting shot as Leechburg蘑菇视频 Jake Blumer (21) defends during Saturday蘑菇视频 WPIAL Class A first-round playoff game at Thomas Jefferson. Kendall scored 10 points in the Gators鈥� 65-58 victory.
Geibel Catholic's Ryan Anderson shots in the lane against Leechburg聽during Saturday afternoon's WPIAL Class A first-round playoff game at Thomas Jefferson. Anderson scored 16 points in the Gators' 65-58 win.
Geibel Catholic's Drew Howard scores against Leechburg聽during聽the fourth quarter of Saturday afternoon's WPIAL Class A first-round playoff game at Thomas Jefferson. Howard scored all 15 of his points in the second half of the Gators' 65-58 win.
Geibel Catholic's Enzo Fetsko pulls up for a jump shot against Leechburg during Saturday afternoon's WPIAL Class A first-round playoff game at Thomas Jefferson. Fetsko scored 20 points in the Gators' 65-58 victory.
JEFFERSON HILLS 鈥� Geibel Catholic蘑菇视频 senior class in boys basketball features a foursome of starters who are four-year letterman, two of which are 1,000-point scorers.
While that group has produced four consecutive WPIAL playoff berths, one item missing from its resume was a postseason victory.
The Gators were able to check that off the list in emphatic fashion on Saturday afternoon thanks to the performance of those seniors 鈥� Enzo Fetsko, Cole Kendall, Ryan Anderson and Isaiah Krizner 鈥� as well as a spectacular display by sophomore Drew Howard.
Fetsko scored 20 points, Anderson contributed 16 points and strong play on the boards, and Drew Howard rang up all 15 of his points in the second half as ninth-seeded Geibel defeated No. 8 Leechburg, 65-58, in a Class A first-round game at Thomas Jefferson.
鈥淚t蘑菇视频 a great feeling,鈥� said Fetsko, who hit the 1,000-point milestone earlier this season. 鈥淲e talked about it all week that we haven鈥檛 had a playoff win for a long time.鈥�
鈥淚t hasn鈥檛 happened in awhile,鈥� Krizner said. 鈥淲e worked hard for it and we all think we deserved it.鈥�
The Gators鈥� last postseason win was 61-48 over Monessen on Feb. 16, 2005, until Saturday.
Geibel (15-8) was in front the entire second half, but the game was still tight until the Gators began to take charge when they entered the fourth quarter with a 36-34 lead.
Fetsko hit a 3-pointer to start the final frame. Anderson countered a bucket by the Blue Devils鈥� Braylan Lovelace with two free throws. Howard responded to a basket by Dylan Cook with an acrobatic layup, then made a leaping steal at the other end and fed Fetsko for a layin to make it 45-38.
Howard scored again to offset a bucket by Jake Blumer and Kendall drained a 3-pointer shortly after Lovelace had done the same for Leechburg.
After another basket by Lovelace cut the gap to 50-45, Geibel put the game away with a 9-0 run that included another 3-pointer by Fetsko, two more driving buckets by Howard and a basket by Krizner on a crisp pass from Anderson for a 59-45 lead.
鈥淲e kept answering with baskets,鈥� Gators coach Don Porter said. 鈥淗oward kind of took over for a period there with steals and layups and rebounding. That just kind of pumped that lead right up to about 12-14 for us.鈥�
It was an about face by Howard who had three fouls and no points at halftime.
鈥淗e was kind of down at halftime,鈥� Porter said. 鈥淲e pulled him aside and said listen, the show蘑菇视频 going to be yours in the second half.鈥�
鈥淚 was really nervous the first couple quarters,鈥� Howard admitted. 鈥淭his is my first playoff game ever. I just tried to give it my all and do what I鈥檝e got to do to win.鈥�
The Blue Devils trailed by 15 with two minutes left but whittled the final margin down to seven, thanks in part to four straight missed free throws by Geibel, including the front end of two one-and-ones.
But the outcome wasn鈥檛 in doubt at that point.
鈥淚 feel like we did a good job combating them and taking over the game,鈥� said Kendall, who went over the 1,000-point mark last season and added 10 more to his total against Leechburg, including a pair of 3-pointers. 鈥淲e kept the lead most of the game.鈥�
Cook wound up with a game-high 28 points and Connor McDermott hit three 3-pointers in scoring 10 points, but it wasn鈥檛 enough to offset the Gators鈥� balanced scoring.
A closely contested first quarter, that included a two-handed dunk by Anderson that lit up the Geibel fans on hand, ended with Leechburg holding a 13-12 lead, and the Blue Devils went up 18-12 early in the second.
Porter pondered a timeout at that point but thought better of it.
鈥淎s a coach sometimes you look and say is now a time for that timeout? But with four seniors on the floor sometimes you鈥檝e just got to let those guys battle through it themselves,鈥� Porter said. 鈥淚 have faith in them, I have trust in them and they did just that at that point.鈥�
Geibel surged to a 25-20 halftime lead after closing the quarter with a 13-2 run that included 3-pointers by Kendall and Anderson, the latter of which put the Gators ahead to stay.
The Blue Devils (15-6) used full-court pressure much of the game but it didn鈥檛 deter the Gators.
鈥淭hat蘑菇视频 one thing I鈥檓 not too afraid of is being trapped and pressed because we do have a lot of good ball handlers on our team,鈥� Porter said.
Next up for Geibel is top-seeded Vincentian Academy on Thursday at a site and time to be determined.