Into the dance: Allison scores 1,000th point as Pioneers among 5 county teams headed to playoffs
ROGERSVILLE 鈥� West Greene鈥檚 boys basketball team had second place in Section 2-A all wrapped up but there was still more to play for when the Pioneers took the floor to host visiting Bentworth on Monday night.
West Greene coach Jim Romanus wanted his team to enter the WPIAL playoffs on a positive note with a win and a milestone for one of his players.
Junior Lane Allison made sure he got both.
Allison, needing just three points to reach 1,000 for his career, sank a 3-pointer early in the game on his way to scoring a game-high 17 points in the Pioneers鈥� 40-29 victory.
鈥淚 only needed three but I was still really nervous before the game,鈥� said Allison, who even surprised himself with how quickly he reached the landmark number. 鈥淚 never thought I鈥檇 get 1,000 as a junior. I think I only know one person who did it here as a junior, Dave Goodwin.
鈥淢y teammates helped me a lot and I appreciate them and my coaches. It felt cool. All my fans were here, my whole family鈥檚 here. It was fun.鈥�
West Greene ended the regular season with a 15-7 record and will be joined in the postseason by four other Greene County teams.
Jefferson-Morgan鈥檚 boys team and the Waynesburg Central, West Greene and Mapletown girls teams have also punched their tickets for the big dance.
The Pioneers, Lady Pioneers and Lady Raiders will all open the playoffs at home while the Rockets and Lady Maples will hit the road in the first round.
West Greene is the No. 8 seed in Class A and will host No. 9 Avella (9-13) in a 7 p.m. game on Friday with No. 11 Jefferson-Morgan (13-9) playing at No. 6 Carlynton (7-14) at the same time.
In the Class A girls bracket, the Lady Pioneers (9-13) are also a No. 8 seed and host No. 9 Jeannette (8-9) and No. 11 Mapletown (6-14) is at No. 6 Bishop Canevin (6-13), both at 7 p.m. on Monday.
In the Class AAA girls bracket, Waynesburg was only given a No. 6 seed despite a sparkling 19-2 overall record while sharing first place in Section 4-AAA with South Park. The Lady Eagles (15-7) were slotted one spot ahead of the Lady Raiders at No. 5 despite the two splitting their two regular-season meetings and Waynesburg owning the much better overall record..
The Lady Raiders host No. 11 Seton LaSalle at 12 noon on Saturday.
This will be the Pioneers eighth playoff appearance in nine years but their first at home in that span.
鈥淚鈥檓 really proud of our kids. To win 15 games, that鈥檚 pretty good for us,鈥� Romanus said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to finally have a playoff game in our gym.鈥�
Romanus lauded Allison.
鈥淲hen I first saw him play I knew he was a special type of offensive player,鈥� Romanus said. 鈥淟ast year when we lost what at that time I considered our best player I talked to the team, and Lane was the first one that said we can do this together. You could see he had great leadership qualities right then.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a special player who really has a lot of natural offensive ability. It鈥檚 remarkable he鈥檚 done this because we鈥檝e played 22 games and he鈥檚 gone up against a box-and-1 or a 1-3 chaser in 15 of those. That means he has to work hard to use our screens to get open and choose his spots to score.
鈥淏ut he does have great teammates. Our team shares the ball. It鈥檚 very satisfying coaching these young men.鈥�
Although his team was victorious and Allison reached his milestone, Romanus still saw plenty of room for improvement.
鈥淭onight I thought we played well in spurts but then we got sloppy at times,鈥� Romanus said.
The Bearcats (4-17) concentrated on making it a slow-paced game, and for good reason.
鈥淲e lost Ben Hays, our leading scorer, who鈥檚 out injured, so all of a sudden we had to readjust and try to do something different,鈥� Bentworth coach Bob Kennedy said. 鈥淭hat was the reason we tried to keep the tempo down. I tried to get into the second half without being in foul trouble so we could play man-to-man. We got it down to six at one point but we couldn鈥檛 put the ball in the basket enough, that鈥檚 what it came down to.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to be good, it鈥檚 just frustrating in the moment.鈥�
鈥淗is coaching made this game close,鈥� Romanus said of Kennedy. 鈥淗e made us play defense.鈥�
Chris Harper led the way for the Bearcats with 12 points on four 3-pointers and Lucas Burt grabbed 12 rebounds..
Following Allison in the scoring column for West Greene were Patrick Durbin and Parker Burns each with 10 points. Burns made a trio of 3-pointers while Allison and Durbin both sank two.
The Pioneers鈥� playoff clash with Avella will be a rematch from early in the season. West Greene defeated the visiting Eagles, 55-52, on Dec. 5 in their opener. This game will feature a pair of recent 1,000-point scorers as Avella senior Westley Burchianti hit the milestone against Union last Friday night.
鈥淲e know the team we鈥檙e playing and it鈥檚 going to be a very formidable and tough opponent,鈥� Romanus said.
The winner of Friday night鈥檚 game will travel to top-seeded Imani Christian on Feb. 21.