Ripped away: Mohawk storms back to derail Yough鈥檚 upset bid
GIBSONIA 鈥� Yough had second-seeded Mohawk on the ropes for almost three full quarters on Thursday night.
When the situation looked most dire for the Warriors, they rose up and stormed from behind to derail the seventh-seeded Cougars鈥� upset bid, 54-48, in a WPIAL Class AAA boys basketball quarterfinal game at Pine-Richland High School.
Mohawk鈥檚 Bobby Fadden, who scored a game-high 28 points, and Jay Wrona, who followed with 16, spearheaded a 14-point run from the end of the third quarter to early in the fourth that turned a 40-29 deficit into a 43-40 advantage.
Once they seized the lead the Warriors (17-7) refused to let go and earned a trip to Monday鈥檚 semifinals against No. 11 Burrell.
The Cougars (19-5) drop into the consolation bracket where they will play No. 3 Shady Side Academy in a 2 p.m. game Saturday at Fox Chapel High School.
Terek Crosby led Yough with 23 points, including four 3-pointers, and Austin Matthews had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. The Cougars also got nine points from Zander Aird and their other six points came on a pair of 3-pointers by Ryan Westerman.
Yough coach Jim Nesser was frustrated by the amount of second-chance points his team allowed.
鈥淚 thought defensively we were good enough but when they shot the basketball we didn鈥檛 rebound it,鈥� Nesser said. 鈥淲e gave them some second-shot opportunities that broke our back. That, and we had some key turnovers.鈥�
The Cougars scored the game鈥檚 first five points and held a 10-5 lead after one quarter with Crosby accounting for seven of those points and Matthews the other three.
Yough opened the second quarter with an 8-2 run to go up 18-7 and held a 23-12 edge while attempting to hold the ball for the last shot of the half.
Fadden came up with a steal that led to a three-point play, however, to get Mohawk within 23-15 at halftime.
The Cougars pushed the margin back up to 11 points on five different occasions in the third quarter as Crosby and Westerman each sank a pair of 3-pointers in the frame.
Down 40-29, the Warriors switched gears and came roaring back.
Wrona swished a 3-pointer and then converted a three-point play, and Fadden hit a driving shot to whittle the gap down to 40-37 after three quarters.
Fadden and Wrona each drained a 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter to put the Warriors ahead 43-40 and its defense, helped by a pair of offensive foul calls against the Cougars, held the fort from there.
鈥淚 give them credit,鈥� Nesser said of Mohawk. 鈥淭hey stepped their defense up and we didn鈥檛 respond to it.鈥�
The Warriors made seven of 10 foul shots over the final 2:02 to keep Yough at bay with Fadden sinking the final two to give the sophomore 1,000 career points.
Crosby, also a 1,000-point scorer, took out his frustrations with a spectacular windmill dunk in the final seconds.
鈥淭he kids played as hard as they could,鈥� Nesser said. 鈥淕ames like this come down to three or four possessions.
鈥淭he one time they had five offensive rebounds in a row and they finally hit a three. That can鈥檛 happen. We can鈥檛 turn the ball over right before the half. We can鈥檛 do stuff like that and win at this level.鈥�
Nesser didn鈥檛 say much to his team afterwards.
鈥淣othing. Nothing to talk about really,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat do you talk about when you lose?鈥�
Nesser feels his team will rebound despite the short turnaround into the consolation bracket.
鈥淲e鈥檒l be alright,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he kids will come back.鈥�