Imposing their will: Gators take charge early, roll past Eagles, 70-33
Photos: Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Geibel Catholic鈥檚 Tre White puts up a shot as Avella鈥檚 Colton Burchianti defends during Friday night鈥檚 WPIAL Class A playoff game at Charleroi. White scored a game-high 25 points in the Gators鈥� 70-33 win.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Geibel Catholic鈥檚 Jaydis Kennedy brings the ball upcourt as Avella鈥檚 Westley Burchianti defends during Friday night鈥檚 WPIAL Class A playoff game at Charleroi. Kennedy scored 18 points in the Gators鈥� 70-33 win. Burchianti led the Eagles with 22 points.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Geibel Catholic鈥檚 Jeffrey Johnson (5) scores the first basket of the second half against Avella during Friday night鈥檚 WPIAL Class A playoff game at Charleroi. Johnson scored 15 points in the Gators鈥� 70-33 win.
Geibel Catholic coach Don Porter talks to his players during a timeout in Friday night's WPIAL Class A playoff game against Avella at Charleroi.
Geibel Catholic's Jaydis Kennedy (3) scores two of his 18 points in front of Avella's Bryce Wright (1) during Friday night's WPIAL Class A playoff game at Charleroi.
CHARLEROI 鈥� Don Porter made it clear to his fourth-seeded Geibel Catholic boys basketball team not to look past the first round of the playoffs.
The Gators listened to their coach and took care of business against No. 13 Avella on Friday night, riding their three big guns 鈥� Jaydis Kennedy, Tre White and Jeffrey Johnson 鈥� to a convincing 70-33 victory at Charleroi Area High School.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the whole thing, this is their Super Bowl,鈥� Porter said of the Eagles. 鈥淚f they can knock us off, even if they didn鈥檛 win another game, their season was complete.鈥�
Geibel (16-6), the Section 2-A co-champions along with Monessen, extended its winning streak to 14 games and advanced to Wednesday鈥檚 quarterfinals when it will play No. 5 Neighborhood Academy, which defeated No. 12 Mapletown, 70-41, also at Charleroi.
The Gators defeated the Bulldogs, 70-61, at Geibel on Jan. 21.
鈥淚t should be a fun game,鈥� Porter said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to take a day off, get back in the gym Sunday, get working Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.鈥�
The Gators went to work right from the start against Avella (6-17), imposing their will in exploding to a 16-4 lead. They stayed in command the rest of the game.
White led the way with a game-high 25 points. Kennedy and Johnson followed with 18 and 15 points, respectively.
Geibel dominated the offensive boards.
鈥淲e did get a lot of second-chance points,鈥� Porter said.
Porter assessed that Avella was using a box-and-one defense, focusing on slowing down Kennedy.
鈥淧eople have to understand Geibel Catholic is more than Jaydis Kennedy,鈥� Porter said in reference to the WPIAL鈥檚 third-leading scorer. 鈥淚 mean, Jeffrey Johnson, Tre White, the surrounding cast, they can also do things. I looked at halftime and we were pretty well balanced in the scoring column. You don鈥檛 want to rely too much on your big horse to have to always score 40 to win.鈥�
Geibel led 21-6 after the first quarter and was up 50-13 at halftime. The Eagles showed some fight in the third quarter, outscoring the Gators 17-13 but that still left Avella down 63-30.
Westley Burchianti was a bright spot for the Eagles, hitting a pair of 3-pointers in scoring a team-high 22 points. The junior had nine in the first half, including all seven of the Eagles鈥� second-quarter points, and put up 11 in the third quarter.
鈥淲estley played his heart out like he always does,鈥� Avella coach Mike Macik said. 鈥淗is brother does, too.鈥�
Senior Colton Burchianti played in his final game and drew praise from his coach.
鈥淲e鈥檒l miss Colton as a leader,鈥� Macik said. 鈥淗e brings it every day in a different way. He talks to everybody. He鈥檚 a perfect senior. He鈥檒l be tough to replace.鈥�
Macik, who also commended seniors Ryan Marker and Gavin Frank, was happy to see his youthful team get a taste of the postseason.
鈥淲e thought it would be good experience for our team and show them where we want to be,鈥� said Macik whose rotation includes five freshmen and two sophomores. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to put in the work and the time and then I think there鈥檚 potential for that to happen.鈥�
Bryce Wright was Avella鈥檚 second-leading scorer with three points on one 3-pointer.
Macik, whose team finished in a tie for fourth place in Section 1-A behind second-seeded Union and third-seeded Carlynton, puts the Gators in the same category.
鈥淭hey can play with them,鈥� Macik said. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e got three really good players. They were very tough for us to match-up with. We like to play man but we couldn鈥檛 really play man against them so we tried a few other defenses but they still got into the paint and they still beat us down the court.鈥�
The biggest cheer of the fourth quarter came when Porter inserted Geibel fan-favorite Zander Zimmerman into the lineup.
鈥淥ur practice players are important to us, too,鈥� Porter said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what championship teams are about, family and bonding.鈥�