Fantastic finish: Wallace’s last-second 3-pointer lifts Red Raiders into PIAA semifinals
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
North Catholic鈥檚 Matt Ellery (hands up) can鈥檛 prevent Uniontown鈥檚 Bakari Wallace from launching a game-winning 3-pointer just before the final buzzer which gave the Red Raiders a dramatic 55-54 win in Friday night鈥檚 PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal game at Charleroi High School.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Uniontown鈥檚 Bakari Wallace is mobbed by teammates as the Red Raiders, including K鈥橝drian McLee (4), celebrate their stunning 55-54 victory over North Catholic in Friday night鈥檚 PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal game at Charleroi High School. McLee inbounded the ball on the final play which led to a pass from Calvin Winfrey III to Wallace who sank a game-winning 3-pointer as time expired.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Uniontown鈥檚 Jamire Braxton puts up a shot against North Catholic during Friday night鈥檚 PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal game at Charleroi High School. Braxton scored a team-high 23 points in the Red Raiders鈥� 55-54 victory.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Uniontown fans celebrate at Charleroi High School after watching Bakari Wallace hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Red Raiders a dramatic 55-54 win over North Catholic in their PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal game Friday night.
Uniontown's Calvin Winfrey puts up a driving shot against North Catholic during Friday night's PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal game at Charleroi High School.
Uniontown's Levi Garner (11) scores between three North Catholic players during Friday night's PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal game at Charleroi High School.
North Catholic's Max Rottman (24) defends Uniontown's Notorious Grooms聽during Friday night's PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal game at Charleroi High School.
Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky directs his players during Friday night's PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal game against North Catholic at Charleroi High School.
Uniontown's Calvin Winfrey III (2) dribbles the ball up court as North Catholic's Matt Ellery (5) defends during Friday night's PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal game at Charleroi High School.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Uniontown鈥檚 Jamire Braxton hits a baseline jump shot over North Catholic鈥檚 Andrew Maddalon during Friday night鈥檚 PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal game at Charleroi High School. Braxton scored a team-high 23 points in the Red Raiders鈥� 55-54 win.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Uniontown鈥檚 Bakari Wallace sets up to take the final shot after receiving a pass from Calvin Winfrey III during Friday night鈥檚 PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal game against North Catholic at Charleroi High School. Wallace鈥檚 3-pointer went in to give the Red Raiders a dramatic 55-54 victory.
CHARLEROI 鈥� Bakari Wallace let go of the shot and everyone inside Charleroi High School followed its flight.
Uniontown trailed North Catholic by two points with 2.5 seconds left when K鈥橝drian McLee inbounded the ball to Calvin Winfrey III who took a couple dribbles and whipped a pass to the open Wallace who released an NBA-range 3-pointer.
鈥淲hen it left his hands it was nice and high and it looked good,鈥� Winfrey said.
鈥淚 thought, hey that鈥檚 got a good chance,鈥� Red Raiders coach Rob Kezmarsky said. 鈥淚t looked on target.鈥�
Wallace, on the other hand, wasn鈥檛 as confident.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 like I knew it was going in, not really,鈥� Wallace said. 鈥淚 just grabbed it and shot it and watched it like everybody else.鈥�
The ball descended through the hoop with a swish, giving the Red Raiders a dramatic 55-54 win in Friday night鈥檚 PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal game, setting off an explosion from the large throng of Uniontown fans on hand.
Wallace simply stood still after the shot went in but was engulfed by his teammates seconds later.
The stunning win propelled the Red Raiders (23-5) into Monday鈥檚 PIAA semifinal game, also at Charleroi at 7 p.m., against Lincoln Park (28-1) with a berth in the state championship game on the line. The Leopards defeated Laure Highlands, 69-66.
Jamire Braxton sparked Uniontown with a team-high 23 points and Notorious Grooms followed with 10 points. Wallace wound up with seven points.
It looked like it would be North Catholic moving on to face Section 4 foe Lincoln Park in a rematch of the WPIAL final 鈥� won by the Leopards, 78-68 鈥� after Andrew Maddalon was fouled with 2.5 seconds left and calmly sank two free throws to break a 52-52 tie.
After two consecutive timeouts, Uniontown set up for a final play.
鈥淲e had K鈥橝drian taking it out,鈥� Kezmarsky explained. 鈥淲e ran 鈥�14 high.鈥� We had Jamire and Tori cutting to the basket and Bakari spotted up, Calvin saw him and gave him a perfect pass and the rest is history.鈥�
鈥淐oach told us don鈥檛 rush, it鈥檚 plenty of time, find the open man and knock the shot down,鈥� Winfrey said. 鈥淚 saw Bakari. They might鈥檝e been thinking he hadn鈥檛 scored much and left him open. A lot of times a guy having a bad game hits a big shot at the end. That鈥檚 what I was thinking when I threw him the ball.鈥�
Matt Ellery lunged at Wallace but couldn鈥檛 alter the senior鈥檚 clutch shot which spoiled what was a gutsy rally by the Trojans, who trailed by seven after a Braxton basket with about 5:30 left.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e talented, resilient kids,鈥� North Catholic coach Jim Rocco said of his squad.
North Catholic (21-8) whittled the gap to two on Maddalon鈥檚 layup and, after Braxton made one of two free throws with 2:49 remaining, Max Hurray tied it with the last of his six 3-pointers on the night 15 seconds later.
Braxton passed to Grooms for a layup to put Uniontown back up by two but Hurray, who ended up with a game-high 29 points, scored again to tie it with 1:48 remaining.
After securing the rebound from a missed Red Raiders shot with 1:28 left, North Catholic called timeout with 30 seconds on the clock to set up its offense. The Trojans took the clock under five seconds when Maddalon drove to the basket, was fouled and made the go-ahead free throws for the last of his 15 points.
鈥淥ur kids are really good at reading situations and Andrew read the situation and did what the situation dictated,鈥� Rocco said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not about running plays, it鈥檚 the ability to adjust and think and learn and see what鈥檚 going on and do what you think is best in that moment and that鈥檚 exactly what Drew did. He鈥檚 just a super player and a super kid.鈥�
That only set the stage for the Red Raiders and Wallace, though.
鈥淲e did not play well at all, to Uniontown鈥檚 credit,鈥� Rocco said. 鈥淭hey attacked really well and 34 (Braxton) had a really good game.
鈥淲e had a little miscue at the end there, somebody got loose and he threw in a pretty amazing shot.鈥�
The game was drastically different than the first meeting between the two in the WPIAL quarterfinals when the Trojans rolled to a 20-point halftime lead on their way to a 73-58 victory.
鈥淲hen we lost to them the first time I knew we didn鈥檛 play our best game,鈥� Winfrey said. 鈥淲e studied them all week and were more ready for what they do this time.鈥�
鈥淲e changed some things around from the defense we played last time,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淲e picked them up more on the 3-point line and didn鈥檛 chase them.鈥�
Grooms sank back-to-back 3-pointers to give Uniontown an early 6-0 lead. North Catholic answered with a 10-2 run to go up by two but Winfrey鈥檚 basket made it 10-10 after one quarter.
There were four lead changes and one tie in a back-and-forth second quarter but three late 3-pointers by Hurray helped the Trojans take a 32-28 halftime lead.
The Red Raiders amped up their defense in the third quarter, limiting North Catholic to five points. Braxton scored the final eight of Uniontown鈥檚 12 points in the frame to give his team a 40-37 advantage.
Uniontown began the fourth quarter with a 7-3 run sparked by consecutive buckets by Levi Garner to go ahead 47-40 to set up the thrilling final minutes.
鈥淔or our kids to win a game like that with four underclassmen and Bakari starting is pretty special,鈥� Kezmarsky said. 鈥淲hat I always do with this group is thank them. I thanked them for getting us here, for getting me here.
鈥淚t was an exciting win. The kids kept their composure. North Catholic made some plays at the end but our kids just made one more.鈥�