2010 DISTRICT 9 BOYS' BASKETBALL PLAYOFF PREVIEW

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By Rich Rhoades

Some 22 District 9 boys’ basketball teams will start their quest to win a district title and/or earn a state playoff bid as early as this Wednesday.

As far as top seeds go, it’s Bradford (Class AAA), Brookville (Class AA) and A-C Valley (Class).

Here’s a closer look at each classification:

CLASS A

How wide open is Class A compared to the girls? Probably not as much, but there are probably more than just the top four seeds capable of grabbing one of the four state playoff berths.

A-C Valley, North Clarion, Elk County Catholic and DuBois Central Catholic are the top four seeds. The quarterfinal round, naturally, will be the big round to watch to see what four teams land in the semifinals, thus guaranteeing a state playoff spot.

One of two quarterfinal matchups to keep an eye on is the Keystone-Johnsonburg winner at top-seeded A-C Valley. The Panthers and head coach Greg Heath might not be having a typical Keystone season, but they are still dangerous. Johnsonburg has wins over DCC and ECC this year. Obviously, the 8-9 Keystone at Johnsonburg prelim game on Wednesday is one of the best games of the night.

A-C Valley will try to shake off its second loss of the season in Saturday’s KSAC Championship game to North Clarion. The Falcons will try to win their first district crown since 1973, the year head coach Ron Botz led his team to a state runner-up finish.

Head coach Jim Marron’s squad was 9-14 a year ago, and its 12-win turnaround matches Brookville’s as the two biggest swings in the positive direction since last year.

The Falcons are led by 6-foot-6 junior center Allan Eaton, who averages 20.7 points and 12 rebounds per game while shooting 57 percent from the floor. However, the Falcons have three other players — senior forward Reed Terwilliger (12.9  ppg., 8 rpg.), junior forward Blayne McGuirk  (12.2) and senior guard Matt Bartley (10 ppg.) scoring in double figures.

A-C Valley last went to the state playoffs in 2006 and their last No. 1 seeding came back in 1985 when the Randy Armagost-led Falcons lost to North Clarion in the district finals.

Also in the top part of the bracket are the DCC Cardinals. The AML playoff loss to Johnsonburg notwithstanding, head coach Mike Nesbit hopes that the rugged non-conference schedule he put together — St. Joseph, North Catholic, Harmony, Greensburg Central Catholic and Bishop McCort — will have his Cardinals ready for the postseason.

Chris Marshall, a 6-foot-2 junior center, averages 18.4 points and 10.5 rebounds per game while shooting 57 percent from the floor. Senior guard Joe McNally (12.2 ppg.) also averages double figures.

At the bottom of the bracket, a young Ridgway squad that’s coming off a three-point loss to ECC in the first round of the Allegheny Mountain League Championship game travels to Union in the prelims. That winner gets the ECC-Port Allegany winner in the quarterfinals.

Ridgway is led by Eric Matheson’s 17.3 ppg, the seventh-best mark in District 9 while Ben Jaques (9.2 ppg), Dom Aiello (9.1 ppg) and Jordan Lundin (8.7 ppg) are also solid players.

Union, which has lost two games two A-C Valley by a combined nine points including an overtime loss last week, features one of the best players in District 9 in senior Scott Booth. Booth, who is third in D9 in scoring at 23.7 ppg, has 1,658 career points and is just outside the Top 10 all-time in District 9 history. The Golden Knights, though, could be without fourth-leading scorer Zach Smith (7.6) who got hurt against A-C Valley. If Zach Smith is out, Taylor Smith (8.7 ppg) and Brody Pollock (8.5 ppg) will need to step up.

ECC head coach Aaron Straub’s postseason resume is well established as his Crusaders have appeared in 18 of the last 23 Class A title games and sport a 16-2 record. They’ve been to the state playoffs 12 straight years.

It’s been 10 years since the Crusaders have been a No. 3 seed. In 2000, the Crusaders outlasted fourth-seeded Keystone to win the title in a double-overtime classic. Last year, ECC won the title coming out of the sixth seed.

Only one Crusader is averaging double figures in scoring in senior Robby Wortman (16.1 ppg.), a returning all-district player who turned a strong postseason performance a year ago.

North Clarion has put together a special season thus far, capping the regular season with a win over A-C Valley in the KSAC Championship game. The Falcons topped the Wolves during the regular season in overtime.

The Wolves are led by District 9’s second-leading scorer junior guard Jeremy Schmader (23.9 ppg), who has 1,135 career points. Johnny Bobak adds 10.1 ppg and runs the show for North Clarion, while Kyle Gilbert chips in 9.1 ppg.

Cameron County, the fifth seed, was the best team in the North Tier League this season and is led by three players in double digits including Ryan Grimm (14.4 ppg), Chris Barnett (12.4 ppg) and Jason Blose (11.5 ppg).

CLASS AA

Is this the year for the Brookville Raiders? Like A-C Valley, the Raiders have pulled off a 12-win turnaround from a year ago. As the top seed, the Raiders have wins over every team in the five-team bracket except for Cranberry, which they didn’t play.

Head coach Bud Baughman’s team has relied on its big man trio of Chad Brocious, Jared Heschke and Zane Hackett. Brocious, a 6-foot-2 forward, has been the team’s biggest playmaker at 13.1 points, 8 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. Heschke, a junior, is averaging 10 points and 7.7 boards while shooting 56.8 percent from the floor. Hackett, a 6-foot-6 sophomore, burst on to the scene and started to get significant varsity minutes midway through the season. He’s averaging 8.2 points and 5.7 rebounds while shooting 64.6 percent from the floor.

The Raiders might be the favorites, but not by much. Second-seeded Kane lost to the Raiders at home, 46-45, on Feb. 15 at the buzzer. Head coach Brian Wymer also has a pair of productive big men in a pair of 6-foot-4 seniors Dave Bucheit and Arie Paup. Bucheit is averaging 17 points and 13.1 rebounds per game while Paup is putting up 11.9 points and 13.4 rebounds per game.

This will be the fourth straight year that the Wolves will take on Cranberry in the postseason. The Berries have won the last two meetings, last year in the semifinals and 2008 in overtime in the championship game.

Cranberry, finalists the last two years, lost its leading scorer, Eric McVay, nine games into the season when he quit the team. Promising freshman guard Ryan Willison is averaging 12.1 points per game.

The preliminary round game has defending champion Brockway traveling to Moniteau in a rematch of last year’s semifinal game won by the eventual champion Rovers.

Sophomore guard Kyle Armagost (16.4 ppg.) leads the Warriors, who also have junior center Zach Sloan (15 ppg.) and senior Zach McCormick (11.5 ppg.) averaging in double-figure scoring.

The Rovers are led by juniors Nick (15.5 ppg.) and Cody  (12.9) Anderson.

Two state playoff berths are up for grabs. The Class AA runner-up will play in the PIAA play-in round against the WPIAL eighth seed on March 9.

CLASS AAA

It takes two to tango and this year that’s exactly how many teams will be trying to win the District 9 title. And since two teams advance to the state playoffs — runner-up plays in  the PIAA play-in game on March 9 — the Bradford Owls and Clearfield Bisons are each guaranteed two postseason games.

But they’re going to have to wait awhile, which doesn’t always bode well for one or both teams. With each team wrapping up their regular season (Clearfield at home Monday vs. Altoona, Bradford at home Tuesday against DuBois) this week, that means it’ll be a 12- and 11-day layoff respectively before the championship on March 6 probably at Clarion University.

Bradford had a 15-game winning streak going into the DuBois game and hasn’t lost to a District 9 team all year (losses to Warren and Olean N.Y.), including to blowout wins over Clearfield — 60-25 at Clearfield on Jan. 8 and 61-38 at Bradford on Jan. 29.

A physically strong and defensive team as is usually the case with head coach Dave Fuhrman’s teams, the Owls have three players at or around double figures, led by Fuhrman’s senior son, guard David “Pug” Fuhrman (16.8 ppg.). Senior forwards Ryan Mackey (10.8) and Evan Kline (9.8) complete a balanced scoring trio. Senior guard Michael White (5.8) spearheads the team’s defense.

The Bisons are the defending champions after beating St. Marys last year for the title. Clearfield beat Bradford 74-48 in last year’s semifinals, but head coach Forrest Campman’s team has a new look thanks to graduation. Leading the way is senior forward Chad Zurat (16.1 ppg.) and senior guard Trey Campman (10.8). Another senior, Ben Johnson, averages 7.9 ppg.

Since Clearfield, Bradford and Punxsutawney dropped down from Class AAAA in 2001, this is the first time the Class AAA bracket is just two teams deep.

The Owls have won seven of the last nine Class AAA title games and no team has won back-to-back Class AAA titles other than the Owls since Brookville in 1996 and 1997. From 1997 to 2000, D9 title games were played, but teams had to qualify through the District 6 playoffs.