KEYSTONE 57, A-C VALLEY 36

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March 1, 2010 - District 9 Class A Quarterfinals

By Chris Rossetti

FOXBURG – The more things change the more they stay the same.

This year was supposed to be the year A-C Valley owned rival Keystone. This was supposed to be the year the Falcons beat the Panthers three straight times on their way to the state playoffs.

But ninth-seeded Keystone had other ideas in its quarterfinal matchup at a sold-out A-C Valley Gym Monday night hitting eight of its first nine shots while building a 15-point first-quarter lead and then nailing 18 of 20 free throws in the game’s final 3:06 to get a 57-36 win over the top-seeded Falcons.

“We didn’t have anything to lose,” Keystone head coach Greg Heath said. “The pressure was on them, and at times they felt it. They didn’t play their game at times.”

Keystone wasted little time getting into its game, as Lexan Montana connected for five points in the game’s first 1:51 to give the Panthers an early 5-2 lead. That was quickly followed by a 3-pointer by Ben Marchand, a two by Brett Zuck and a second 3-pointer by Montana that staked Keystone to a 13-4 lead with 3:27 left in the quarter. That lead grew to 20-5 following a Marchand basket with 1:35 left in the quarter and was 22-7 at the end of the quarter.

“The fast start was real important,” Heath said. “The last time we were down here in January, we got shellacked at the beginning of the game. This time, we ran our motion real well and ran it until we got comfortable shots. We ran some very good offense and gained confidence after the quick start.”

With the big lead, Keystone didn’t mind it when the game slowed down considerably in the second quarter with A-C Valley outscoring the Panthers 5-4 giving Keystone a 26-12 halftime lead on a team that came into the game averaging a District 9-leading 71.3 points per game.

“I thought defensively we played real well,” Heath said. “We used a lot of man with zone principles. We sagged at times, we pressured at others depending on who had the ball. We tried to mix it up, and the kids came out and executed the game plan perfectly.”

A-C Valley, whose previous low point total for the season was 51 in a 51-32 win over Redbank Valley Feb. 16, made a game of it in the third quarter starting the quarter on a 10-4 run to close within eight, 30-22, on a Blayne McGuirk 3-pointer with 3:16 left in the quarter.

Keystone, however, got a basket in the lane from Dan Reed and a Montana 3-pointer from the top of the right corner in front of the Panther bench to go back up by 13, 35-22, with 2:11 left in the third.

The Falcons still had fight in them finishing the quarter on a 6-0 run, including four points from Allan Eaton, to pull within seven, 35-28, at the end of the quarter.

A-C Valley was still within seven, 37-30, following a Reed Terwilliger basket with 4:57 to play, and the Falcons seemed to have all the momentum when Terwilliger blocked a Marchand shot and Ryan Bartley was fouled on the rebound sending him to the line for a one-and-one with 3:56 left and a chance to cut the lead to five.

But Bartley missed the front end of the foul shot situation, and Nick Bowser cleared the boards for Keystone. That led to a Zuck basket off a Marchand pass with 3:27 left that made it 39-30.

From that point on, the Panthers were solid from the line converting the 18 of 20 free throws including 11 of 12 by Marchand to seal the win.

“I didn’t have to say anything to the guys when they were coming back,” Heath said. “I just looked out there and gave them a little win. I could see it in their faces. They were confident.”  

Thanks to an 11 of 12 performance at the line, Marchand led Keystone with 19 points while also dishing out a pair of assists. Montana added 11 points for Keystone with Zuck chipping in 10 points and eight rebounds. Bowser had a team-high nine boards while adding six points, while Reed chipped in nine points.

Eaton, despite playing with the flu bug that left him feeling about “65 percent”, led A-C Valley with 12 points while adding three rebounds, all on the offensive end. Terwilliger chipped in nine points and 10 rebounds in his final high school game, while McGuirk had nine points.

“You could tell Allan wasn’t 100 percent,” Heath said. “That wasn’t Allan Eaton out there tonight.”

Thanks to its first start (9 of 13) in the first quarter Keystone shot 17 of 37 (45.9 percent) for the game. A-C Valley was cold most of the night shooting 30 percent (12 of 40). That was buoyed by a 6 of 11 performance in the second quarter. The Falcons were 3 of 17 (17.6 percent) in the first half and 3 of 12 in the fourth quarter.

The rebounding battle turned out to be an even 28-28 while Keystone turned the ball over16 times to A-C Valley’s 15.

Keystone will now face DuBois Central Catholic in the semifinals Wednesday at a time and place to be determined.

NOTES – With A-C Valley’s lost, the top two seeds are eliminated from the tournament with both losing in their first game. North Clarion was upset by 15^th seeded Clarion-Limestone last Wednesday … Keystone is the first ninth-seed or higher to advance to the Class A semifinals since Elk County Catholic won the 1999 championship as the 10^th seed … Keystone has now qualified for the PIAA playoffs in eight of the last 11 years including the last two. It is the fifth time they have qualified in Class a while also qualifying three time in Class AA.  

KEYSTONE 57, A-C VALLEY 36

Score by Quarters

Keystone 22 4 9 22 – 57

A-C Valley 7 5 16 8 – 36

Keystone – 57

Dan Reed 3 3-4 9, Brett Zuck 3 4-4 10, Nick Bowser 3 0-0 6, Lexan Montana 4 0-0 11, Ben Marchand 3 12-14 19, Ben Wolbert 1 0-0 2, Mitch Rearick 0 0-0 0, Steve Krause 0 0-0 0, Logan Daugherty 0 0-0 0, Seth McCleary 0 0-0 0, Corbin Summerville 0 0-0 0, Aaron Reddinger 0 0-0 0, Zach Rusnak 0 0-0 0, Kyle Bailey 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 19-22 57.

A-C Valley – 36

Blayne McGuirk 3 2-2 9, Matt Bartley 2 0-0 4, Reed Terwilliger 3 3-5 9, Allan Eaton 4 4-6 12, Josh Austin 0 1-2 1, Joe Kaufman 0 1-2 1, Logan Wetzel 0 0-0 0, Ryan Bartley 0 0-1 0, Alex Logue 0 0-0 0, Brody Irwin 0 0-0 0, Evan Wagner 0 0-0 0, Zach Gates 0 0-2 0. Totals 12 11-20 36.

Three-pointers – Keystone 4 (Montana 3, Marchand). A-C Valley 1 (McGuirk).