Remember When?: Yough’s McCauley tames Golden Lions

By JEREMY SELLEW

 For the Valley Independent

HERMINIE – With the Greensburg Salem boys basketball team holding a slim 40-36 lead going into the fourth quarter, the Golden Lions knew what was coming: Yough senior Ben McCauley.

McCauley scored 11 of his game-high 27 points in the final frame, leading Yough (5-1, 2-0) to a come-from-behind 55-49 victory over Greensburg Salem (2-5, 1-1) in a Section 3-3A contest.

“That’s always the plan,” Yough head coach Brian Znavor said. “Ben has the ability to take over, and that’s what he needed to do.”

The biggest surprise for Znavor was the play of sophomore point guard Craig Sedunov, who scored 17 points, including four 3-pointers.

His hot shooting forced the Lions defense to extend itself, leaving McCauley a little more room in the blocks.

“We’ve been waiting for him to break out,” Znavor said of Sedunov. “He’s pure toughness and a fierce competitor. Having him step up really helped out with the rest of our game plan.”

GS started the game with intensity on defense, forcing five Yough turnovers, helping itself to 12-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The two teams battled back and forth in the second, as McCauley put back his own miss to give the Cougars their first lead of the game with 5:51 remaining in the half, 19-17.

With Yough up by two with eight seconds remaining, Lions guard Anthony Manley picked up a loose ball and darted in for an uncontested layup to tie the score at 27 at the half.

The Lions came out firing again in the second half as Paul Matthews knocked down three 3-pointers in a span of 1:43 as the Cougars quickly found themselves trailing by eight.

“He’s our sophomore guard, a great shooter,” GS coach Paul Sapotichne said. “After he hit that last one, they switched things around. We just really struggled after that.”

Struggle the Lions did, committing costly turnovers in crucial situations, allowing the Cougars to claw back.

Sedunov hit his final three, giving Yough the lead 42-40, bringing the home crowd to its feet.

“We moved Craig off the point as they focused on Ben inside,” 

To read the rest of the story, please see a copy of Friday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at http://monvalleyindependent.com.