Charleroi uses second half rally to edge Mt. Pleasant

By DEAN DELLAMALVA JR.
MVI Sports

By JEREMY SELLEW
jsellew@yourmvi.com
Six quarters into the season, veteran Charleroi coach Bill Wiltz was looking for answers. The Cougars suffered a 20-plus-point loss to Washington on opening night and fell behind Mount Pleasant on the road Saturday by double digits at the half.
But Wiltz adjusted and his team responded with a huge second half capped off by a game-winning 3-pointer by senior Zach Usher with just 19 seconds left to seal the deal in a 59-57 non-section win.
Junior Will Wagner poured in a game-high 26 points and played a key role in the comeback. Usher finished with 19 points and Jake Caruso kicked off the rally with back-to-back threes, ending up with 11 points.
“We knew going into the season that Jake could be one of our main guys,” Wiltz said. “He shoots the ball extremely well when he’s on, he’s streaky. During the preseason he was hitting a lot of his shots, which gave us a lot of confidence in him.”
Those two treys Caruso hit around the four-minute mark of the third quarter came as Mount Pleasant had it largest lead of the night at 39-24. Usher followed Caruso up with a trey of his own and Wagner scored the team’s final six points of the third quarter. Charleroi (1-1) outscored the Vikings 15-5 over the final five minutes of the quarter, making the score 44-41.
While the Cougars were doing their part on the offensive end, the strategy change from zone to man defense proved vital to their success in the second half. Mount Pleasant (0-2) had open looks at the basket in the first half and took full advantage. The Vikings hit eight 3-pointers in the first half with six coming from Nathan Kubasky.
But Kubasky managed just two points in the second half as the Cougars’ defense suffocated Mount Pleasant’s outside attack.
“Coming into tonight we knew they only scored 17 points Friday, so I was thinking that they couldn’t shoot very well,” Wiltz said. “Then (Kubasky) comes out and he’s throwing them in from everywhere. It was just an adjustment we had to make. We’ve been playing good man-to-man and I wanted to give it a look.”
“In the first half we were getting open shots and Kubasky was on fire,” Vikings coach TJ Kravits said. “To their credit, at halftime they made their adjustments, basically face guarded him and made it very difficult for him to get open.
“We struggled against their man-to-man, I’m a little disappointed to be honest because it’s not like we don’t practice that.”
Mount Pleasant’s Nathan Saloom and Wagner swapped threes to begin the fourth quarter. The Vikings’ Jacob Bungard answered with another trey, making it 50-44 for the home team. The game went back and forth until the two-minute mark.
Wagner picked up his fourth foul with his team down 54-51. His foul came against Mount Pleasant big man Jonas King, who proceeded to miss both free throws. Caruso and Wagner each converted on free throw attempts, giving Charleroi a 55-54 advantage with just 55.6 second to go. It was the Cougars’ first lead since late in the opening quarter.
King responded for Mount Pleasant, grabbing a rebound and putting it back to retake the lead 56-55. But Usher who delivered the dagger with a deep three off a feed from Caruso.
Wagner, Usher and Caruso certainly were a huge part of the Cougars comeback and they will need to continue to do so if Charleroi is going to have success the rest of the season.
“Caruso took a big step forward tonight,” Wiltz said. “Wagner and Usher are our main guys; if we don’t have those two going at the same time we are going to struggle. But when they do get going, we are going to be tough.”
Both teams resume Tuesday as Charleroi has a section game against McGuffey while Mount Pleasant hosts Yough.