Not being neighborly: Tigers run wild on Gladiators

By JEREMY TEPPER
MVI Sports

Coming off a 58-53 loss to Latrobe on Monday, Eric Smith wanted to see major improvements from his team on Wednesday.

McKeesport’s staple pressing defense needed to be better and so too did its offense.

By and large, the Tigers achieved those improvements in beating South Allegheny, 70-26, in a nonsection matchup at the Neenie Campbell Gymnasium.

“We wanted to be sharp mentally and we wanted to clean things up. Those were the main things,” Smith said. “We made some improvements, especially on the defensive end. We didn’t shoot well against Latrobe and we shot a little better tonight, and we’re gonna continue to get better at shooting.”

McKeesport (2-1, 0-1) rushed out ahead early with a 15-2 start and didn’t look back, taking a 34-12 lead after a quarter that proved insurmountable. The Tigers built that lead behind a swarming, athletic defense, forcing turnover after turnover and subsequent easy buckets.

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