Whitlock, Leopards zone out New Castle

By ASHLEY CHASE

MVI Sports

Same teams, same location, same result. The Belle Vernon boys basketball team once again came away from North Allegheny High School with a victory over New Castle, this time, a regular season 62-56 win in the Hoops for a Cure tournament. The Leopards handed the Hurricanes their first loss of the season.

These teams last faced each other at North Allegheny in the WPIAL 4A semifinals, when Belle Vernon snatched a 56-46 win to head to the championship game.

“We talked about that a lot, we knew there would be some sort of revenge factor, but we showed up today,” said Leopards head coach Joe Salvino.

The game had a playoff feel, but that matchup won’t happen in the postseason this year as New Castle has moved up to 5A.

“New Castle wanted us to come up there and I wanted them to come down here, so when we found out about this (tournament), that’s how we scheduled this game. I mean it’s a haul to New Castle from Belle Vernon, that’s the end of the earth or something, you’d have to take days off,” Salvino laughed. 

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