Chartiers Valley pulls away to eliminate McKeesport

By Ashley Chase

MVI Sports

A loaded lineup built a 17-point halftime lead that was too much for McKeesport to overcome, as No. 2 Chartiers Valley ended the seventh-seeded Tigers’ season in the WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinals, 65-47, Monday night.

McKeesport (16-5) trailed the Colts by five at the end of the first before Chartiers Valley (21-3) outscored the Tigers by 12 in the second to take a commanding lead. The Colts built the lead to 20 points in the third quarter before the Tigers clawed back in the fourth to come within nine points.

“Here we are, short, feisty, battling, and I couldn’t be more proud of our kids,” said McKeesport head coach Eric Smith.

The Tigers came in and played fearless defense against a stacked Colts roster that included a pair of division I commits who combined for 35 of Chartiers Valley’s 65 points.

“Anytime you’ve got a team with two Division-I athletes and then some girls that are really good too, it makes it tough. My hat’s off to coach (Tim) McConnell, for God’s sakes, that guy, you’ve got to give him all the credit in the world,” Smith said, tongue-in-cheek, after the game.

“When you’ve got kids like that, that you develop, their feeder program, he must do a phenomenal job with his grade school and feeder program to develop those kids like that. It must have been a ton of fun working with two athletes like that since fourth or fifth grade, all the way up, and for them to do that and be where they’re at now, that’s a magical team there and it’s impressive.”

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