Late 3-pointer sinks BVA’s title hopes
Ben Bamford / MVI Sports
Belle Vernon’s Quinton Martin shoots over North Catholic’s 6-7 forward Andrew Ammerman during the first half of play in Thursday’s WPIAL semifinal.
By JEREMY SELLEW
jsellew@yourmvi.com
Every game this season, it’s been a different North Catholic player showing up in big spots, Trojans head coach Dave DeGregorio said.
Thursday it was Max Rottman’s time to shine.
Rottman hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, including the gamewinner with 3.8 seconds remaining to give No. 5 North Catholic a 77-76 win over Belle Vernon Area on the Leopards’ home floor.
“I told the kids at halftime that we hadn’t been shooting the ball well,” DeGregorio said. “We’re confident in all of our kids and tonight it was Max who hit the big shots for us late.”
Foul trouble plagued the Leopards throughout the night as junior star Devin Whitlock picked up four fouls in the first half, but managed to make it through the game. His classmate Daniel Gordon wasn’t as lucky.
Gordon picked up his fourth foul in the third quarter and fouled out with seven minutes remaining in the game.
“When you don’t have a kid like Daniel in the game for over seven minutes, it’s going to hurt,” BVA head coach Joe Salvino said. “But I can’t blame him for getting that fifth foul. He’s aggressive defensively and he’s looking to make a steal. I thought the guys that were in the game played great in his absence.”
After Rottman’s trey from the corner gave the Trojans (16-4) only their second lead of the game, the Leopards still had a chance to win it.
After inbounding the ball just beyond halfcourt, Whitlock tried to jump-stop around a pair of defenders to get off a potential game-winning shot but was called for a travel.
“We had to leave Devin in with those four fouls. You have to give him credit because he made it the entire game without getting the fifth,” Salvino said. “Without Daniel, Devin was our only other main ballhandler.”
The Leopards were led by another standout performance from 6-3 freshman Quinton Martin. Martin finished with a career-high 27 points and 11 rebounds. It was a stellar performance against North Catholic’s 6-7 forward Andrew Ammerman.
“I know football is his main sport, but that kid is something special,” DeGregorio said of Martin. “Andrew is tough to finish on and he got some really good looks going downhill that he was able to finish on.”
The key for the Trojans throughout was being able to answer and respond each time the Leopards went on a run. Just as the Trojans would get within a possession, though, BVA had an answer.
“I think early on we were a little stagnant offensively and they weren’t having too much trouble with our pressure,” DeGregorio said. “Once we started getting some downhill looks with Connor (Maddalon), it opened some things up for Andrew inside as well. That’s when we were at our best.”
Ammerman led the Trojans with 21 points, Maddalon finished with 17.
The teams started out exchanging haymakers in the first quarter until the final minute when BVA senior Jake Haney hit back-to-back 3-pointers. Matt Gregor hit a layup for the Trojans with a second to go, but the Leopards carried a 23-17 lead into the second stanza behind five treys in the opening eight minutes.
Haney finished with 19 points in his final game as a Leopard.
The second quarter saw the Trojans get to within one after Gregor hit 2 of 3 from the line before Gordon put BVA on his back with seven points in a 9-0 run to make it 32-22. It was the Leopards’ largest lead of the game.
Gordon finished with 11 points.
“We’ve been a team that doesn’t care about who scores the most all year. Our guys know their roles and they play together so well,” Salvino said. “Daniel was big in the second quarter for us and we were able to break through their press to get some easy baskets.”
The Trojans answered the Leopards with an 8-0 run of their own, but five straight points from Whitlock and Martin combined pushed the BVA lead back to 37-30.
Again, the Leopards owned the final few seconds of the half as Haney hit another 3-pointer and Gordon stole the ensuing inbound pass for an easy two to give the home team a 42-34 lead at the half.
“We really responded the way we needed to out of the gate in the third,” DeGregorio said. “But that’s a credit to these kids. They felt coming in they should have been higher than a five seed, so I told them throughout the playoffs they needed to come on to the court and prove it each night.”
Martin was the driving force for the Leopards in the third quarter as BVA was able to carry a 58-53 lead into the fourth.
Martin scored 13 of the Leopards’ 16 points in the frame, the lone other field goal was a trey from Haney.
The Trojans stayed within striking distance as Ammerman and Maddalon combined for 14 of their team’s points.
In the fourth, Rottman hit a pair of threes and a Gregor layup started the quarter for an 8-0 run and saw the Trojans take their first lead of the game, 61-58.
The Leopards answered with a 13-4 run to take a 71-65 advantage with 4:17 to go.
Back and forth they went with BVA holding on to a slim lead until Rottman nailed his third trey of the quarter with 2:02 to go to tie things at 74-74.
Each team had a turnover and the Leopards had the ball with 22 seconds to go.
Whitlock found Haney alone cutting to the basket to give BVA the lead 76-74, but the Trojans were able to find Rottman alone in the corner for the game-winning shot.
“I didn’t think we scored too early because I thought our defense would be able to stop them and force them into a bad, or rushed, shot,” Salvino said. “You have to give them credit, the kid hit the shot and they made the play.
“I told those kids in the locker room how proud I was and how they stuck together through everything. I told them I am so grateful to be their coach and to be a part of this team. They’re so unselfish and they play so well together. If there’s a silver lining, I told them they need to take something from this loss and learn from it. We’re losing a key piece in Jake, but they know we’re going to be back and they’re going to want to take another run at this thing.”
Whitlock, despite the foul trouble, finished with 17 points for the Leopards.
North Catholic advances to face No. 2 seed Lincoln Park in Monday’s WPIAL championship game. Lincoln Park upended Montour, 65-62.
