Gateway wanted to get closer to a section championship. Fox Chapel wanted to get closer to a WPIAL playoff spot.
But the way the two teams played the final few minutes of their game last night, you had to wonder what either team wanted.
Fox Chapel didn't score for the final 4:41, but Gateway didn't score for the final 6:14. When the battle of futility ended, Fox Chapel had a 37-36 victory in a WPIAL Class AAAA Section 4 game.
Fox Chapel Coach Harry Jenkins didn't care how his team looked in the final few minutes, but he did care about the outcome.
"If you said we wouldn't score for the final four minutes and we'd still win, I'd have said that can't happen," Jenkins said. "But we kept them from scoring, too, and, when you're fighting for a playoff spot, you'll take the win."
The Foxes are 7-3 in the section (13-8 overall) and tied for second place with Central Catholic. But Penn Hills (5-4) is only a game behind. Gateway, trying to win its first section title since 1983, is in first with a 7-2 record (14-6 overall).
The top three teams qualify for the playoffs, but no one has clinched a spot.
"Everyone has aspirations of winning a section title, but we just want to get back to the playoffs this year," said Jenkins, whose team was 4-20 a year ago.
Bryan Teschke, a 6-foot-4 junior forward, scored Fox Chapel's final eight points and finished with a game-high 18. His basket with 4:41 left gave Fox Chapel a 37-36 lead.
For the rest of the game, Fox Chapel missed two shots and turned the ball over twice. Gateway had taken a 36-35 lead with 6:14 left in the game on Dan Polizzano's three-point play. That was the last time the Gators scored.
"I thought our kids put great defensive pressure on the ball. That was the key to the game," Jenkins said.
Gateway had its chances to win. After Fox Chapel turned the ball over with 1:10 remaining, Gateway held the ball until Polizzano missed a shot with nine seconds left. The ball was knocked out of bounds with 4.8 seconds remaining. After a Gateway timeout, the Gators' Nick Bartel missed a long 3-pointer from the right corner.
Polizzano, a 6-1 senior forward, led Gateway with 14 points, but Gateway struggled offensively. The Gators didn't score for the first seven minutes of the game and shot- only 32 percent (14 of 44) from the field.
"I think maybe we've hit a little wall," said Gateway Coach Paul Holzshu, whose team scored only 37 in a loss to Central Catholic Friday.
"Maybe we got to thinking that we're better than we are. Maybe the kids started thinking they can slide by a little bit. But they can't.
"It's kind of like when you're swimming way out in the ocean. You swim and never see any sharks. You relax. The next thing you know, five dorsal fins are next to you."
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