Holding Court: News and notes from WPIAL and City League
Share with others:
It is only a non-section game that will have no bearing on the seedings for the upcoming WPIAL playoffs. But when Seton-LaSalle visits Oakland Catholic Saturday afternoon, it might be the best girls' contest in the WPIAL this season.
Both come into the game undefeated and ranked No. 1 in their respective WPIAL classifications -- Seton-LaSalle in Class AA and Oakland Catholic in Class AAAA. And don't think Oakland Catholic is a cinch to win just because it is a bigger school. Seton-LaSalle already owns a victory against Mt. Lebanon, the Post-Gazette's No. 2-ranked WPIAL Class AAAA team and the three-time defending PIAA champion.
Tipoff is at 2:30 p.m.
Highlands' Micah Mason is on the cusp of doing something that hasn't been done in the WPIAL in a long time.
Mason, a senior guard, figures to be the leading scorer in the WPIAL for the second consecutive year. That hasn't happened in at least 30 years. Neither the WPIAL nor any other media outlet kept statistics for the WPIAL until the Post-Gazette started in the 1979-80 season. Since then, no boys player has won consecutive scoring titles.
Highlands finishes the regular season tonight against Hampton and Mason leads the WPIAL with a 29.0 average. Plum's Nolan Cressler is second at 25.8.
Riverview has played the past few weeks without Corey Bickert, a 6-foot senior guard who sustained a season-ending knee injury on Jan. 17 against Springdale.
At the time, Bickert was the fourth-leading scorer in the WPIAL with a 24.0 average. Riverview had an 8-4 record with Bickert and was averaging 56.9 points a game. Without Bickert, Riverview is 0-5 and has averaged 37.4 points a game.
Here is one coach's take on City League boys basketball this season:
"The City League, both with teams and individual talent, has never been so down as it is this year. Allderdice has a pretty decent team. You hate to say it, but after Allderdice, there really isn't anything, and I don't see it getting any better next year."
The WPIAL will release playoff brackets and pairings Tuesday night. The playoffs will begin a week from tonight and all title games (boys and girls) will be March 2-3 at Duquesne University's Palumbo Center.
Former North Allegheny guard Ted Connolly has started four games this season for the Naval Academy. But that isn't the most impressive thing about Connolly, a senior guard. Connolly is one of only 28 Naval Academy seniors who have been invited to train to be a member of the Navy SEALs, the elite fighting force of the U.S. Navy.
First Published February 10, 2012 12:00 am
