Belle Vernon defeated North Catholic by a score 54-49 to win the WPIAL 4A championship. The Leopards grabbed the lead early in this one and despite it getting close at times, they never let it go.
North Catholic’s leading scorer, Jason Fredericks, started things off with a three on the first possession of the game. It was clear early on that North Catholic wanted to spread the floor and shoot the three. They aren’t a very big team, but they’re full of guys that can shoot it.
Trevor Kovatch of Belle Vernon started hot in this one, seemingly still riding the high of his excellent semifinal performance against Avonworth. With the score tied 8-8, Kovatch got the and-1 to fall, giving Belle Vernon an 11-8 lead. He ended up with 9 points in the first quarter and propelled Belle Vernon to a 19-14 lead after one.
Zion Moore and Jude Rottmann traded buckets early in the quarter, but after that the second quarter was all Belle Vernon as North Catholic went cold from three and the Belle Vernon bigs hit the offensive glass.
Belle Vernon big man, Tommy Davis, was a beast in this one. He scored 6 straight points in the second quarter, capped off with a one-handed dunk that got the Belle Vernon fans out of their seats.
Eli Stofko hit a big three for North Catholic with three minutes to go in the quarter, but Davis answered again with another bucket inside. Belle Vernon ended the quarter on an 11-3 run and went into halftime with a 34-22 lead. Davis led all scorers with 14 points. Rottmann had 8 to lead North Catholic.
The difference in the first half was turnovers and offensive rebounds. Belle Vernon had 8 offensive rebounds compared to just 2 for North Catholic. They also protected the ball much better. North Catholic had 9 turnovers in the half. Belle Vernon had only 5.
Much like he started the game, Fredericks started the second half with a three to get the lead back to single digits. Sticking with the three ball, North Catholic continued firing, this time getting fouled on the attempt, but they missed all three at the stripe.
Fredericks scored on a jumper to get to 10 points in the game, but Belle Vernon answered at the other end with two more free throws by Davis and a layup from Moore. Fredericks scored again and Rottmann followed it up with an and-1 shortly after as North Catholic began to find their footing.
After relying almost entirely on the three for the first two and a half quarters, North Catholic was finally starting to attack the hoop. They also tightened things up on the defensive end and were able to cut the lead to 5 late in the third.
Davis got a bucket for Belle Vernon in the final seconds of the third quarter to end the scoring drought for them as they took a 43-37 lead into the final quarter. Belle Vernon had dominated the boards in the first three quarters. They had 32 rebounds, including 15 offensive rebounds, with North Catholic having only 14 rebounds total.
Fredericks hit a runner early in the quarter to cut the lead to just 3 and North Catholic was right back in this one. After a free throw by Moore to make it 44-40, Fredericks got fouled on the three point attempt and knocked down all three at the stripe to make it a one point game.
With the game as close as it had been since the first quarter, Belle Vernon turned to their star to get a bucket and he delivered. Moore got the basket and the foul to put Belle ahead 47-43 with just over five minutes to go in the game. When asked about the pivotal play Moore said, “I knew that we needed a bucket”.
North Catholic stuck with their hot hand in Jason Fredericks as he got the friendly roll on the three to bring it back to a 1 point game. North Catholic was playing a much better brand of basketball in the second half. They were taking care of the ball and the really limited the turnovers, which presented them with far more scoring opportunities.
Neither team could find a way to score for the next several minutes as it was clear that the pressure was rising as this one neared its conclusion. With just over a minute to go, Moore went to work again, getting the layup to go and giving Belle Vernon a 3 point cushion.
Up 50-46, Curtis Wade went one of two from the line, but Belle Vernon grabbed another offensive rebound and was fouled again, sending Kovatch to the stripe. He went one for two as well.
North Catholic came up empty on the other end and was forced to foul, sending Davis back to the line. He made both and Belle Vernon went ahead 53-46 with 10 seconds left.
Rottmann would make a three with 5 seconds left, but that wasn’t enough. Kovatch went back to the line and sealed this one for Belle Vernon as they went on to win 54-49.
Tommy Davis was the star in this one for Belle Vernon. He finished the game with 20 points, going 7-9 from the field and 6-6 from the free throw line, to go along with 10 rebounds and 4 blocks.
Moore and Kovatch each had 12 points for Belle Vernon and Fredericks matched Davis with a game high 20 for North Catholic. Rottmann wasn’t far behind with 15.
This one ultimately came down to rebounding, with Belle Vernon getting the better of North Catholic on the glass by a count of 40 to 17. Davis said after the game that that was part of their gameplan and fellow big, Dom Ghilani, said, “I just know that whenever that ball is up in the air I’ve just got to go get it. It’s my ball. No one else’s ball. I’m getting it”. Ghilani had a game-high 13 rebounds tonight.
A lot of the story coming into the game was how Belle Vernon coach, Joe Salvino, is set to retire following the season. He was asked how it feels to go out a champion and he said simply, “It’s unbelievable. I’ve won before, but this one here is definitely special”.
When the players were asked how it feels to see their coach off into retirement with a WPIAL title, they all said variations of the same thing, “We had to”.
Belle Vernon and North Catholic will resume their seasons next week with the state tournament set to begin on Friday, March 7th.