Jackson Bauman handed Chartiers Valley their first section loss of the season when he called game with under five seconds left and drained a three to give Moon a 52-49 win.
This game was close from the jump, as it almost always is with these two teams. Chartiers Valley won the tip and immediately found Danny Slizik in the corner for three. Slizik scored on a pull-up jumper shortly after to give Chartiers Valley a 5-2 lead early.
Moon answered with two straight baskets underneath to retake the lead by a score of 6-5. The Colts and Tigers traded threes as Logan Helfrick sank one for Chartiers and Jackson Bauman hit one in transition for Moon.
Chartiers Valley continued to shoot it well as Silas Verzich hit the mid-range jumper to go up 12-9. Sophomore Luca Federico scored four-straight for the Colts as they jumped out to a 16-9 lead late in the first quarter after the 8-0 run.
Moon answered back with a 6-0 run of their own to end the quarter after a basket from AJ Buford, a free throw from Brody Bauman, and three more from Caden Kopay as he got fouled on a three-point attempt at the end of the quarter. After one, Chartiers Valley led 16-14.
Julian Semplice started the second quarter with a bucket as the senior put Chartiers Valley ahead 18-14. The two teams traded baskets the next few possessions until Brody Bauman drained a three to put Moon back in front by a score of 21-20.
Both teams really slowed the pace down late in the quarter, taking a lot of time off the clock each possession, and at the half, Moon was ahead 23-20. They had held the Colts to just 4 points in the entire second quarter.
Semplice started the third quarter with a corner three to give him 7 points in the game and tie it at 23. After a score from Chartiers Valley, Jackson Bauman walked into a three to give Moon a 26-25 lead early in the third.
Semplice drained another three from the corner, but Bauman answered again, this time with a step-back three as the two star seniors were trading blows early in the second half. Jackson Bauman spoke to his big third quarter after the game saying, “I just saw the rhythm of the game. Julian Semplice hit two big threes to start the half, and I had to take one back”.
Triples were traded once again with Helfrick sinking a three from the corner for Chartiers Valley and Brody Bauman cashing in for Moon. Semplice continued to stay aggressive, driving to the hoop for two and hitting yet another corner three shortly after.
Semplice recently injured his non-shooting shoulder and was wearing a large brace on it throughout the game, but it didn’t seem to slow him down much as that last three gave him 11 points in the quarter and put Chartiers Valley ahead 36-34.
Both teams burned clock late in the third with the only points coming from Moon’s Braeden Stuart who scored a bucket inside, and after three quarters the score was tied at 36.
Slizik started the corner with an offensive rebound and putback, but Jackson Bauman answered with a corner three to retake the lead for Moon. Chartiers scored the next five as Helfrick got one to fall and Semplice hit another three to give the Colts a 44-40 lead.
As he’d done all game, Jackson Bauman responded and weaved his way to the hoop for two more. Luca Federico got the and-1 to go on one end and a big block on the other, with Chartiers Valley leading 47-42 midway through the final quarter.
Brody Bauman answered with back to back triples, the latter of which he banked in from the left wing to retake the lead for the Tigers by a score of 48-47 with less than four minutes to go in the game.
Chartiers Valley took a ton of time off the clock the next time down, but Stuart forced an over and back call to give the ball back to Moon. It was the Tigers turn to burn clock as they took it down under two minutes before Jackson Bauman got fouled driving to the cup. He made one of two to give Moon a 49-47 lead with 1:20 to go in the game.
Chartiers Valley went inside to Federico the next time down, who was fouled in the post and sent to the line with a chance to tie the game. The sophomore star hit two clutch free throws to tie it at 49 with 49 seconds to go.
Moon took over 25 seconds off the clock before taking a timeout with Chartiers Valley pressuring the ball and threatening a five second count. After the timeout, Moon came out looking to take the last shot of the game.
They got into their action with about 15 seconds left to go. Jackson Bauman drove down the left lane and the two Chartiers Valley defenders collided, leaving Bauman with no one in front of him. Seeing this, Bauman pulled the ball out and laced a wide open three with 4.5 seconds to go and put Moon in front 52-49. Bauman spoke about his game-winner after the game saying, “I saw no one there, I trusted myself, and I let it fly”.
Chartiers Valley brought the ball into the front court and called a timeout with 2.7 seconds left down three. They ran a great play and got Federico a look from three on the other side of the floor, but it came up short, and the Tigers held on to win. Jackson Bauman finished with a game-high 20 points, with his younger brother Brody scoring 15, including 4 threes. Semplice had 18 for Chartiers Valley in the loss.
These two teams always seem to play each other close, as Chartiers Valley won the first matchup by three and Moon winning by the same margin at home in this one. A lot of that has to do with both teams having some of the best young coaches in the WPIAL leading the way.
Moon Head Coach, Gino Palmosina, has a ton of respect for Chartiers Valley and Head Coach Corey Dotchin as he said after the game, “Corey (Dotchin) is so good. He makes things so tough”. He went on to say, “He knows everything we run and they run great stuff. They’ve had our number the last two years, so you’ve got to give him and his staff a ton of credit”.
Palmosina spoke about his own team as well saying, “At the end of the day, I’m proud of our guys. We got down in a hole by 5 at one point mid fourth quarter and we found a way to dig it out. It was a big win for us”.
Moon moves to 13-3 overall including 5-3 in the section with the win. Chartiers Valley falls to 15-2 overall and 8-1 in the section, but that loss now opens the door for Lincoln Park, who also has just one loss in the section. Those two teams face-off against one another on Tuesday in what could very well be the game that determines the winner of this section and the top seed in the 5A playoffs.