Guards help Central York punch ticket to state semis with 71-60 win over Upper St. Clair
Central York coach Jeff Hoke had no idea what to expect from starting guards RB Brown and Ben Natal in Saturday's state quarterfinal.
Brown, a 6-0 sophomore, struggled in Friday's practice and Hoke admitted he was hard on him, making him leave the court about 10 times. Natal, a 6-2 junior, injured his hip in Wednesday's win over Red Lion and didn't practice on Thursday.
Hoke didn't have to worry. Both came to play Saturday, leading Central York to their first PIAA Class 6A boys' basketball semifinal by defeating Upper St. Clair 71-60 at Altoona High School. They improved their record to 27-3.
"I told the coaches [Brown] was either going to fold today or play the best game of his life," Hoke said. "The kid just keeps coming and coming. He's unbelievable. And, Ben, we didn't know if he would be able to play."
Brown finished with 17 points, two behind Natal's game-leading 19 and one more than Ben Rill's 16 points.
Central York advances to Tuesday's semifinal, where they will play defending state champion Reading. The teams met in the first game of the season, with the Panthers coming away with a 90-73 win.
"We're definitely excited about Reading," Natal said. "Every team has changed from the first game to now, you know. The guys get better, there's better team chemistry, so it's definitely going to be a dogfight. We know Reading's culture. They play hard, play fast, so it's gonna be a really good game."
More: Delone Catholic can't stop Division I-bound superstar as season ends in PIAA Elite Eight
Folding wasn't an option
Greg Guidinger, Central's only senior starter, put the Panthers on the board with a putback on an offensive rebound. It was Brown who gave Central the lead they never lost.
He did it with a pair of field goals and a pair of free throws to put Central up 8-6. That was as close as Upper St. Clair got the rest of the game.
"The coaches are pushing me," Brown said. "They see my potential. Folding [after Friday's practice] wasn't an option coming into this game. I had to step up big. We had a good bus ride, the energy was there, so we were ready for this moment."
While Upper St. Clair's 6-9 Tyler Robbins and 6-3 Peja Strobl were trying to keep Central's bigs – 6-7 Guidinger and 6-8 Rill – in control, Brown and Natal were piling it on.
Brown scored 10 points in the first half, and Natal added nine. Natal showed no sign of a hip injury on the court but had a slight limp as he left the locker room area and headed toward the bus.
Not going away
Hoke and his players weren't surprised that Upper St. Clair made a run in the second half. When Guidinger hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the second quarter, Central had a 16-point lead.
Robbins, who scored USC's first three points but didn't score again in the first half, put the team on his shoulders in the third quarter. He connected on a pair of and-ones and added a smooth low-post move to score eight points in the quarter as USC trimmed the lead to single digits.
"We knew they weren't going away," Hoke said of USC. "We've seen 10 games on film. They could shoot the crap out of the ball. We knew we had to pressure them. They have shooters, so we couldn't leave them open."
Strobl, Brett Meinert and Christian Ito were the shooters who prevented Central from collapsing on Robbins in the low post. The trio combined for six 3-pointers in the second half to help USC chip away at Central's lead. Strobl canned four triples in the game to finish with 14 points, just two before Robbins' 16.
But every time USC seemed to be getting a bit of momentum, including when Ito's basket cut the lead to five points with 2 minutes remaining, Central hit a shot to stop their flow.
With time running out, USC was forced to foul. Guidinger hit 2-of-4 free throws and Saxton Suchanic played out an and-one to give Central a 69-60 lead with 25 seconds remaining.
And Suchanic put the finish on the scoring with an emphatic dunk on Central's last possession.
What this means
Central York will try to beat the defending state champs for the second time this season.
The first game was played on Central's floor, and the Panthers fell behind by double digits in the first half. They cut that lead to four by halftime and continued to a double-digit win in the second half.
Natal, Rill and Guidinger led the Panthers with 16, 15 and 12 points, respectively.
Reading is coming off a 62-44 thumping of Coatesville in another quarterfinal Saturday. Berks Player of the Year Yadiel Cruz led the Red Knights with 25 points.
Big first bucket
Rill's first bucket was quiet, but very meaningful.
After a 3-point attempt didn't fall, he went over Robbins to score a lay in and pass the 1,000-point mark. He hit the milestone before completing his second season with the Panthers.
There was a smattering of applause after the shot, but no announcement until halftime.
They said it
Jeff Hoke: "These kids have so much pressure on them. They have been playing together for a long time and they work so hard. I'm just so happy for them."
RB Brown: "We have guards, wings, bigs. One through 14, we have guys that can step out. Whenever we need someone to pick up the load, that's what we have."
Ben Natal: "They're really good shooters. We had to adjust, definitely. Third quarter, they came out and made a pretty big run. But when we buckled down, kept our composure and we got the win."
Shelly Stallsmith covers York-Adams high school sports for GameTimePA and the USAToday Network. Connect with her by email mstallsmith@ydr.com or on Twitter @ShelStallsmith.