North East 72 North Allegheny 68

The undefeated Clas AAAA North Allegheny Tigers brought their undefeated record to the McDowell First National Bank Holiday Tournament in Erie where they took on the equally undefeated class AA North East Grape Pickers. Someone would hit their pillow tonight with one loss and that is sad because both of these teams are well coached and very talented.

The Tigers got off to a quick start when #33 Dan Kusnyer hit a 3 pointer to put them up 7-0 at the 6:25 mark and directly went up 9-0 on two foul shots by #25 Stephane Batton. The Pickers scored two buckets by #3 Aaron Meehl and #20 Michael Rouse to cut the lead to 9-4 until Kusnyer hit his second 3 ball to make it 12-4. NE scored 3 more on a bucket and free throw to close to 12-7. NA's #2 Ted Connolly, the Tigers leading scorer tonight with 16, then made 2 free throws to double up the Pickers 14-7. At this point NA's coach showed their depth by bringing in four fresh players which was his pattern for the evening as he rotated 9 good players in and out. The pickers point guard, #10 Matt Triana, then kicked it into high gear with an awesome no-look pass pass to #00 Ryan Szwejbka for an easy layup to make it 14-9. I was sitting behind the Tigers bench and I heard their coach say about Triana, "That kid is killing us". That statement would be prophetic as you will see later. The no-looker would propel the pickers to a first quarter tie at 17-17 with NE's Rouse going for 7 straight points to give him 9 in the frame. The Pickers also got some good rebounding and shot blocking from their sixth man, #50 Patrick Lafuria.

The second quarter started out like the first with NA scoring the first two to make it 19-17 and the score would see-saw throughout the quarter until the Pickers Szwejbka hit his only three of the night at the buzzer to give the Pickers a lead at 34-30.

At halftime I kind of wondered if NA depth would wear down what seemed like an undermanned Pickers squad as they played 6 or 7 against 9 all evening. But.......

At the 4:30 mark of the third quarter the score was 50-37 North East. Wow, can that Rouse kid shoot. He hit two 3's and three 2's for 12 points in a very short period of time. Most of his buckets came off of steals by teammates Triana, Meehl, Szwejbka, and Kirsch. A total team effort! That was fun to watch but just as I began expecting a blowout, swoosh, here came NA shooting the lights out with five 3's with Jeff Finke hitting two of them. NA came to within two at 55-53 to end the quarter and set up an exciting fourth quarter.

The Tigers continued their hot shooting into the fourth on a bucket by #15 Damian Founds and a 3 pointer by Stephane Batton to give them the lead at 58-55. NE tied it at 58 on free throws and then NA's Jeff Finke hit another three to regain the lead 61-58. NE tied the game again at the 2:11 with both teams at 63. Holy cow! NA missed the first of a one and one free throw opportunity and the Pickers #50 Patrick Lafuria made his only field goal of the night to take the lead at 65-63. Back came NA's Connolly with a drive to the hoop for two and the harm for an old fashioned 3 point play to give the Tigers a one point lead, 66-65. Folks, it was at this point that I wondered if North Allegheny's depth had taken its toll on the Grape Pickers. The last few plays I had noticed that they were not getting to loose balls like they had earlier and I just thought they looked tired after a long battle.

This is when I remembered the NA Coach saying, "That kid is killing us", and just as that thought entered my head Matt Triana pulled the trigger and stole the inbounds pass and in one motion got the ball to Rouse and rouse hit a streaking Meehl for a layup and the lead 67-66. NA would take the lead again at the :51 mark 68-67 but Triana pulled the trigger again by diving hard to the hoop and drawing a two shot foul. Swish, swish 69-68 NE with :38 on the clock. After NA called timeout to set up a play they were called for traveling and were forced to foul Mr. Triana and he made both again for a 71-68 lead with 12 seconds to play. NA took a 3 pointer but it was partially blocked and Bryan Kirsch came up with the ball while being fouled with 1 second to go. He knocked down the first one to give North East the Victory 72-68. Whew, those kids will sleep well tonight. What a great effort it was an a great win as well.

View some pictures here: http://www.bigskinnyonline.com/NE%20Vs%20NA.htm

Observations: North Allegheny is a very talented team and they are very deep with 4 quality kids off the bench. I was very impressed by the calm demeanor of their coach yet I could see those kids played hard for him.

This was the first time I have seen the 2007-2008 version of the Pickers and all I can say is, "WOW", are they ever fun to watch. When the Lafuria kid comes in off the bench he gives them a nice inside presence as he blocks shots and rebounds. I also need to mention that when Triana got in foul trouble in the second period, Cory Rossman gave NE some valuable minutes and he played well. I noticed that when rebounding against NE you better not take the ball to your waist or Meehl will take it away from you. He did it time and again.


I think this may be the first time I have ever awarded BigSkinny Player of the Game to two players but tonight it goes to the North East Duo of Michael Rouse and Matt Triana. The M&M Boys, they don't melt, period! Michael was the games leading scorer with 30 points. He scored inside and ouside, he hit turn around jumpers and runners, he made three 3's and nine 2's. This kid can flat out shoot, best shooter I've seen this year. Matt Triana, 17 points, is what I call a true point guard. He sees the floor and controls it like nobodies business on defense as well as offense. He is very quick and will rob your dribble at the blink of an eye. At games end he put it away at the free throw line where he went 7-9 in the fourth quarter and 10-13 overall.

Congrats to the whole team and coaching staff on a great win.

I also might add that I stayed until halftime of the McDowell/Milliken Mills game but spent the whole second quarter at the concession stand. Those are some nice gals at that concession stand. I had a hot dog and pretzel combo meal and I think the halftime score was McDowell 28 Milliken 21. Anyway, I know that McDowell went on to win 56-39 to set up another undefeated match up with North East Friday at 7:30pm. That should be a great game!