Pine-Richland rallies to take down Bethel Park in 1st round

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, February 18, 2018 | 10:10 AM

Two-time defending WPIAL champion Pine-Richland was about 6 minutes away from an early exit.

The reigning champ was “staggered,” Bethel Park coach Josh Bears said, but his Black Hawks couldn't land a knockout blow. With four free throws by junior Dan Petcash in the final 9 seconds Saturday, No. 6 seed Pine-Richland escaped with a 66-62 first-round victory over No. 11 Bethel Park in WPIAL Class 6A.

Trailing 53-48 in the fourth, Pine-Richland pushed ahead with a 10-0 run and ultimately outscored Bethel Park, 18-9, in those final 6 minutes.

“The difference today was our playoff experience,” said Pine-Richland coach Jeff Ackermann, whose team next faces No. 3 seed Fox Chapel in the quarterfinals Feb. 24. “We were down five in the fourth and we fought back,” he said. “A lot of teams, honestly, at that point would have folded. They wouldn't have come back and won that game.”

Phil Jurkovec had 23 points and 10 assists, Petcash scored 18, and the two combined with junior Greg Shulkosky for 10 consecutive fourth-quarter points to retake the lead.

Shulkosky made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 3 minutes left to lead 56-53.

Pine-Richland (18-5) was facing its first WPIAL playoff loss since 2015, but upped its pressure once Bethel Park took the lead and held the Black Hawks scoreless for nearly 5 minutes.

Bethel Park's Ryan Meis made a layup at the 5:50 mark to lead 53-48, but his team didn't score again until a basket by Thomas DiRienzo with 59 seconds left.

By then, Pine-Richland led by five.

“If we could have just got one basket in that three- or four-possession stretch, I think we had them,” Bears said. “We had them staggered. We just couldn't deliver that knockout blow.”

Meis led Bethel Park (13-10) with 26 points, including a 3-pointer with 23 seconds left to pull the Black Hawks within two points.

But Petcash's free throws preserved Pine-Richland's lead.

Clinging to a 62-60 lead, Petcash made two free throws with 9.1 seconds left. Ahead 64-62, he made two more with 3.3.

Both were one-and-one situations.

“I feel like we played just about the game that we wanted to,” Bears said. “The difference was that couple possession stretch in the fourth quarter when we had the lead.”

Petcash led Pine-Richland with eight points in the fourth. He was on the bench a season ago when the team finished as state runner-up, but watched closely as older brother Andrew led the team to Petersen Events Center and later Hershey.

“I didn't get to play much, but I got to see everything,” Petcash said. “We went all the way to the state finals, so now it's not anything new to me.”

Pine-Richland led 18-11 after the first quarter, 25-23 at half and 46-44 after three. The first-half tempo wasn't what Pine-Richland would prefer. The Rams average 72 points while Bethel Park averages 57.

“They did a good job of keeping us off guard, mixing their defenses,” Ackermann said. “They played a bunch of different defenses. They played some box-and-one and some 1-2-2 (zone) and some man-to-man. They face guarded Dan at times.”

The Rams scored just seven points in the second quarter but pushed the tempo after halftime, added 21 in the third and 20 in the fourth.

Jurkovec scored 14 points in the second half.

“There are not many teams in Pennsylvania who have players who have played in a state championship,” Ackermann said. “We have guys. That's special for us and something we can always go back on, that experience.”

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.

Tags: Bethel Park, Pine-Richland