Ligonier Valley boys suffer painful loss in PIAAs

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, March 10, 2018 | 8:24 PM

In a quiet corner of a hallway outside Johnstown's Doc Stofko Gymnasium on Saturday, a battered Andrew Pleskovitch stood and talked softly to a classmate. His lip was split open, and his head was throbbing from a nasty fourth-quarter fall.

And his emotions were drained, as well, after Ligonier Valley's 65-60 loss to Lancaster Mennonite in a PIAA Class 3A first-round game.

“The game's over now. It's all right,” said the Rams senior, who returned to the District 6 school this season after spending last year at nearby Latrobe in the WPIAL.

“I knew we were going to have a good team here this year, and I wanted to be a part of it,” said Pleskovitch, a 6-foot-3 swingman who played sparingly last season at Latrobe. “We had a good season. It's a shame it had to end this way.”

John Gillespie scored seven of his 19 points in the decisive fourth quarter for Lancaster Mennonite (18-9).

The Rams (21-5) were shooting for their second PIAA playoff victory and dropped to 1-6 all-time in states.

“I told them, ‘There's nothing to be ashamed of. Don't hang your heads,'” Ligonier Valley coach Todd Hepner said. “You don't win everything in life. As much as we'd have liked to win this game, we had a great season. We won two championships (Heritage Conference and District 6-3A), and we ended 21-5.”

Hepner said he told his players “you've got to learn from things like this. It may hurt, but you'll look back and say what a great season we had.”

Gillespie's spinning, acrobatic layup pulled Lancaster Mennonite even at 49-49 before the Blazers, who overcame a 10-point, second-quarter deficit, took the lead for good on two free throws by Roman Ali.

The lead swelled to 59-52 before Ligonier Valley closed within 59-56 on a baseline layup by Michael Marinchak, who led the Rams with 29 points.

“He's pretty quick. Everything's under control,” Lancaster Mennonite coach Geoff Groff said. “It was a physical game, about as physical a game as I've been in for awhile. Both teams have players who aren't used to losing, so you've got those competitive juices flowing.”

Lancaster Mennonite lost to eventual PIAA champion Neumann-Goretti in the quarterfinals last season.

After Marinchak's basket, Lancaster Mennonite responded. Carter Hurst made 1 of 2 free throws with 45 seconds left, and Gillespie scored and was fouled.

His free throw gave Lancaster Mennonite a 63-56 lead, and the Blazers, the fourth-place team in the District 3 playoffs, held on.

“It played a big part,” Hepner said of the teams' rough styles. “They were physical with us, and we tried to get physical back. We were pressing at the end. They made some nice passes and nice layups, and it just didn't go our way.”

Hurst added 16 points and Ali 13 for Lancaster Mennonite, which will face Westinghouse in a second-round game Wednesday at a site to be determined.

Marinchak, Marrek Paola (24 points, 12 rebounds) and Pleskovitch (seven points, 20 rebounds) were the only Ligonier Valley players to score.

Marinchak (17 points) and Paola (12) accounted for all of Ligonier Valley's first-half points as the Rams carried a 29-22 lead into the locker room.

“We were getting shots, but we weren't making them,” Groff said.

Ligonier Valley's biggest lead was 21-11 early in the second quarter, but Lancaster Mennonite recovered and trailed by seven at the break.

“We seemed to get into a mode of dribbling a lot, especially in the second quarter,” Hepner said. “We weren't playing team basketball. I felt like I was watching an NBA basketball game at that point. In the first half, we only had two guys score. That shows you we weren't playing well enough as a team.”

Lancaster Mennonite took its first lead with 2:10 left in the third on a steal and layup by Elijah Terry, giving the Blazers a 40-39 advantage.

But Ligonier Valley, on Marinchak's off-balance 3-pointer, answered and held a 42-40 edge heading to the fourth, where Lancaster Mennonite finally seized control.

Dave Mackall is a freelance writer.

Tags: Ligonier Valley