Belle Vernon comes alive in decisive opening-round win over Quaker Valley

By: Liam Belan
Monday, February 20, 2023 | 11:21 PM

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In a game where Belle Vernon’s Zion Moore scored 32 points to lead the Leopards over Quaker Valley, 81-55, in a WPIAL Class 4A first-round playoff matchup Monday night, coach Joe Salvino was impressed with his squad’s togetherness first and foremost.

“It was a team effort and that’s what we have to do. We have to play as a team, and I don’t think that we’ve played like a team much all year,” he said before naming an 84-82 loss to Penn Hills as an instance where the Leopards played as a team.

“If we’re playing as a team, we can be a very good team,” Salvino said. “When we play as individuals, we’re just another mediocre ballclub.”

No. 10 Belle Vernon (11-11) may have had a slow start due to its football team’s state championship, but it seems like it has arrived as a force on the hardcourt after Monday.

For the home team in No. 7 Quaker Valley (14-7), it was at the mercy of its adversaries all night as it wasn’t fully healthy and played far from its best basketball.

Senior point guard and primary ball handler Troy Kozar returned for his first action since an injury that he suffered three weeks ago in a victory over South Allegheny left him in a walking boot while backup point guard Rocco Luchette didn’t play due to injury.

“We needed some defensive stops, but we never really competed with them,” Quaker Valley coach Mike Mastroianni said. “I’m not sure I remember a game where that’s happened to us.

“We played Troy because he was doing some good things for us on one leg, but they played really well. Even if he was healthy, the way that (Belle Vernon) played, we would’ve had to do a lot to finish.”

Moore and Joey Coyle, who led the Quakers with 20 points, got started early in the game as Moore finished through contact and converted from the line before Coyle hit a 3-pointer and a jumper inside the arc to make it 5-3.

Quinton Martin, Braden Laux and Alonzo Wade added the next six points of the game before Moore and Noah Jordan traded points for a few possessions. Moore connected on a 3 and made a layup between four points from Jordan as the score became 14-9 in favor of the Leopards.

After a Jordan layup brought the score to 18-14, Moore ended the first quarter with a jumper that gave Belle Vernon a 20-14 lead after one.

The Leopards pushed their advantage to 11 points after a putback from Tom Davis before Quaker Valley went on a quick 8-0 run fueled by back-to-back Coyle 3-pointers. After Davis connected on a free throw, Charlie Griffith knocked down a trifecta to cut the Quakers’ deficit to a single point before Trevor Kovatch hit his second of three 3-pointers to end the half at 35-31.

The second half was really when the tide shifted in Belle Vernon’s favor as the home squad struggled to beat the tenacious pressure of its opponents.

“Our continuity all year with​ Troy playing the one and everybody sliding (was gone), so it was a good time to press us because we had new guys in new spots,” Mastroianni said. “And then with them being that athletic, it was not a combination for us.”

“Defensively we put a lot of pressure on. I went to a matchup zone defense in our half-court set, which I think worked very, very well,” Salvino said. “We tried to shut down their shooters. They have some kids that can put the ball in the hole, but overall, I thought we did a good job.”

That might’ve been an understatement as the Leopards held the Quakers to just seven points in the final frame and 24 in the second half while adding 46 in the last two quarters.

The victors opened the third quarter on a 12-5 run as Moore and Martin each had five in that span. After Dominic Cox-Giles got on the board with a free throw that ended the run, Kovatch scored five more with his final 3 and a layup in consecutive possessions to give Belle Vernon an emphatic 56-39 lead.

Salvino remained intense even when the game seemed won, making sure his squad was continuing to put pressure on Quaker shooters and ball handlers while taking sound shots. Many of those down the stretch were fed inside to Martin, who had success at the rim and finished second behind Moore with 15 points. Kovatch was the only other double-digit scorer with 13.

“We knew we had to get the score up there because (Quaker Valley’s) scores are real low,” Salvino said. “They’re one of the better defensive teams in 4A, so we knew we had to score and we did.”

Belle Vernon scored the last 10 points of the contest to solidify its spot in the quarterfinals of the district playoffs.

Despite the bittersweet ending, Mastroianni was happy about how the season played out for his Quakers.

“Nobody talked about us. We came off of last year and everybody told our guys how bad we were gonna be, and we won a section championship and hosted a playoff game,” he said. “That’s a credit to our guys in here and our four seniors. … I’m proud as heck of those guys.”

As for the Leopards, they have to deal with a section foe in No. 2 Laurel Highlands, which defeated No. 15 Freeport, 69-45, on Monday night, for the third time this season come Thursday.

“When we played at Laurel, I thought it was a very good game. When they came to Belle Vernon, they just blew us out,” Salvino said. “We didn’t play as a team in that second game. We played as individuals and that needs to change.”

Tags: Belle Vernon, Quaker Valley