Jeannette boys hold off Shenango to advance to semifinals
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Friday, February 23, 2018 | 10:42 PM
Playing in his first WPIAL playoff basketball game Jeannette junior guard Anthony Johnson felt woozy in the first half and nearly gave up his dinner.
“I don't know, man. I need to get in better shape I guess,” Johnson said. “I had some pizza before the game. We have keep playing hard and get ready for Tuesday.”
Jeannette, which had a first-round bye, looked like it would make meal out of Shenango early on Friday night, but the third-seeded Jayhawks got plenty of push-back from No. 6 Shenango before pulling out a 74-69 victory in a Class 2A quarterfinal at Gateway.
“We got up and then slacked off some,” said Johnson, who missed six games with a sprained ankle before returning Feb. 9 at Greensburg Central Catholic. “We can't do that. We have to be super-focused.”
Jeannette (19-3) advances to play No. 2 OLSH (21-2) on Tuesday in the semifinals. It will be the Jayhawks' third final-four appearance in four years.
In a battle of long-bombing teams — at least on this night — the Jayhawks (19-3) made 10 3-pointers and built an 18-point lead before Shenango (15-9), with its 11 3's, came back.
“Yep, it's survive and advance now,” Jeannette coach Adrian Batts said. “We knew we'd get Shenango's best game. Eleven days is a long time to be off. Maybe we should have been conditioning. I don't know. Our transition defense was terrible.”
Jeannette, which started on 10-0 run, led 40-28 at the half and 52-33 late in the third. But Shenango cut it to 63-60 on a pull-up jumper by Brandon Bennett, who had 17 points.
Robert Kennedy, who led Jeannette with 20 points, made a floater in the lane, and Johnson made a 3 to give the Jayhawks a 68-62 lead with 2:23 left.
Maxwell Reamer swished a 3 from the top of the key with 22.5 seconds left to make it 70-67, but Kennedy took a baseball pass from AJ Sharp for a layup with 18 seconds left.
After Bennet's layup with 8.1 seconds, Tre Cunningham iced it with a pair of free throws with 6.7 to go.
Johnson finished with 19 points, and Cunningham had 16.
Tempers flared with about six minutes to go as the teams were called for double-techincals. Jeannette junior forward Marcus Barnes was whistled for two technicals, so he will have to sit out Tuesday's game per PIAA rules.
Bill Beckner Jr. is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.
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