Ligonier Valley loses prolific point guard, then loses to Albert Gallatin

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, December 28, 2017 | 10:36 PM

For one half, Albert Gallatin and Ligonier Valley played to a stalemate.

Then, Ligonier Valley lost its high-scoring point guard and with it any reasonable chance of claiming the championship of its boys basketball Christmas tournament.

With Michael Marinchak, the team's second-leading scorer, out of the Ligonier Valley lineup for all but 30 seconds of the second half after being ejected for a flagrant foul, Albert Gallatin pulled away to beat the Rams, 77-51, in the title game Thursday night.

“Obviously, that was a huge benefit to us,” Albert Gallatin coach Shea Fleenor said. “He's a very good player, and we knew that coming in.”

Colby Uphold scored 17 points, and James Peggues added 15 for WPIAL Class 5A Albert Gallatin (6-4), which also got 13 points from Matt Rankin and 12 from Zach Knox.

The Colonials took advantage of Marinchak's absence and outscored District 6 Class 3A Ligonier Valley, 48-22, in the second half after the teams had played to a 29-29 halftime tie.

Marinchak entered the night averaging 20.2 points after scoring 27 the previous night in a first-round victory over WPIAL Class 4A Derry. He scored four points Thursday.

“Michael sets the tone for what we do. It's unfortunate what happened tonight,” Ligonier Valley coach Todd Hepner said.

The Rams (5-4) were led by Marrek Paola's 24 points.

Despite the presence of the 6-foot-7 Paola, Fleenor said Albert Gallatin chose to focus primarily on Marinchak, who appeared frustrated when Nate English fouled him and then tied up the ball early in the second half.

After the whistle, Marinchak appeared to make contact with English, who was knocked to the floor. English converted 1 of 2 technical foul free throws and Albert Gallatin retained possession with a 32-29 lead.

But Ligonier Valley regrouped and, behind Paola's 10 points, took a 39-34 lead with 5:19 left in the third quarter.

“I needed to take that timeout so we could rearrange our focus,” Fleenor said. “We lost it there for a little bit.”

The Colonials went back in front for good about a minute later on Peggues' layup, giving them a 41-39 lead.

“This was a good game for us to play,” Fleenor said. “That is a good team we just played. Marinchak was a concern, and Paola is a heck of a player and Ludwig, we knew he could shoot it from the outside. So we needed this type of a game.”

Paola, who finished with eight rebounds, had scored 23 points in the previous night against Derry and leads Ligonier Valley with an average of 26.8 points.

“I was pleased with our effort tonight,” Hepner said. “When Michael went out, everybody did their best to step up. I told them they don't need to hang their heads. I believe we got a lot tougher tonight.”

Hepner said Albert Gallatin's defensive scheme might be as good as his team will face all year.

“That's one of the best pressure defenses we'll see,” he said. “They put a lot of pressure on us, and we were expecting it. We'll use it to teach, and hopefully we'll be better because of it.”

Dave Mackall is a freelance writer.

Tags: Albert Gallatin, Ligonier Valley