Quaker Valley drops Grove City to reach PIAA 2nd round

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, March 10, 2018 | 1:36 AM

Quaker Valley's Ryan Stowers wasn't arrogant enough to think he couldn't miss, but he also knew he hadn't missed all night.

Three 3s, five 2s and three free throws all found the net.

With his team still stinging from its WPIAL championship loss, Stowers avoided another by scoring 15 of his 22 points in the second half Friday night to defeat Grove City, 54-48, in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A tournament.

The 6-foot-5 junior made back-to-back 3-pointers in the third quarter to steal momentum and later scored nine consecutive points in the fourth to win. He accounted for five of Quaker Valley's eight second-half baskets.

“It felt hot,” Stowers said of his touch, “but you can't get carried away because then you take bad shots. I was just trying to contribute and take good shots. That's why it seemed like all of them were going in.”

With Stowers' success, the Quakers made 19 of 37 shots.

Coletrane Washington added 12 points on 6 of 16 shooting.

The victory came six days after heavily favored Quaker Valley (24-1) lost to section rival New Castle in the WPIAL Class 4A finals. That was the Quakers' first loss this season, but they found themselves in peril again Friday. Grove City (18-8), the third-place team from District 10, led 32-27 at halftime.

“We had a rough week,” Quaker coach Mike Mastroianni said. “I'm won't sit here and try to mask it. We had a rough week, but if you're not ready to play after you lose a tough game like that, there's not a whole lot of motivation you can give them.”

The second-half rally advances Quaker Valley to face WPIAL third-place team Belle Vernon (19-6) in the second round Tuesday.

“We're not used to losing,” Stowers said. “We had to get our confidence back.”

Ahead 41-40 after three, Quaker Valley had matched Grove City shot for shot but won the fourth with its defense. Grove City made just 3 of 25 shots in the final eight minutes after shooting 52 percent (16 for 31) in the first three quarters.

Isaac Thrasher led Grove City with 15 points, Martin Beatty had 12 and Logan Lutz added 10.

“Without a doubt, Quaker Valley picked up its defensive intensity (in the fourth quarter),” Grove City coach Jeff Loughry said. “I thought Coletrane got energized on defense. Stowers got energized, (Dan) Conlan got energized. They started using their length and taking some stuff away from us. They just didn't let us be as deliberate as we wanted to be.”

Grove City's plan was to sustain methodical possessions, and for three quarters it worked well. Its first possession of the night lasted 1 minute, 26 seconds and led to a layup for Lutz.

But in the fourth, Grove City went scoreless for nearly seven minutes as Stowers delivered his 9-0 run. It started with a layup and foul shot, then two driving layups and two free throws to lead 50-43 with 1:18 left.

Stowers scored just seven first-half points but came alive midway through the third with crucial back-to-back 3s that flipped a two-point deficit into a four-point lead.

“He's done that for us this year,” Mastroianni said. “He's a really good shooter. He makes some tough ones. He makes some 3s when he's guarded, and he's pretty deep. He's not the typical high school 3-point shooter.”

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

Tags: Quaker Valley