WPIAL Basketball Unbeaten Teams Shrinks by One

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, January 20, 2011 | 12:00 AM

Coming into Friday's Freezefest high school hardwood action, there were eight WPIAL basketball teams, four boys and four girls, with perfect records through the midway point of section play. That number is now down to seven and was nearly sliced to six.

The high scoring Norwin Knights took their potent offense on the road to Fayette County and scored an average of 22 1/2 points per quarter in racking up a 90-81 victory over host Connellsville. It was the first loss of the season for the Falcons, who came into the boys Class AAAA Section 1 contest with a two game lead over the Knights. Matt Palo had a game-high 38 points for Norwin (6-2, 9-4) while Johnny Leonard paced Connellsville (7-1, 12-1).

Meanwhile, Vincentian Academy barely remained undefeated as they jumped out to a big early lead (26-5 after 1st quarter) before having to come back and beat visiting North Catholic 70-69 in a boys Class A Section 2 showdown for first place. Chris Koryak's basket with 1.8 seconds remaining was the difference as the Royals improved to 5-0 and 13-0 overall. Koryak had 21 points while John Bray led all scorers with 26 points for Vincentian Academy. Ryan Lewis led North Catholic (4-1, 9-5) with 17 points.

The other two boy's unbeaten teams are the Shaler Titans and the South Fayette Lions. Shaler (14-0) beat North Allegheny Friday night 59-44 while South Fayette (11-0) had its game at McGuffey postponed Friday night.

Three of the four girls undefeated teams are in Class A. Aliquippa is 14-0, Vincentian Academy is 14-0 and Monessen is 12-0. Indiana in Class AAA checks in with an overall mark at 14-0.

Tags: Aliquippa, Connellsville, Vincentian Academy