Colts Advance to WPIAL Finals

WHITEHALL - With 18 seconds remaining in last night’s Class AAAA WPIAL semifinals game against Mt. Lebanon, the Chartiers Valley fans starting chanting, “Coach McConnell, Coach McConnell.”

Then, with just under five seconds to play, the colorful coach acknowledged the fans, as his Colts sealed the deal in a 54-48 upset victory over the second-seeded Blue Devils at Baldwin High School. And while Mt. Lebanon defeated the Colts in both regular season meetings this season, junior forward Christian Kuntz said his team was confident entering the game.

“We weren’t going to lose again,” Kuntz said. “They’re a very good basketball team, one of the best in the WPIAL. We just refused to lose tonight. We gave it 110 percent.”

Kuntz, whom McConnell has referred to several times this season as “Superman,” scored a game-high 14 points. But perhaps more importantly, after senior Matt Noszka fouled out with 4:45 left and guard Steve Burda left the game with a possible concussion with two minutes remaining, Kuntz took over the leadership responsibility down the stretch.

“I was just telling them that we need to get through screens and switch them, and when we get the ball in, someone needs to flash middle,” Kuntz said. “I was basically saying all the stuff we had gone over in practice this week.”

Chartiers Valley (20-5) punched its ticket to its seventh WPIAL championship game since 1997, and will play the No. 4 seed Gateway Gators Saturday night at the A.J. Palumbo Center on the Duquesne campus. But no matter how many times the Colts reach the championship game, McConnell says it feels as good as the first time.

“It never gets old. I could go there year after year and still be like a kid on Christmas morning opening up my presents,” McConnell said. “I’m very excited for this team, but we know the job isn’t done. We have a lot of work to do because we have a great team in Gateway that we have to come up with a game plan for.”

The Colts fell behind 8-0 in the early moments of the game, but after Kuntz hit a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left in the first quarter, Chartiers Valley took an 11-8 lead and never looked back.

Chartiers Valley had its largest lead of the game at 41-30 after Noszka hit a 3-pointer with 7:30 remaining in the fourth. However, he would foul out just less than three minutes later, and the Blue Devils would score the next nine points, trimming the Colts’ lead to just two.

But a pair of juniors stepped up, as Wayne Capers ended the run with a powerful layup, followed by Kuntz nailing two free throws to extend the lead back to six.

The final obstacle would come with 2:00 left in the game when Burda exited with a possible concussion after a hard foul on Mt. Lebanon’s Jake Shure. With both Noszka and Burda on the bench, other players stepped up to clinch the win.

“They could’ve folded very easily, but they didn’t,” McConnell said. “They hung in there and got the job done.”

One of the other players McConnell referred to was sophomore center Spencer Casson, who recorded his third triple-double of the season with 10 points, 11 rebounds and 13 blocked shots.

Casson was all smiles after the game and thinks that his improved play in this game against Mt. Lebanon was one of the reasons for the positive outcome.

“I think I made a big difference down low,” Casson said. “I made them think twice before they went up for layups.”

And although the Colts will enjoy their win, it may not be all good news going forward. McConnell admitted after the game that he is doubtful Burda will be able to play in Saturday night’s WPIAL championship game, but that he will “leave that up to the experts to decide.”