KITTANNING — After enduring 30 minutes of Ridgway’s laborious, stalling offense, Sewickley Academy finally was able to give the Elkers a taste of their own medicine.
Having taken possession of the ball with just over two minutes left and the game tied at 39, Sewickley intended to wait and take the final shot of the game. So the Panthers held onto the ball at the top of the key, passing it when briefly pressured until Isiah Warfield was fouled with 47.4 seconds left.
Warfield hit one of two free throws, and the Panthers held onto the lead, defeating Ridgway 44-41 Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the PIAA Class 2A playoffs.
Sewickley will play Jeannette at a site and time to be determined.
“This game, it was stressful and it was tough. But I like that because it matured us and gave us a different experience, because we’ve never played against anything like that,” Sewickley sophomore guard Isaiah Smith said.
“Usually we’ll have ups and downs and different runs throughout the game, but we’ve never played a close, close game like that. So I think it was a good test for us before we continue going.”
Though Warfield’s free throw was pivotal, the moments directly before and after that were key as well. Directly before, Nate Ridgeway took a charge on an Elkers drive for the Panthers to take a possession and eventually take the lead.
Directly after Warfield’s free throws, Sewickley got a defensive stop, took possession and upped the lead to three points when David Groetsch hit both of his free throws. Ridgway’s Daunte Allegretto hit two free throws after that to shrink the lead to one, but Warfield hit two free throws to boost the lead back to three.
Ridgway's Josh Thorwart took an off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer to try to send the game to overtime, but the shot was off the mark.
“Finally, our defense got in there,” Sewickley coach Win Palmer said of his team’s crucial stops late in the game. “We rotated properly and got the charge, and then we got the tip on the next play, and that was beautiful."
The contest started with a back-and-forth first quarter and a 13-12 Ridgway lead. After starting out a bit slow in the second quarter, Sewickley got hot toward the end, closing the half on a 7-2 run to take a 26-20 lead. Smith headed the attack, scoring seven points in the quarter and 14 in the game.
Smith consistently found scoring chances against the Elkers’ defense, mostly on quick drives to the hoop.
“I just had an attacking mindset,” Smith said. “I knew that my guy wasn’t going to be able to stay in front of me if I kept attacking. He was going to get tired, so just kept attacking and making my moves and I was able to score effectively.”
It appeared, finally, that the Panthers had figured Ridgway out. But the Elkers had other plans. Holding onto the ball for long of stretches of time, Ridgway would lull Sewickley’s defense to sleep before eventually hitting a backdoor cut. The result was an 11-7 quarter and just a two-point deficit after three quarters.
“We were just jumpy on defense, and you can’t be jumpy. You have to stay in your lanes. But they do a great job because the thing is they do it for a minute. College coaches talk about it all the time that if their guys can sustain for 20 seconds defensively, they’ve got it. Our guys had to sustain for a minute at a time. That’s hard,” Palmer said.
More so than any opponent this season, Palmer said the Elkers challenged his team’s identity. Usually a team that likes to run and gun and hunt turnovers, the Panthers knew they had to play differently. It was a realization the Panthers had before the game started, but one they didn’t fully commit to until toward the end.
“This game really brought out our character as individuals and as a team,” Smith said. “I think that’s a good experience for us, because that brought us together and showed we have to play together no matter what the other team is doing.”