MONROEVILLE — The Penns Valley boys’ basketball team went from riding the highest of highs to enduring the lowest of lows.
Fresh off the school’s first ever PIAA tournament victory, the Rams were routed by mighty North Catholic 71-30 in a first round Class AA state tournament game on Saturday at Gateway High School.
“We had a dream season,” Penns Valley coach Terry Glunt said. “We just ran into much better team today.”
Four players reached double figures for the Trojans (25-2), led by Jesse Long’s 14 points.
Jesse Deloof tallied 17 points to lead the Rams (18-8), who fell behind 15-2 less than five minutes into the game and trailed by more than 35 points in the fourth quarter, leading to a running clock mercy rule.
Henry Pwono added 13 points and nine rebounds while Joe Long and Matt Long had 10 points each for North Catholic, which shot 28 of 48 from the field, 8-15 on 3-pointers.
The Trojans, who are ranked fifth in the state among AA teams and won the District 7 title last week by downing defending state-champion Jeannette, also outrebounded Penns Valley 35-21 and forced 18 turnovers compared to their seven.
“We had no answer for them,” Glunt said. “They started strong. We turned the ball over on five of our first six possessions. I thought we’d go to our customary man-to-man defense. But after the third possession, we switched to zone. I didn’t want it to be any longer of a day than it was already going to be. North Catholic was talented in all areas. We worked our butts off to no avail.”
Penns Valley, District 6’s third place team, advanced to the first round by coming behind to defeat District 5’s North Star on Tuesday in Spring Mills. It was the team’s first PIAA win in three trips.
“I was smiling in the locker room at the end of the game,” Glunt said. “This season has been so special. I enjoyed every second of it. We still have the memories from Tuesday.”
North Catholic meets District 10’s Mercyhurst Prep on Wednesday.
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