Amon Hawthorne wanted to find a way to play basketball in college at the highest level. During Hawthorne's senior season with Penn Hills, he made it impossible for anyone to not pay attention to what he had to offer. Hawthorne averaged 21.1 points per game to help the Indians advance to the second round of the PIAA Class 5A playoffs.

Hawthorne topped 1,000 points in his career during the postseason to become the first Penn Hills player since Daemar Kelly to reach the mark. Penn Hills won the Section 1-5A crown and finished with a 20-8 record overall with an 11-1 mark in section. Hawthorne scored a season-high 44 points in a loss to Thomas Jefferson in the WPIAL quarterfinals.

Slippery Rock finished last season 17-12 and 10-10 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference play.

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to [email protected]

The Knoch boys basketball team was one example showing how tough the competition was in Section 1-4A in the WPIAL. Deer Lakes, North Catholic and the Knights all advanced to the second round of the PIAA Tournament.

Indiana 6-foot-8 junior Aaron Webb recently received an offer from Louisville. Webb, who scored a school record 49 points in a game this season, helped the Little Indians reached the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs this past season.

Indiana was upended in the first round of the district playoffs, losing 56-50 in overtime to Gateway. The Little Indians wrapped up the season with a 13-9 record, including a 7-5 mark in section.

​

PITTSBURGH - The Canon-McMillan girls basketball team was happy to make history by winning its first WPIAL Class 6A championship with a 60-38 win over Norwin. But the Big Macs had a unique start to a historic day.

Canon-McMillan had one of its players, Olivia Ross, sing the national anthem. It clearly energized her teammates. The Big Macs surged to a 13-7 first-quarter lead.  Canon-McMillan would lead by as many as 19 points in the third quarter. Norwin never led.

While the two teams split during the regular season, the Big Macs looked more comfortable throughout the game. Norwin rallied in the third quarter with the Big Macs ahead 34-15. Norwin ran off 15 straight to cut the deficit to four.

Madison Clair led Canon-McMillan with 15 points, while Sam Miller (12) and Lauren Borella (10) also finished in double figures.

Quips win again
Aliquippa was missing three starters, but still found a way to get by South Allegheny to win its record 15th WPIAL final.

They said it

"Everyone poops the bed sometimes. Even the coaches."

-Thomas Jefferson coach Dom DeCicco ​after the Jaguars' loss to Chartiers Valley

EAST CARNEGIE -  Alex Demchak was happy to get out of Kai Lamberson's way Tuesday night. Lamberson, a 5-foot-11 sophomore guard for Shady Side Academy, didn't miss many of his shot attempts during the first round of the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs.

He made six 3-pointers in the first half and added another in the third quarter, finishing with 32 points to help the No. 13 seed Bulldogs collect a 61-48 road win. Demchak had a simple message for what he told his hot-shooting teammate.

"Just keep shooting," said Demchak, who scored 12 points. "We're going to be there for you. He was hitting tonight. I trust him every time. Every time I was running back on the court, I knew he was hitting. I just wanted to be there for him."

Shady Side Academy (9-14) stuck together, especially on defense. The Bulldogs spent much of their time trying to clog up the driving lanes for Bishop Canevin. The fourth-seeded Crusaders never quite found a way to attack Shady Side Academy for long stretches.

"I think they came out and smacked us in the mouth early," Bishop Canevin coach Tim Tyree said. "For us, playing from behind isn't really our game, as you've seen tonight."

The Crusaders (13-9) took its last lead, 5-4, on a 3-point by Damar Olds around 3 minutes into the game. Shady Side Academy responded with a 7-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Lamberson.

"My teammates always have my back," Lamberson said. "They try to rally me each game. They pick me up every time I make a mistake. When they share the ball, it makes me feel ready to shoot and I'm ready for every game."

The Bulldogs stretched their lead to 10 points by the end of the first quarter and led 33-22 at halftime. Demchak said Shady Side Academy wanted to keep the pressure on defensively.

"We've been on that all year," Demchak said. "We've been focused on keeping our hands up, staying on each other when we get fouls and we were being aggressive. We wanted to stay disciplined and keep our hands up."

Drew Allen Jr. was Bishop Canevin's most consistent scorer. Allen finished with 15 points and scored eight in the first half. Allen missed a few minutes in the fourth quarter after suffering from cramping after going up for a layup.

Bishop Canevin, which trailed by as many as 17 points, had the lead down to eight, 52-44, when Austin Wang made a free throw with 4 minutes, 22 seconds remaining. The Crusaders wouldn't get any closer.

"We had to chase around a little bit in the half court defensively and that wore on us," Tyree said. "That didn't allow us to player our best in those last few minutes."

Shady Side Academy coach Jim Dudas said the Bulldogs were prepared fro how they wanted to move the ball if they faced pressure. While Bishop Canevin found success with steals and scores to open the fourth quarter, the momentum dissipated.

"We talked a little bit about how we wanted to approach their trapping," Dudas said. "We worked at this in practice for a couple days. We got a little anxious at the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth quarter and didn't handle the traps the way we should have. But we picked it up in the second half of the fourth quarter and spread the court much better."

Lamier Wade also finished in double figures for Bishop Canevin, scoring 12 points. Shady Side Academy was able to set itself up well for springing an upset by taking an early lead and never giving it back.

Demchak said he always believed the Bulldogs could find postseason success, even after they started the season 1-7.

Shady Side Academy proved it has plenty of bite.

"I knew it from the beginning," Demchak said. "Everyone looks at the rankings, but we know that we always start off against the hard schedule. We face off against the 5A like Fox Chapel and Kiski. We're ready for them when we play high competition."

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to [email protected] or on X @J_oshRizzo.

Sometimes the assignments that don't seem to have much promise more than live up to the billing. Deer Lakes boys basketball team pushed North Catholic to the limit Friday night. The Trojans came from 13 points down to trip up the Lancers.

North Catholic is one of the favorites to be the top seed in Class 4A. The WPIAL will release the playoff brackets on Monday.

Springdale picked up an important win over Riverview Tuesday night. Read my story about the game in the Valley News Dispatch.

The opener at The Challenge at Allderdice required overtime to find a winner. Penn Hills did just enough in overtime to pull out a 58-57 win over the defending PIAA and WPIAL Class 1A champions.

I wrote a story for SBLive, which the link will be posted here. The Bulldogs were without a few key players, but showed plenty of fight.

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to [email protected] or on X @J_oshRizzo

PLUM - Chris Giles' biggest supporters were sound asleep when he made his cameo appearance on Sunday Night Football But the Penn Hills boys basketball coach found plenty of people were able to see him coach during the broadcast of the Steelers and Ravens game last Sunday.

The Sunday Night Football crew had stopped by to shoot footage of the Central Catholic-Penn Hills game on Jan. 2 at Penn Hills High School. 

"It was great," Giles said. "I wish my kids would've seen it, but they were in bed. It was great, my mom was able to see it and so were some relatives and family members. The best part about it is that when I went to work and some of my students said 'Mr. Giles, I saw you on TV.' So that's exciting."

The Vikings won the non-conference game 42-31. Typically Sunday Night Football will go to a high school game every week, but since the PIAA football season was over, they made the trip to Penn Hills again.

The Indians, who beat Plum 67-39 Tuesday night on the road, have won six of their past seven games. Penn Hills is 6-5 overall and 4-1 in Section 1-5A play.

"Kudos to those guys for coming out and supporting," Giles said. "Central's a really good team and it was two really good historical programs in basketball and football competing."

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to [email protected] or on X @J_oshRizzo.

​Collin Rodgers has continued his strong start for the Deer Lakes boys basketball team. By scoring 34 points against Highlands Tuesday night, Rodgers hit the 1,000-point plateau for his career. The Lancers beat Highlands 82-46 in Section 1-4A play thanks in parts to 34 points from Rodgers.

Deer Lakes (5-4, 2-2) has worked through some growing pains this season. The Lancers have won back-to-back games after dropping four of five. Deer Lakes will try to add more wins to its total at the Gateway Tournament this weekend.

Josh Rizzo is the editor and publisher of Pittsburgh Preps and Colleges. Story ideas can be submitted to [email protected] or on X @J_oshRizzo.