Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Season-end awards

The local basketball season ended with Bentworth's loss to Serra Catholic in the PIAA Class A boys quarterfinals Friday night at Chartiers Valley. As schools prepare for spring sports, it's time to hand out a few postseason awards.

Game of the Year
Bentworth 64, DuBois Central Catholic 62
This PIAA Class A boys second-round game had everything needed to be labeled a classic. Jon Kennedy finished with 28 points and nine rbounds but it was Joe Kennedy whose last-second putback put the Bearcats into the quarterfinals for the first time.
Honorable mention
South Fayette vs. Jeannette (WPIAL Class AA boys quarterfinals)
Peters Township vs. Mt. Lebanon (WPIAL Class AAAA girls semifinals)
Canon-McMillan vs. Moon (PIAA Class AAAA first round)

Play of the Year
Charles Murphy's buzzer-beater versus Shaler.

Canon-McMillan, desperate to win its first non-preliminary playoff game, trailed Shaler with time ticking away. That's when Charles Murphy took an inbounds pass from Zane Zebrasky and his 38-footer hit net for the dramatic victory.
Honorable mention
Joe Kennedy's game-winning putback vs. DuBois Central Catholic
Maura Lacey's coast-to-coast layup vs. Mt. Lebanon

Team of the Year
Bentworth boys

Several strong candidates but no local team advanced further in the state playoffs than Bentworth, which had its best season in 20 years.
Honorable mention
Peters Township girls
Monessen girls
South Fayette boys
Washington girls
Canon-McMillan boys

Newcomer of the Year
Mike Lamberti, South Fayette

Lamberti, a 6-4 freshman, was a key contributor to South Fayette's success. He led the Lions in scoring and was one of the best passers in the area.
Honorable mention
Terrance Stepoli, Monessen boys
Emily Matthis, Peters Township girls
Kacey Wargo, Canon-McMillan girls

The What-If Award
The Canon-McMillan girls

The 2007-08 Big Macs were tabbed for great success since the 2004-05 season. Then, senior Cameron Jones, who had several DI offers, elected not to play and talented Brittany Taylor struggled through injuries. C-M played tough but missed the playoffs.
Honorable mention
The Burgettstown boys – lost to Bishop Canevin at buzzer in WPIAL prelims. BC went to the WPIAL semis and PIAA playoffs.
The Ringgold girls – The Rams, a PIAA playoff team in 2006-07, were hurt by the transfer of Bethany Warren and did not advance past the first round of the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs.

The So Close Award
(Tie) Washington and Monessen girls

Washington entered the WPIAL Class AA playoffs as the No. 2 seed and with just one loss. Monessen was undefeated and seeded second in the Class A bracket. Neither won a WPIAL championship – Wash High lost in the semis and Monessen lost in the title game – and they combined to go 1-2 in the PIAA playoffs.

Senior of the Year
Boys – (tie) Charles Murphy, C-M; Jon Kennedy, Bentworth
Girls – Christina Chukwuedo, Monessen

Junior of the Year

Boys – (tie) Nick Wilcox, Peters Twp.; Ryne Niemiec, Beth-Center
Girls – Emily Correal, Peters Twp.

Sophomore of the Year
Boys – Chad Hagan, Canon-McMillan
Girls – Alina Selby, Ringgold

Freshman of the Year

Boys – Mike Lamberti, South Fayette
Girls – Not awarded

Most Pleasant Surprise
Boys
Team – Burgettstown
Player – Derek Goetz, Burgettstown
Girls
Team – Beth-Center
Player – Jocelyn Floyd, Washington

7 comments:

Mapod said...

Agree with most but Boy Freshman of the year has to go to Terrance Stepoli, of Monessen, Game of the year Canon Mac beat McKeesport and Monessen girls, only losing in The Wpial championship in 2 overtimes and to be consider either game of the year or even team of the year.

mike_kovak said...

After seeing Stepoli and Lamberti each a couple times, just can't agree with you mapod.

Both are good players and, at times, explosive scorers but Lamberti's game is more well-rounded.

And there's no way I can go with a non-section regular season game as the game of the year over a last-second win in the second round of the state tournament over a team that played for the state title a year earlier.

Anonymous said...

how could you put kennedy and murphy in a tie, murphy had to play against way better competion

Anonymous said...

Have to agree when judging players. Look at the competition they played. He might be alright but other than Serra and a few playoff games, who was there. Check stats in both serra games.

Anonymous said...

True. The three best individuals would be Murphy, Tyree and Kelly and fill in from there

mike_kovak said...

I completely disagree with the last post. Kennedy would start for every local high school basketball team, no matter what level he played.

Kennedy also was huge in the playoffs (except for the Serra game) for a team that traveled farther in the states than any other local team.

Anonymous said...

What was the surprise about Beth Center girls? That they got crushed by every decent team they played? That's just normal.