Roth Brothers Shine, Ellwood City Advances Past Shady Side Academy

Things are going swimmingly for brothers Alexander and Joseph Roth.

The Splash Brothers combined for 54 points to help Ellwood City prevail over 3-seed Shady Side Academy 81-73 in overtime Monday night at Fox Chapel High School.

The victory advances 11-seed Ellwood City to the WPIAL semifinals for first time since 1986.

Just over 48 hours after collecting gold in #WPIAL swimming championships, Alexander (24 points, 5 3-pointers) and Joseph (30 points, 14-20 FTs) put their mark on the game late, accounting for all 30 of the Wolverine fourth quarter points and ten points in overtime.

In contrast to Thursday’s victory over Avonworth, Ellwood City found itself down at halftime against the Bulldogs.

source: twitter.com @EC_Wolverines

The Wolverines battled much of the third quarter, but gained little traction, trailing 42-37 entering the final quarter before an offensive burst put the Wolverines ahead late the in the game.

Ellwood City held a precious three point lead with under 10 seconds remaining in regulation when a buzzer beating three pointer by Shady Side Academy’s Rian Fitzgerald forced overtime.

“That buzzer shot may have deflated the best of teams,” said head coach Steve Antuono. “But it’s something about these kids…They just never quit! We regrouped, ran a few of our quick hitters and shots started to fall [in overtime].”

Alexander connected on four of his 3-pointers in the 4th quarter and overtime while Joseph Roth earned valuable points at the free throw line, finishing 11-16 from the line in the 4th quarter and overtime.

Junior Steve Antuono finished with 14 points (3 3-pointers) for the Wolverines. Ellwood City shot 35 free throws in the contest, connecting on 23 (66%)

Thompson Lau led four Bulldogs (14-3 overall) in double-figures with 25 points in defeat. Lau scored 21 points in the second half.

The surging Wolverines (12-4 overall) are now winners of 9 of last 10 games, with their only loss since the end of January coming on road in overtime against its semifinal opponent, the Neshannock Lancers.

Neshannock will enter Thursday night’s semifinal game at 17-1 overall after it redeemed its lone regular season loss to Beaver Falls, downing the Tigers 40-33 in its quarterfinal action Monday night.

“The Lancers are a very solid team. We know one another well,” said Antuono.

Aliquippa faces top seed South Allegheny in the other Class-AAA semifinal.