Ellwood City led wire-to-wire, avenging two regular season losses, and upended 2-seed Neshannock 60-51 Thursday night to advance to the WPIAL Class-3A Championship game.
Alexander Roth scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half, including nine – all free throws – in the final frame to help the Wolverines escape the de-facto road game at Neshannock.
Alexander’s brother Joseph buoyed the offense early, scoring 16 first half points as Ellwood City built a 34-31 halftime lead that would see leads swoon from double-digits to single possessions throughout.
Both teams stroked the long ball early, combining for 13 first half 3-pointers.
source: tribhssn.triblive.com
The game slowed after halftime as the teams combined to only score 13 points in the 3rd quarter with Ellwood City maintaining a 40-38 lead entering the final frame.
As the fourth quarter wore on the host Lancers could only tie the game once as Roth’s free throw shooting continued to provide a cushion for Ellwood City. Roth finished the the game 13-16 from the free throw line. Ellwood City finished 25-35 (71%) from the line as a team.
Joseph Roth, continuing his playoff surge, finished with a team-high 19 points while Steve Antuono (8 points) and Ryan Gibbons (7 points) each splashed home a set of 3-pointers. Milo Sesti finished with six points and Sam Dicaprio made a pair of late free throws for the Wolverines.
John Paul Mozzaczo finished with a game-high 21 points in defeat for the Lancers. Neshannock finished with 10 3-pointers as a team on the evening. Mozzaczo finished with five 3-pointers while Russel Kwiat (14 points) connected on four 3-pointers.
Ellwood City…this is forever pic.twitter.com/NnsxdiAT25
— New Castle News Sports (@NCNewsSports) March 12, 2021
Ellwood City (13-4 overall), winners of their fourth postseason game, now advances to play South Allegheny (17-4 overall) in the WPIAL Class-3A WPIAL Championship on Monday at 5:00 p.m. at North Allegheny High School.
South Allegheny is playing in its first title game while Ellwood City is in its first title game in 35 years.
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