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Just because Mark Jula is gone doesn't mean the North Allegheny and New Castle boys' basketball teams all of a sudden like each other.

Or that their coaches, long-time friends John Sarandrea of New Castle and Rob Greenleaf of North Allegheny, will spend time at midcourt Tuesday night reminiscing about coaching together at Pitt in the late 1980s.

No chance.

The rivalry will be as intense as ever when North Allegheny (8-2, 4-0) plays host to the undefeated Red Hurricanes (14-0, 4-0) at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday in a pivotal Section 3-AAAA boys basketball game.

"People have said the rivalry isn't as big because Mark is gone," said Greenleaf, the first-year coach at NA. "Believe me. It is. We're not changing the attitude. We want this game. There is not a detente."

Sarandrea and Jula had a bitter rivalry dating to Jula's days at Butler, when he lost to New Castle in the '92-93 WPIAL Class AAAA title game.

"When Mark coached at Butler, we had a great rivalry," Sarandrea said. "But it was a healthy one, and that's the way it should be. (At North Allegheny), it became an unhealthy rivalry."

Sarandrea and Greenleaf have a healthy relationship. Greenleaf, hired from Class AA Northgate after Jula was fired, worked as a student assistant at Pitt when Sarandrea was part of Paul Evans' staff. Sarandrea and North Allegheny assistant coach Norm Law also worked together at Pitt.

Sarandrea's New Castle team defeated Greenleaf's Franklin Regional team for the '96-97 WPIAL Class AAAA title.

"I have a lot of respect for Rob," Sarandrea said. "He was a great student of the game and a very hard worker and I'm not surprised, at all, that he's done this well."

North Allegheny is improving under Greenleaf, bringing a seven-game winning streak into Friday's Section 3-AAAA game at Pine-Richland. The Tigers haven't lost, since dropping games to Quad A No. 2 Upper St. Clair and Quad A No. 4 Mt. Lebanon in a five-day span in early December.

"We're starting to get better," Greenleaf said. "We're playing real good in spurts. But we're doing what we wanted to do - to get better as the year goes on."

The recent surge has kept North Allegheny deadlocked with New Castle for first place in the section, and striving to reach the WPIAL Class AAAA playoffs for only the second time in the past five seasons.

The New Castle game opens an important week for North Allegheny, which plays at rival North Hills (5-5, 2-1) on Friday.

New Castle, scheduled to play host to Seneca Valley on Friday, has its strongest team since it won three WPIAL Class AAAA titles in a row from '97-99.

Among the Red Hurricanes' victories this season are a 18-point rout over WPIAL Class AA No. 4 Beaver Falls, and a 70-52 win over four-time defending PIAA Class A champion Kennedy Catholic.

New Castle has four players averaging in double figures: 6-foot-2 senior forward Dom Joseph (18.0 ppg), senior shooting guard Dante Spino (13.0) - a transfer from Section 3-AAAA foe Butler - senior point guard Mark DeMonaco (13.0) and 6-4 junior forward Hoover Gibson (8.4).

Leon Ward, a 6-foot junior guard, adds 8.1 points per game.

Sophomore forward Chris Cain (6.0), senior forward Joe Carter, and Vojtech Hybler, a 6-7 forward from the Czech Republic, are the top reserves on a deep New Castle team.

Also gone is any bickering from the past.

"Our greatest strength is our chemistry," Sarandrea said. "We don't have any great players, but as a unit they feel good about each other. Teams with good chemistry can be something special."

Senior center Brandon Hoffmann (14.5 points per game), senior guard Lee Baierl (13.0), senior forward Bill Brown (8.5), senior point guard Nick Boretsky (8.0) and junior small forward Nate Hoot (7.5 ppg) give North Allegheny a balanced scoring attack.

Guards Brandon Scott, Pat Davis and Eddie Fields, a transfer from Carrick, are the top players off the bench for the Tigers.

"I think we've responded to some adversity," Greenleaf said. "There were some issues after we lost to Mt. Lebanon and Upper St. Clair. Some guys weren't buying into the system, and they're not around anymore."

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