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New Castle survives scare, remains unbeaten
And, for the second time, the Red Hurricanes responded in the second half, outscoring the Cavaliers 23-19 in the fourth quarter, to squeak by Kiski, 70-66, at the A.J. Palumbo Center to advance to the WPIAL Quad-A championship game at noon Saturday at Palumbo.
The victory moves No. 2 seed New Castle (27-0) into a title-game matchup with top-seeded Uniontown and leaves the Red Hurricanes as the only undefeated team in the WPIAL.
New Castle, which trailed 32-26 at halftime, saw its deficit grow to nine points early in the third period, before pulling even with the Cavaliers at 47-47 heading into the fourth.
"Had we been able to get up six or seven points at some point late in the game, then maybe they'd be the one making the mistakes," Kiski coach Larry Rupert said. "They're not a team that makes a lot of mistakes. When they're playing with a lead, then you're in trouble."
In the final quarter, New Castle's scoring was led by the free throw shooting of point guard Mark DeMonaco. DeMonaco, a 5-foot-9 senior, hit 8 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter while guarding Kiski standout Joey Tutchstone.
Against the up-tempo Cavaliers, the Red Hurricanes abandoned their typical full-court trap to play a tight man-to-man system.
"The difference in the game tonight was not pressing," New Castle coach John Sarandrea said of his defense. "We decided that we were going to grind it out man-to-man, but that wasn't easy because Tutchstone gives you such matchup problems.
"Give little Marky DeMonaco a lot of credit. He gave up a foot-and-a-half to (Tutchstone) and battled him all night long."
DeMonaco and forward Dom Joseph led New Castle with 17 points apiece. Dante Spino and Chris Cain joined them in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Tutchstone led Kiski with 20 points.
Throughout the first half, New Castle struggled with the press of Kiski's tall backcourt, resulting in numerous Red Hurricanes turnovers.
"We were very tentative aginst (Kiski's press)," New Castle coach John Sarandrea said. "It was something that we were expecting, they've done it for the past 20-some games and at the Blackhawk Tournament."
New Castle defeated Kiski, 74-67, two months ago in the semifinals of the Blackhawk Christmas Tournament.
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