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Quaker Valley seniors Amir Johnson and Ryann Bradford formed a dynamic duo Wednesday night at North Hills High School.

A duo that proved too much for Jeannette to handle in the second round on the PIAA Class AA basketball playoffs.

Johnson, who will play at Radford University, scored a game-high 35 points, and Bradford chipped in with 29 to lead Quaker Valley to an 80-62 victory over Jeannette (24-4).

Quaker Valley (22-7), which will play Bishop Canevin in the quarterfinals Saturday, broke open a close game in the third quarter by outscoring Jeannette, 20-9.

Quaker Valley led, 39-35, at halftime, but the Quakers went on a 16-7 run to take control of the contest and slowly pull away. Johnson and Bradford led the way scoring nine and six points, respectively, during that run.

"We tried a variety of defenses: zone, zone trap, triangle and two, and man-to-man against him," Jeannette coach Rick Klimchock said of Johnson. "What ever we tried, he had an answer. He was hot.

"He's the best guard in the WPIAL. Johnson is hard to control, and Bradford got a lot of looks because of it."

Bradford, a 6-foot-5 senior, also had 10 rebounds and five blocked shots.

"Bradford came to play," Klimchock said. "Quaker Valley played a great game. We had a couple of breakdowns at the start of the second half and lost our momentum."

Quaker Valley coach Tom Demko said his team got back to play its style again: running and gunning.

"We've been waiting for a game like this," Demko said. "That form has been missing from our play. We rebounded well, and our big guys played like big guys. We were able to run."

Demko said Johnson, Bradford and Darren Rogers all rose to the occasion of playing against Jeannette sophomore Terrelle Pryor, the 6-6 forward who already has verbally committed to Pitt.

"Pryor is a talent, but so are Amir and Ryann," Demko said. "Ryann's had some Division I type games this season."

Once Quaker Valley got the lead, it forced Jeannette to play straight man-to-man defense, something Klimchock did not want to do.

Jeannette, which kept the game close in the first half because of numerous second chances, had a cold shooting second half.

"They were beating us on the boards in the first half," Demko said. "That's something we've been working on."

Johnson and Bradford were unstoppable in the first half. Johnson scored 20 points, including 14 in the second quarter, and Bradford added 15.

Quaker Valley also did a good job defending Pryor, who scored only six points in the first half and finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocked shots. Davonte Shannon chipped in with 14 points and Shaw Sunder added 11.

Rogers, a 6-1 senior, was assigned to guard Pryor and bang him around in the paint.

"I feel like Darren scored 30 for us because he took away a lot," Demko said. "We wanted him to frustrate Terrelle, we knew we couldn't stop him. He's amazing."

But, with Rogers guarding Pryor, it allowed Bradford and Johnson to roam free and take control.

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