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Saturday, March 13, 2021 | 1:46 PM
Greg Macafee | Tribune-Review
Leechburg sophomore Braylan Lovelace goes up for a layup against St. Joseph during their Section 3-A matchup Feb. 12, 2021.
The truncated high school basketball season in the Alle-Kiski Valley ended Tuesday when the Leechburg and Fox Chapel boys, along with the Knoch girls, all were eliminated.
Suffice to say, it was a season like no other.
Things looked bleak when there was a three-week shutdown in December, just hours after the season opened Dec. 11. Teams battled the coronavirus as intently as they did opposing teams in the hopes of getting a season in.
There were plenty of starts and stops with some schools amazed they even got a season in. You heard the word first a lot — like first open tournament since the 1984 season.
Because of covid-19, it was the first time the WPIAL held an open tournament since 1984 because teams didn’t play an equal number of games. And it was the first time teams played playoff games on their home courts since ’84. But in 1984, only the first round games were on home courts.
This is also the first time since 1990 that no A-K Valley teams made the PIAA playoffs. That’s because … this is also the first time only the WPIAL champions advanced to the state tournament since 1971.
This was also the first time the Knoch girls program made it to the WPIAL semifinals, knocking off a wildly successful Blackhawk program.
It was also the first time the Plum girls won a playoff game since 2002, the only other postseason win in school history.
Other things were routine, like the Highlands boys continuing their winning ways with a fourth straight section title.
So without further delay before the next virus outbreak occurs, let’s pass out this year’s awards. But first, let’s congratulate the players, coaches, school administrators, health officials and anyone else who worked to get the season in.
Best run
The Mars boys staged a 24-0 run in a quarterfinal game last weekend against Trinity. It was also the 17th playoff win the senior class experienced.
Best defense
Butler. In the final 6 seconds against North Allegheny on Feb. 22, the Golden Tornado employed six defenders on the floor and held off the Tigers, 78-75. No one noticed until after the game, and the error appeared on video on social media. Nothing like the old 2-2-2 defense. People in Iowa shrugged because that state’s girls basketball has had six on the floor for years.
Best improvement
Burrell boys. The Bucs won just one game last season and moved to 9-10. Burrell earned a No. 10 seed and hung with Central Valley for a while in its playoff game. With only one starter graduating, the Bucs should get double-digit wins next season.
Marlon Brando Award (“Coulda been a contender”)
A covid-19 victim was the No. 4 Springdale Dynamos. The Allegheny Valley School District pulled the team from the playoffs, even with a protest organized by parents hoping for a reversal. The Class 2A bracket was loaded with quality teams, but we’ll never know what the Dynamos could have done.
Movin’ on up
Speaking of Springdale, it looks like the girls program is finally ready to emerge from a difficult period. Five wins doesn’t seem like much, but the question at Springdale is no longer whether it can put five girls on the floor in a given night. The Dynamos won three in a row for the first time since 2012.
Welcome Back Cotter Award
Ray Bartha returned as Apollo-Ridge girls basketball coach after 10 seasons away and did a Ray Bartha-esque job, with his team winning seven of its last eight regular-season games. The veteran coach now has 544 wins, 24 playoff appearances and his signature phrase “gee-zo-mackeral” when a call goes against the Vikings.
The edge of 200
Deer Lakes coach Terry Parham will go into the offseason with 199 career coaching wins. The Lancers once went 34 years without a playoff victory. With Parham at the helm, a Deer Lakes playoff win is no longer a reason to close off East Union Road for a parade.
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