After having won Baldwin’s first section title in 39 years, the boys basketball team was upset in the first round of WPIAL playoffs on Tuesday, falling to Penn-Trafford 60-45, to end the season.
Senior Jaden Duttine said the team played a sloppy game overall.
“The game was disappointing. We didn’t make shots when we needed to and they made big shots. We turned the ball over a lot and I think that’s why we lost,” Duttine said.
Junior Gavin Sakely said this game was reminiscent of the team’s only regular season loss, which was to South Fayette.
“They got the lead early and just slowed the game down and held the ball,” Sakely said. “There was nothing we could really do at that point.”
Senior Shane Bigley said the Highlanders let their guard down.
“Penn-Trafford had pretty good guards and played super fast,” Bigley said. “They were also making more shots than we did and broke our full court press pretty easily.”
The Highlanders also got in foul trouble early.
Senior Caden Cherico and senior Matt Schenk both had three fouls after the first half, causing them to miss key minutes at the end of the half. Senior Nate Wesling also fouled in the fourth quarter.
“The turning point in the game was when Nate Wesling fouled out,” Bigley said. “He’s been our best player all year.”
Among the Highlanders who played well was senior Jackson Sgattoni, who came off the bench to score 10 points for the Highlanders.
Despite the team’s loss, they still had a good attitude throughout the game.
“We didn’t give up until the end and we tried, even though we were losing pretty bad,” Bigley said.
The first-round loss also means the Highlanders do not qualify for state playoffs. Despite Tuesday’s disappointment, the season was still filled with positive moments.
The biggest was winning the section title, Bigley said.
“The season was enjoyable. We won the section and that’s always a good accomplishment, but we wanted more. We wanted a WPIAL,” senior Jaden Duttine said.
Another big memory was Wesling scoring his 1,000th point at the game against Knoch after four years on the team.
“Scoring my 1,000th point was a positive that I will take away from this season,” Wesling said.
Nine seniors will be departing from the team after this year, but Sakely still has a positive outlook for next season.
“The next two starters we are bringing back are EJ Golvash and Max Marzina. Losing nine seniors is always really hard, especially when four of them are your starters,” Sakely said. “But we have a good couple guys, and they’ll be the core we’ve always played with. We are comfortable with each other.”
