CLARION, Pa. – Aliquippa brought to an end Otto-Eldred’s dream season one step shy of the ultimate goal with a 56-28 win over the Terrors in the PIAA Class 2A semifinals at PennWest Clarion’s Tippin Gym Tuesday night.
“You always want more,” Otto-Eldred first-year head coach Derrick Francis said. “And that’s kudos to those kids, they just want more. They just want to win.”
Relisten to the game
Losing to an Aliquippa team that was the PIAA Class 3A runner-up a year ago with many of the same players was nothing for the Terrors to hang their heads about even if the game got to the Mercy Rule late in the third quarter.
It got there because the Quips’ athleticism was too much for Otto-Eldred to handle.
“They are super athletic,” Francis said. “They are probably more athletic than I thought. I need to see them live, and I didn’t do my job. I need to do my job better. I should have seen them.”
But it wasn’t just the athleticism that bothered Otto-Eldred.
The Terrors had trouble from the start getting off good shots against an in-your-face pressure defense in the halfcourt by Aliquippa, and when they did get shots off they weren’t falling.
“Clarion-Limestone was close,” Francis said when asked if his team had seen in-your-face defensive pressure like the Quips employed. “I don’t think (C-L) is as athletic, but they had 12 guys who could do it. Aliquippa didn’t go as deep, but man they got after it. Those are the two teams that could do that we faced. We had to shoot good, and they didn’t even let us shoot.”
The Quips defense took away Otto-Eldred’s two best players – Landon Francis and Manning Splain – limiting the duo to a combined five points (2 from Francis and 3 from Splain) while holding Francis without a made basket.
Meanwhile, Cameron Lindsye, Aliquippa’s 6-foot-3 junior forward, pretty much did whatever he wanted in the first half scoring 15 of his game-high 19 points in the opening 16 minutes helping the Quips build a 29-13 halftime lead.
“I don’t think No. 4 (Otto-Eldred’s Brax Caldwell) wanted any part of (Cam),” Aliquippa head coach Nick Lackovich said. “Cam was Cam. That is what he does.”
Lindsey scored seven of the 12 points during a 12-2 second-quarter run that built the lead to 24-9 for the Quips.
“We just haven’t seen that,” Derrick Francis said. “There is nobody like that in the NTL other than (O-E’s) Shene (Thomas). Maybe I should have put Shene on him and put Brax on No. 32 (Jayace Williams). I don’t know.”
After taking a 29-13 lead into halftime thanks to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by D.J. Walker, Aliquippa started the second half by scoring the first six points to go up 22, 35-13.
The Quips then used a 17-2 run to close out the quarter with the Mercy Rule in action ahead 52-20.
“There was no message at all (at halftime),” Lackovich said. “The only thing was, let’s go out here and finish the job. They (our guys) played well the first half. What are you going to say? Now you are just splitting hairs. There was no need for that.”
Austin Cousins played his final game for Otto-Eldred and scored five points. Photo by Noah DiTullio
Thomas was a shining bright spot for Otto-Eldred scoring 11 points including seven in the third quarter.
“I have told Shene he can play,” Derrick Francis said. “It’s just all in his head. I hope this end of the second half here and next year and the following year he can decide to play like that and we are just going to be that much better.”
Demarkus Walker added eight points and D.J. Walker seven for Aliquippa.
Austin Cousins added five points for Otto-Eldred, who was the first District 9 team to reach the 2A semifinals since the PIAA moved to a 1A, 2A, 3A, etc system in 1976.
“We now have a program,” Derrick Francis said. “And the first words (in the locker room after the game) were we need to get back in the gym, in the weight room, and get better because we are coming back.”
ALIQUIPPA 56, OTTO-ELDRED 28
Score by Quarters
Otto-Eldred – 5 8 7 8 – 28
Aliquippa – 12 17 23 4 – 56
OTTO-ELDRED – 28
Manning Splain 1 0-0 3, Logan Maholic 1 0-0 2, Austin Cousins 2 0-0 5, Landon Francis 0 2-2 2, Brax Caldwell 0 0-2 0, Max Splain 1 0-0 3, Hunter App 0 0-0 0, Shene Thomas 4 3-3 11, Davey Schonfeld 0 0-0 0, Isaiah Derrick 1 0-0 2. Totals 10 5-7 28.
ALIQUIPPA – 56
Quail Goode 1 0-0 3, Demarkus Walker 3 0-0 8, D.J. Walker 3 0-2 7, Quinten Goode 2 0-0 5, Tiquai Hayes 1 0-0 2, Michael Gaskins 2 0-0 5, Azad Hasan 0 0-0 0, Cameron Lindsay 9 1-2 19, Jayace Williams 2 0-0 4, Damar Freeman 1 1-2 3. Totals 24 2-6 56.
Three-pointers: Otto-Eldred 3 (Manning Splain, Max Splain, Cousins). Aliquippa 6 (Demarkus Walker 2, Qualil Goode, D.J. Walker, Quintin Goode, Gaskins).
