CLARION, Pa. – Charlie Breindel and Adam Straub had just led the Elk County Catholic Crusaders into the PIAA Class 1A boys’ semifinals with a 52-45 overtime win over Union (New Castle) Tuesday at Clarion University’s Tippin Gym.
But the ECC starters – one a senior and one a junior – were still in disbelief when interviewed separately after the game.
“It feels amazing,” the senior Breindel, who again was the leader of the pack with 24 points, said. “I am at a loss for words. You are going to get some short answers here for sure.”
Adam Straub, a junior, who scored eight of his 10 points in the third quarter and was also a force on the defensive end with multiple blocked shots, was the same way.
“It’s awesome,” Adam Straub said while shaking his head in disbelief. “I can’t describe it.”
And it might be for good reason.
After all, it was just 24 days ago D9 champion ECC (25-5) looked like a team that was going to struggle in the postseason after a 44-23 loss to Ridgway in the AML Championship game.
But six straight wins have made that loss seem like a distant memory.
Well, to most people. But not head coach Aaron Straub, who was quick to point to that loss and a 46-41 loss at DuBois Central Catholic Jan. 7 as the reason why the Crusaders are playing deep into March.
“I think you just got back to those two losses we had that I think really helped turn our season around,” Aaron Straub said. “DuBois Central down there where they sort of beat us up a little bit, and the AML Championship where we got punched right in the nose. I think our schedule certainly prepared us for games like tonight.”
ECC got punched in the nose Tuesday night.
Union (New Castle), the WPIAL runner-up who finished 24-4, looked unstoppable in the game’s early moments scoring the first seven points and leading by as many as 11, 13-4, in the first quarter before taking an 18-8 lead at the end of the quarter.
“We turned it over three out of the first four times (to start the game),” Aaron Straub said. “We really looked shaky. I don’t know why that was. And they were able to put on a lot of really good pressure. When you don’t get shots, you can’t make points.”
The Scotties made shots early going 6 of 10, while ECC was 3 of 8 in the first quarter leading to the 10-point deficit.
But despite being down 10, Aaron Straub felt it could have been worse.
“You know what, 18-8 is a whole lot better than 18-4 or 18-2,” Aaron Straub said. “We were able to right it a little bit when we didn’t get off to the start we wanted to get off too.”
The script and the game completely flipped in the second quarter.
The Crusaders made 5 of 6 shots from the field while Union (New Castle) was 1 of 10 from the floor in the second quarter.
That one made basket from Mark Stanley came with 1:20 left in the half and tied the game at 21 after ECC had started the quarter on a 13-2 run that included seven points from Breindel.
“Coach talks about being resilient,” Breindel said. “We showed it last game. We showed it against DuBois earlier in the year. We didn’t come out strong, and we had to battle back. It just came down to resilience, and that is what we have.”
ECC led 23-21 at the half following a pair of Breindel free throws with 17 seconds left in the half, and then got five straight points from Adam Straub out of halftime to build its biggest lead of the game, 28-21, 1:11 into the second half.
“Anybody can take over,” Adam Straub said. “We have all offensive players. If we need a bucket, we can turn to any one of us.”
Watch Adam Straub’s postgame interview
Union (New Castle) didn’t go away going on a 7-0 spurt to tie the game at 28 on a bucket by Matthews Stanley with 3:13 to play in the third quarter.
That was part of a bigger 11-3 run by the Scotties (ECC’s only basket was a Straub three that answered the Stanley game-tying basket) that put Union (New Castle) ahead 32-31 on a Mark Stanley basket with 30.8 seconds left.
But the momentum was short-lived, as Jordan Wasko hit a 3-pointer at the third-quarter horn to put ECC ahead, 34-32, going to the fourth quarter.
The Crusader lead then stayed between two and four points for a majority of the fourth quarter with ECC going ahead 40-36 on two Breindel charity shots with 2:25 to go.
But a rare mistake by ECC – Luke Jansen short-armed a sure-fire layup on a fastbreak with 1:38 to go that would have put the Crusaders up six – gave the Scotties life.
Peyton Lombardo came down and drilled a 3-pointer, his third of the game but first since the first quarter to make it a one-point contest, 40-39, with 1:21 to go in regulation.
Breindel then split a pair of free throws with 1:15 left to make it 41-39.
Matthew Stanley answered with a basket at the one-minute mark to tie the game at 41.
ECC then held for the last shot taking a timeout with 13.3 seconds left.
Near disaster struck on the inbounds, as Kaden Fishge knocked the ball away. But Breindel tracked it down in the backcourt and called timeout.
With eight seconds left, the Crusaders got the ball to Breindel, but his step-under shot at the horn was a little strong sending the game to overtime.
“We had a lot of opportunities to not put it into overtime,” Breindel said. “But it got there. We just had to stay calm. It is hard to do. But we have been there. We have been to overtime probably like four or five times, all with great teams. Union is a great team. We just had to stay calm and keep pushing.”
ECC got the early lead in overtime when Michael Jacobs, who had two points all game, took a feed from Breindel to give the Crusaders a 43-41 advantage.
Matthew Stanley answered on the other end to tie the game at 43 with 3:19 to play before ECC let its free-throw shooting decide the game.
The Crusaders went 8 of 9 from the line in the final 3:10 hitting the final eight after Wasko missed his first of a two-shot foul with 3:10 to play.
Breindel was the main man going 6 of 6 in overtime including the last four with no one on the line after Union (New Castle) head coach Mark Stanley Sr. refused to put a player into the game after Matthew Stanley, his son, fouled out with 6.6 seconds left leading to a technical foul.
Breindel, who was getting two shots anyhow on the Matthew Stanley foul, said the technical situation made things a lot easier.
“We always say as coaches don’t feel pressure,” Breindel said. “Pressure is an opportunity. I got the opportunity to shoot one at the end (of regulation) and missed. So that was my opportunity to redeem myself. Four-for-four is not so bad.”
Watch Breindel’s full postgame interview
ECC was great from the line in the game going 20 of 24 including 14 of 18 in the fourth quarter and overtime combined.
And while some might look at the discrepancy in free throws in a negative light – Union (New Castle) was 7 of 10 from the line – it needs to be pointed out that six of the eight shot in the fourth quarter by ECC came when it was protecting a lead in the final 3:14 and eight of the 10 in overtime came in the final 1:31 with ECC again protecting the lead forcing the Scotties to foul.
Wasko and Straub each added 10 points for ECC with Straub also pulling down eight rebounds.
Matthew Stanley paced Union (New Castle) with 19 points with Mark Stanley Jr. adding 12 points and seven rebounds and Lombardo 11 points.
ECC will face WPIAL champion Bishop Canevin, a 53-45 winner over WPIAL fourth-place finisher Imani Christian, in the semifinals Friday, March 18, at a site and time to be determined.
It is the fifth trip to the PIAA semifinals for ECC in its history, all under Aaron Straub, and the first since 2009. The Crusaders are 1-3 in semifinal contests winning in 2006 when they won the PIAA 1A title and losing in 1988, 1992, and 2009.
“There has to be a lot of things go well for you to be able to make a run,” Aaron Straub said. “No. 1, you have to stay healthy. We started this year not knowing if we would play 10 games. We took the approach of every practice as a gift, every game as a gift. Make sure that you take advantage of all of those opportunities that you had. There have been a lot of good teams that we have had over the course of the years that have not made it this far. A lot of really good teams. And there have been some teams we weren’t necessarily thinking were going to make it as far as they did and they did. A lot of things have to happen. You make your own breaks. You make your own fortune. You make your own luck. But it sure doesn’t hurt to make (20 out of 24) free throws.”
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 52, UNION (NEW CASTLE) 47, OVERTIME
Score by Quarters
Elk CC 8 15 11 7 11 – 52
Union 18 3 11 9 4 – 47
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC – 52
Jordan Wasko 3 3-4 10, Luke Jansen 0 0-0 0, Micahel Jacobs 2 0-0 4, Adam Straub 3 2-2 10, Charlie Breindel 4 15-17 24, Colby Nussbaum 2 0-1 4. Totals 14 20-24 52.
UNION (NEW CASTLE) – 47
Matthew Stanley 9 0-0 19, Cam Taylor 0 0-0 0, Kaden Fisher 0 3-4 3, Peyton Lombardo 3 2-4 11, Mark Stanley 5 2-2 12, Braylon Thompson 0 0-0 0, Brennen Porter 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 7-10 45.
Three-pointers: ECC 4 (Straub 2, Breindel, Wasko). Union-NC 4 (Lombardo 3, Matthew Stanley).
