SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Malik Lampkins Rudolph scored 17 points and Elijah Harden 15 as Kennedy Catholic powered past Rocky Grove, 52-38 for the District 10 Class 2A championship.
The win was the third this season for the Golden Eagles over the Orioles and clinched the 29th District 10 title in program history.
Kennedy Catholic led by just three, 14-11 after the first quarter, but extended that lead to 27-17 at halftime.
Harden scored nine points in the first half, while Lampkins-Rudolph put up 11 in the second half to keep the Orioles at bay.
They did so despite the best efforts of Rocky Grove’s Issac Clayton and D’Andre Whitman. Clayton, the senior 1,000-point scorer, connected for 17 points, while Whitman added 16.
Gio Magestro chipped in with eight points for the Golden Eagles.
KC will draw the No. 6 team from the WPIAL (to be determined), while Rocky Grove will get the No. 4 team from the WPIAL (to be determined).
THIRD-PLACE
(6) WEST MIDDLESEX 50, (4) CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS 43
MEADVILLE, Pa. – West Middlesex led from start-to-finish, winning a 50-43 battle with Cambridge Springs in the third-place game.
The Big Reds led throughout, but never by more than nine, and that came with just over a minute to play on a free-throw by Richie Preston that made it 47-38.
Middlesex put three players in double figures, led by 12 from Gio Rococi, while Preston and Logan Shrawder had 11 each.
A layup from Cambridge Springs’ Parker Schmidt got the Blue Devils within one, 37-36 with just over four minutes to play, but West Middlesex followed with back-to-back jumper from Preston and Shrawder.
Nathan Held led the Blue Devils with 14 points, while Schmidt had 10, Josh Reisnauer eight and Ethan Counasse seven.
With the win, West Middlesex will draw the WPIAL runner-up (either Fort Cherry or OLSH), while Cambridge Springs gets District 9 champion Ridgway in the first round of the PIAA playoffs on Wednesday (March 9).
