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BG overcomes 13-point deficit to reach final four

Photo for the Mirror by Chuck Meyers Bishop Guilfoyle’s Luke Ruggery, coach Chris Drenning and the fans begin to celebrate as time expires at Kiski Area High School on Saturday.

VANDERGRIFT — When Kyi Wright’s half-court heave glanced off the backboard and the final buzzer sounded, it set off a raucous Bishop Guilfoyle celebration with deafening noise filling the Kiski Area High School gymnasium with fans and students all over the court.

With the 55-52 victory over District 10 champion Farrell Saturday, BG clinched a trip to the PIAA Class 2A semifinals for the first time.

It was quite the contrast to the scene just minutes earlier, when the Marauders trailed by 13 in the third quarter in a mostly silent arena.

“This is unimaginable,” Bishop Guilfoyle senior guard Luke Ruggery said. “To get to the final four with our speed and size, with everybody going crazy, it’s just a testament to all the work we’ve put in. We go day in and day out, and that’s how we got here.”

It seemed as though it was Farrell’s day when Eric Hopson tripped and threw a shot up while lying on the floor that hit nothing but net to put the Steelers up 28-15 early in the third quarter.

That’s when Ruggery willed his team back into the game.

The Saint Francis University recruit drilled three 3-pointers in the next two minutes and helped set up two more from Mike Montecalvo and Kyle Ruggery that put the Marauders ahead by two going into the fourth quarter.

“We’ve been down double digits in the second half before,” Ruggery said. “No matter what, we don’t quit. We go hard.”

Tears were streaming from Ruggery’s eyes following the win, but he explained it was an issue with his contacts.

He finished with a game-high 24 points, 11 of which came in the fourth quarter.

The Marauders have won PCIAA (Catholic) state titles but have not advanced this far in PIAA play since 1973-74 when they lost to Midland in the state semifinals.

“I’m really happy for our kids,” Bishop Guilfoyle coach Chris Drenning said. “We’re not the biggest team in the world, but we never quit fighting. It’s an exciting time for our program. We’ve never been here before.”

Bishop Guilfoyle led throughout the fourth quarter, but after leading by as many as six, Farrell had the deficit down to two with Wright driving to the basket.

Moments before the play, Drenning encouraged Will Helton to be strong inside, something he’d been switching Andrew Yanoshak in to do for most of the contest.

Helton responded by stealing the ball, getting fouled and extending the lead back to four with 1:03 to play.

“Will is a tough kid,” Drenning said. “We knew if Wright got it too deep, we wouldn’t be able to stop him from scoring. He spins a lot. We wanted to be there on the spin, and that’s when Will got the steal. We worked on that in practice, and that was a key play.”

Farrell did not go away.

Hopson, who led the Steelers with 17 points, drilled an almost impossible corner 3-pointer with two defenders in his face with 25.7 seconds left that made it a one-point game.

Jessiah Witherspoon made one of two free throws, and BG fouled Wright on the next possession.

The senior missed both free throws to finish 1-of-9 from the line in the game, but Kobe Hilton got the offensive rebound. He made the first but missed the second, and Farrell was forced to foul Luke Ruggery.

Ruggery made both free throws, and Wright’s final attempt was not close.

“(Wright) wants to win, and he does everything he possibly can do to win,” Farrell coach Bobby Stewart said. “Nobody feels worse than he does. He is going to take this loss on himself for missing those foul shots, but we had a great season and a great run.”

The Marauders will play WPIAL champion Our Lady of Sacred Heart, a 68-54 winner over Ridgway, Tuesday with a shot at playing in the state championship game on the line.

Bishop Guilfoyle trailed 22-13 at halftime and shot just 1-of-8 from beyond the arc in the first half.

“We were coming down and making one pass and taking a shot,” Drenning said. “We weren’t running what we like to run. We were settling. I said at halftime, ‘can we act like this is a Friday night in our league?'”

Along with Luke Ruggery, Witherspoon turned it up a notch following the pep talk. He scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half, including a three-point play during a 9-2 third-quarter run that got BG back into the game.

“They executed, we didn’t,” Stewart said. “I thought at times, they outhustled us. They got some extra possessions, and this is what happens.”

BISHOP GUILFOYLE (55): L. Ruggery 6 8-9 24, K. Ruggery 1 0-0 3, Montecalvo 3 0-0 7, Helton 1 2-2 5, Witherspoon 4 6-10 14, Yanoshak 0 2-2 2. Totals — 15 18-23 55

FARRELL (52): Hammonds 1 0-0 2, Wright 5 1-9 11, Hopson 6 4-4 17, B. Hilton 1 1-2 3, K. Hilton 1 1-2 3, King 6 0-1 16, Daniels 0 0-0 0, Harper 0 0-0 0. Totals — 20 7-18 52

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Bishop Guilfoyle 9 4 25 17 — 55

Farrell 10 12 14 16 — 52

3-point goals: Bishop Guilfoyle 7 (L. Ruggery 4, K. Ruggery, Montecalvo, Helton); Farrell 5 (King 4, Hopson).

Officials: Dan Robinson, Jack Zillis, Paul Skirtich.

Records: Bishop Guilfoyle (25-2); Farrell (24-4).

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