Moon featured one of the stingiest defenses in its class when it won the WPIAL Class 5A championship a season ago.
“Last year especially, we took pride in our defense,” senior Michael Santicola said, “and we tried to translate that over here to this year.”
That pride certainly showed Sunday as the Tigers used an excellent defensive performance to hand South Fayette its first loss of the season.
Moon limited South Fayette to just three points in the third quarter on its way to a 46-29 win in the second annual Pittsburgh Holiday Hoops Classic at PPG Paints Arena.
Santicola scored a game-high 12 points for Moon (5-2), which bounced back from a 60-44 loss to Chartiers Valley in its home and section opener on Friday.
“We were rough on Friday night, so we were hungry,” Moon coach Gino Palmosina said. “We came out slow in the first quarter, but at the end of the day our bread and butter is our defense. I felt like we kept the ball out of the middle and got a hand out on the shooters.”
Both teams actually came out slow, with South Fayette holding an 8-4 lead after one quarter. Moon, though, used a second-quarter surge to take a 19-16 halftime lead before clamping down defensively on the Lions in the third quarter. Moon outscored South Fayette, 15-3, in the third to take a commanding 34-19 lead heading to the fourth. South Fayette’s only points of the third quarter came on a Tyson Wright free throw and a Gavin Orosz bucket with 1:28 left.
“We went back to our principles. A little more effort. A little more attention to detail,” Palmosina said.
Braeden Stuart added 10 points and Amir Turner had nine for Moon, which was a section rival of South Fayette the previous two seasons.
South Fayette (6-1) had scored 57 points in its previous six games and the 29 it scored Sunday were its fewest since the 2020-21 season. Wright and Orosz led the way with six points apiece.
Fox Chapel rallies for OT win
A year after losing on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer in the inaugural Pittsburgh Holiday Hoops Classic, Fox Chapel returned and played in another down-to-the-wire contest.
This time, though, the Foxes came out on top.
Fox Chapel (7-1) rallied from five points down late in regulation to force overtime and went on to defeat Peters Township (6-2), 59-50, in the final game of the day.
Fox Chapel trailed, 44-39, in regulation before John Rehak’s three-point play with 18 seconds left cut the deficit to two. The Foxes then forced a turnover on the inbounds pass and Caden Kaiser banked in a shot with 12 seconds left to tie the score. Mickey Vaccarello had an opportunity to put Peters Township back ahead but missed two free throws with 3.2 seconds left.
“We were in some foul trouble and we kept saying ‘One possession at a time. A lot of time left,’” Fox Chapel coach Zach Skrinjar said. “We had a very good game plan of what we were looking to do with the time that we had. And I think just keeping composure and executing. Everyone always talks about executing offense. We look to execute some stuff on defense, and that’s really what got us back into it.”
It was all Fox Chapel in overtime, with the Foxes outscoring the Indians, 15-6, in the extra period. Joey McGivney scored five points for the Foxes in overtime, including a three-point play that put them ahead for good.
Kaiser led Fox Chapel with 21 points and Asher White had 11, while Dylan Donovan paced Peters Township with 15 points and Vaccarello chipped in 13.
“I could just see in their eyes, they weren’t going to lose that game,” Skrinjar said. “You get that feeling as a coach sometimes. They were just extra locked in and kind of felt like, ‘We played our way into a second opportunity and we’re not going to let it go to waste.’”
Montour rolls past Lincoln Park
Montour already owned wins against the defending WPIAL Class 6A champion and the reigning City League champion.
The Spartans have a win against last season’s WPIAL and PIAA Class 4A champ on their resume now, as well.
Ama Sow put forth another dominant effort and Montour remained unbeaten following a 76-37 mercy-rule win against Lincoln Park in a Class 5A Section 4 game.
Montour (6-0, 3-0) thumped Lincoln Park by 39 points a few days after hammering fellow section foe Blackhawk by 42. It was the fourth loss in five games for Lincoln Park (2-5, 0-2), a perennial power which lost all of its starters from last year’s team and is very young this season.
“We kind of hoped for that,” Montour coach Bill Minear said of the result. “They knocked us out of the playoffs a couple of years.”
On Sunday, Montour knocked Lincoln Park out of the game early. The Spartans led, 25-11, after eight minutes of play and held a 45-21 lead at the half.
Sow, a 6-foot-11 senior who signed with UT Martin, finished with a season-high 28 points to go along with 20 rebounds and five blocks. A few of Sow’s buckets came on thunderous dunks.
“I think you got to see everything he could do,” Minear said. “Bring the ball up the court, get assists, hit the 3, post up, rebound. He did everything.”
Kaleb Platz added 15 points and Colton Straight 13 for Montour, while freshman Dionte Henry scored 12 to lead Lincoln Park.
Fox Chapel girls edge Kiski Area
At 5 feet 9, Natalia Schaffer isn’t particularly tall when it comes to Class 5A post players, but this senior at Fox Chapel once again played taller than her height indicates Sunday.
Schaffer scored a game-high 24 points to lead Fox Chapel (5-3) to a 44-39 non-section win against Kiski Area (6-3).
Schaffer, Fox Chapel’s leading scorer on the season, did most of her work down low, scoring in the paint and on putbacks against a taller Kiski Area team. She also regularly got to the free-throw line, where she finished 11 of 12.
“Being able to jump and get that rebound is a huge part of the game,” Schaffer said.
Fox Chapel led by five points at the half and saw its lead grow to eight in the third quarter. But Kiski Area rallied to take a 35-34 lead on Gianna DeVito’s basket with 5:58 left in the fourth. Schaffer, though, answered to quickly help the Foxes retake the lead while igniting a 5-0 run that gave them a 39-35 advantage with 3:20 left to play.
Schaffer and Bella Urso (13 points) combined to score all but seven of Fox Chapel’s points. Maddie Joyce (12 points) was the only Kiski Area player to score in double figures.
“As a senior, it was great to get a chance like this and finally come out here,” Schaffer said. “It was fun.”
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.