Facing the No. 1-ranked team in the state, one that had already defeated them twice this season, the Chartiers Valley Colts found themselves trailing by 15 points in the second quarter against Montour in Tuesday’s WPIAL Class 5A semifinals.
No problem.
A huge comeback followed, one that has a school with Valley in its name a win away from reaching the WPIAL peak.
Jayden Davis scored a game-high 20 points and No. 4 Chartiers Valley used a big rally to stun No. 1 Montour, 47-44, at Mt. Lebanon.
Chartiers Valley (22-3), which finished second to Montour (23-2) in Section 4 after falling to the Spartans by 6 and 11 points in the regular season, reached its first final since 2021 and will attempt to win its first title since 2015 and seventh overall when it takes on Peters Township 7 p.m. Saturday in the championship at Petersen Events Center.
Montour had won 17 consecutive games and had not lost to a WPIAL team this season, streaks that looked like they would continue when the Spartans took a 28-13 lead midway through the second quarter. But Chartiers Valley, behind 5 points from Davis, ended the half on a 7-2 run to cut its deficit to 30-20 at the half.
“I told them at the half that if we can clean a few things up, we’ll have an opportunity [to come back],” Chartiers Valley coach Corey Dotchin said. “They didn’t get down and they buckled down.”
Did they ever. Behind 3-pointers from Davis and Danny Slizik, Chartiers Valley used an 8-1 run to start the second half to trim the Montour lead to three and then pulled to within one at 38-37 on Slizik’s 3-pointer that beat the third-quarter buzzer. The Colts went to a full-court press in the second half, which gave Montour problems.
Slizik was huge for the Colts, scoring 10 of his 14 points in the second half, including 8 in the third quarter.
“Danny is the voice of our locker room, the leader of our team,” said Dotchin, who is in his first season. “He’s the most unselfish player that I’ve had since I got the job. If he would have scored 0 points and we still had the same outcome that we did, he would have been just as happy.”
Davis then hit a runner with 6:53 left in the fourth that gave Chartiers Valley its first lead, 39-38. Montour star center Ama Sow would hit two free throws a little over a minute later to put Montour back in front, but Davis scored on a turnaround with 3:57 remaining that gave Chartiers Valley a 41-40 lead. Following a Montour turnover, Chartiers Valley gained possession and called a timeout with 3:45 left. The Colts then began to bleed the clock. They burned more than two minutes before freshman Luca Federico broke loose for a layup to extend the lead to 43-40 with 1:35 left.
“The way Montour plays defense, they just put Ama in the paint, so we went with five guards out there and tried to pull him away,” Dotchin said. “We weren’t trying to hold the ball. We wanted them to come out and defend us. We were hoping to open up some driving lanes. Luca was to cheat behind the defense and get the layup.”
A.J. Alston scored on a steal and layup to bring Montour within 43-42 with 43 seconds left, and it then became a free-throw shooting contest. Slizik went 2 of 2, Montour’s Kaleb Platz went 2 of 2, and Davis made a pair with 16 seconds left to make it 47-44. Montour had one final chance, but Alston misfired on a long 3-pointer before time expired.
Sow put forth another strong effort for Montour, finishing with 18 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Colton Straight added 9 and Kaleb Platz 8.
Other Class 5A semifinal
• Dylan Donovan scored 16 of his game-high 22 points after halftime to help No. 6 Peters Township (18-7) defeat No. 10 Mars (14-11), 58-52, in overtime at Moon. Peters Township, which upset No. 3 Uniontown in the quarterfinals, advanced to its second final in three seasons and will now take aim at winning its first title since 2009. Peters Township outscored Mars, 10-4, in the extra period after the teams were tied, 48-48, at the end of regulation. Donovan and Lucas Rost both had 4 points in overtime, with all of Donovan’s coming at the free-throw line. Donovan scored 10 points in the third quarter when Peters Township turned a 2-point halftime deficit into a 3-point lead heading to the fourth quarter. Austen Wroblewski led Mars with 15 points and Austin Campbell added 14. It was another nail-biter for Mars, which won its first two playoff games by 4 and 5 points. The Planets were trying to reach their first final since 2020.
Class 3A semifinals
• No. 1 and two-time defending champion Aliquippa (20-4) jumped to a 20-point halftime lead and rolled to a 66-36 win against No. 4 Bishop Canevin (15-10) at Pine-Richland. Aliquippa, which has won 14 titles (tied with New Castle for most all time), will next try to three-peat for the first time. It was the 13th win in 14 games for Aliquippa, which is unbeaten against Class 3A competition this season. Josh Pratt scored 16 of his team-high 23 points in the first half for the Quips, who outscored Canevin, 18-4, in the second quarter to go up, 38-18, at the break. The Quips also got 13 points from Jeremiah Pratt and 12 from Qa’lil Goode. Drew Allen led Canevin with 23 points. Only four Canevin players scored, and Allen was the only one that finished with more than 5 points. The Crusaders, who had won 8 of 9, were trying to reach their first title game since winning back-to-back championships in 2021 and 2022.
• Drew Cook pumped in 31 points and No. 2 South Allegheny (22-3) put itself a win away from capturing its first title following a 75-53 win against No. 3 Mohawk (19-6) at North Allegheny. South Allegheny, which has not lost to a Class 3A team this season, moved on to its first final since 2021. Cook scored 17 of his points in the first half for the Gladiators, who built on a 38-19 halftime lead by outscoring Mohawk, 27-19, in the third quarter to extend their lead to 27 points. Cam Epps added 21 points and Camden Lewis 12 for the Gladiators, who won for the ninth time in their last 10 games. Bobby Fadden led Mohawk with 21 points and Drew Wrona tacked on 14. The Warriors lost in the semifinals for the second year in a row. They were attempting to advance to the final for the first time since winning their only title in 1970.
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.