CM Boys Close Out Season With Win

MCMURRAY—The playoff hopes of the Canon-McMillan Big Macs and the Peters Township Indians had long since faded before the two teams met on Friday night. In fact, a quick glance at the WPIAL Class AAAA Section 4 standings was enough to tell that, statistically speaking, this game meant nothing.

The only thing was, the Big Macs and Indians refused to play accordingly.

In a fast-paced, and sometimes bordering on out of control game, Canon-McMillan found a way to hang on and close out its season with a 61-54 win over Peters Township.

The Big Macs (9-13, 5-9)placed three players in double figures. Sophomore Brett Haney led all scorers with 17 points, while Canon-McMillan seniors Justin Robinson and Dylan Berger kicked in 14 and 12 points respectively.

Trent McPherson’s 14 points were best among the Indians (6-15, 3-11), who also had Dakota Norton contribute 13 points of his own.

“I’m proud of both teams,” Canon-McMillan coach Rick Bell said. “We had two teams who were playing out the season, but didn’t play like it.”

Both teams began the year with playoff expectations. However, Peters Township could never quite find its footing in section play, and a five-game section losing streak in January was enough to derail the Big Macs’ WPIAL hopes.

Yet, when the two teams met last night, emotions ran hot and high as though a playoff berth were on the line.

“We basically hate each other,” Berger said of the rivalry between the two schools, which only intensified when Peters Township beat the Big Macs by a point in their first meeting this year.

And early on, it seemed as though the Indians would complete the season sweep of Canon-McMillan, as the Peters Township players began shooting and knocking down 3-point shots with a good amount of success throughout most of the evening—penetrating the Big Macs’ defense with a drive inside before kicking it back out to an open shooter.

“We want to shoot 30 threes a game,” said Indians coach Gary Goga, whose team would go on to shoot 35 of them.

Added Bell: “It’s very difficult [to play Peters Township]. You have to be very disciplined defensively.

They break you down off the dribble and you have to help. And when you leave your man to help, that’s when they beat you.”

It was a strategy that worked well enough for the Indians in the first half, though their three-for-all mentality still left them trailing the consistent Big Macs 29-24 at halftime.

But, as Berger said of Peters Township, “No lead is safe with them, because they can catch fire.”

And that’s just what the Indians did in the third quarter—hitting on 5-of-9 from beyond the arc to cut Canon-McMillan's lead to two entering the final period of play.

But then the Big Macs got lucky in the unlikeliest of ways.

With foul after foul stacking up on his standout players, Bell made the move to a 2-3 zone in the fourth quarter. And, given that the Indians were playing without injured Gabe Pritz, their best man in the high post, Bell’s defensive switch had the unintended effect of stymieing Peters Townships’ long-range shooting.

“I’m not going to tell you that it was ingenious coaching strategy,” Bell said. “It was out of necessity.”

But it worked nonetheless.

And so, behind steady contributions from Haney, Berger, Kenyassa Brown and Kionte Davis, the Big Macs pulled away from the Indians—who made only two of their nine 3-point shots in the fourth quarter.

The victory was particularly sweet for the Canon-McMillan seniors, who were happy to close out their high school careers on a high note.

“It meant a lot, more than any other game,” Berger said. “I have been playing with these kids since I was about five, so it’s good to go out with a win.”

He continued, “My last memory is going to be winning with them.”

The Big Macs will lose six seniors to graduation from their current roster, including what can simply be referred to as their “Big Three” in Berger, Davis and Robinson.

It’s a good bit of turnover, but those seniors were a big reason that Canon-McMillan began the season with high hopes in the first place. And for Bell, at least, their departure brings a mixed bag of emotions.

“We’re disappointed. I’m not going to lie about that. I’m not ashamed of that,” Bell said. “I place expectations on myself and on the people I work with. And when you place expectations on yourself and then you fall short of your goals you’re disappointed.”

Bell continued, “But I’m very proud of the fact that we’ve made basketball matter at Canon-McMillan. "And I know that it matters, because people are disappointed.

“But I promise you this. Next year, we’re going to show up and we’re going to play hard.”