Update: Tigers WPIAL Playoff Game Delayed

The Moon varsity boys basketball team will take on the Butler Golden Tornado at 7 p.m. Thursday at North Allegheny High School in the first round of the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League playoffs.

The game was originally slated to take place Wednesday night, but the WPIAL delayed all playoff games by one day because of inclement weather. Games scheduled for tonight have been moved to Wednesday.

The Tigers (15-7) nabbed the fourth and final playoff spot in Class AAAA Section 4, ending a one-year hiatus from postseason action.

“We’re excited for the opportunity,” Tigers head coach Jeff Ackerman said. “There’s a lot of work between now and tipoff, but we’re eager to get things going.”

Led by a group of seniors, including 6-foot-4-inch Aaron Johnson, the team’s leading scorer with a 24.3 PPG average, the Tigers will go for their first WPIAL championship since 2006. They enter as the No. 8 seed, joined by fellow Section 4 opponents Mt. Lebanon (No. 2), Upper St. Clair (No. 5) and Chartiers Valley (No. 6) in a field that is considered by many to be wide open.

This year, the Tigers finished their first season in Class AAAA with a 7-7 conference record. They were, however, 1-5 against conference opponents Chartiers Valley, Upper St. Clair and Mt. Lebanon.

Mt. Lebanon (20-2), the defending WPIAL Class AAAA Champions, finished atop the Section 4 standings this season and enters the tournament as the No. 2 ranked team in AAAA. Shaler (21-1) is ranked No. 1.

“There’s a lot of history in this section,” Ackerman said, acknowledging that six of the last seven AAAA champions came from Section 4. “Would I be surprised is anybody in the top nine wins it? I doubt it.”