USC Boys Basketball Wraps Season With Win

In the closing minutes of a 51-38 win against Chartiers Valley Saturday afternoon, Upper St. Clair boys' basketball head coach Danny Holzer greeted and hugged each of his seniors, center Garrett DelRe, forward Harris Beck and guard/forward Steve Limberiou, as they came off the floor during Senior Night, their final home game.

Limberiou led all scorers with 19 as the Panthers (15-7, 10-4) swept the season series from the visiting Colts (16-5, 10-4) in their season finale to finish second in Section 4 of the WPIAL Class AAAA and secure a playoff spot.

More so, they were able to get the foul taste of a 58-30 loss to Mt. Lebanon the night before out of their mouths. But similar to following blowout losses earlier in the season to Greensburg Central Catholic and Shaler, Upper St. Clair stepped up with an impressive victory to right the ship, playing less than 24 hours after their previous game.

"We had a lot to show everyone after that beating we took [Friday], to lose by 20-plus points," DelRe said. "We as a team, we'll usually talk amongst ourselves after the game. We'll let each other know that stuff like that is unacceptable in our program."

"I think [the players] take it hard because they care," Holzer said. "[The coaches] take it hard because we have a lot of pride in our program.

"It's a little bit of them getting together and us getting after them."

Senior guard Steve Burda led Chartiers Valley with 13 points as the Colts played their second game without their leading scorer, senior forward Matt Noszka, who is suspended from the team indefinitely for disciplinary reasons.

Limberiou scored eight in the first quarter with one of the three 3-pointers the Panthers converted in the period. The others were by juniors Derik Young and Dakota Conwell, who hit one in each period to finish with 18 points.

"Once we get [Limberiou] going, then team's have to focus on him and it gives other guys opportunities to make plays," Holzer said. 

"Obviously Char Valley plays a way more open style of basketball, and you get way more opportunities," Limberiou said. "I thought [my teammates] did a good job of setting screens to get me open and I just went from there."

After trailing 14-11 at the start of the second, Chartiers Valley scored on a layup by Spencer Casson and two free throws by Zach Wallacce to take a 15-14 lead, their first lead of the game.

But Limberiou answered with a fast break layup and Conwell hit a 3-pointer with 5:49 left to regain the lead for the Panthers, and they went into the half with a 26-25 advantage.

"We came out with a lot of intensity," DelRe said. We turned it up from the opening tip and we didn't let up until the final buzzer. That was our goal."

USC came out firing in the second half with a 13-2 run before Chartiers Valley called time out with a 39-27 deficit and 2:41 left in the third period. Conwell led the assault with seven points during that span.

"It's amazing how in two big games -- at Mt. Lebanon and [Saturday] -- he has played tremendous," Holzer said of Conwell, who shot 4-of-6 from behind the arc.

By the time the game came to a close, Upper St. Clair had outscored their opponent, 25-14 in the final two periods, and the Colts never came within single digits again. 

"They really got after it," Holzer said about the defensive effort. "If we hadn't played this well we might not have won, so we really picked it up on the defensive side and we knew what we needed to do."

With their regular season now concluded the Panthers must now wait until the WPIAL playoff pairings meeting on Tuesday to discover their first-round opponent.

But regardless of whom they face, both coach and players agree that it will take a complete team effort to make a deep run.

"If the team comes together with all guys contributing on both sides of the floor, we've got a chance to make some noise," Holzer said.

"If we play like a team we should go far," Beck said. "We've done well lately, so I expect us to do well in the playoffs."

"When we get contributions from all the other guys we feel like we're a tough team to beat," Limberiou said. "I think we've proved that throughout the year."