USC Boys' Basketball Falls In State Playoffs

As a result of Gateway, the team who beat Upper St. Clair in the WPIAL AAAA quarterfinals, winning the championship game, it gave Upper St. Clair new life as District 7's fifth qualifier for the PIAA tournament.

Unfortunately, the opportunity for to play another day wasn't taken advantage of as the Panthers suffered an unceremonious loss at home to McDowell (Erie, Pa.), 53-38, Tuesday night.

Steve Limberiou scored a game-high 23 points for the Panthers while playing his final high school game on his home floor, but they struggled to get secondary scoring from the rest of the team. No other Upper St. Clair player added more than four points.

Zach Mayr scored 17 for McDowell and Martin Oduho added 11 for McDowell as the Trojans controlled the pace of the game after the first quarter ended in a 12-12 tie. 

A Limberiou jumper with 4:28 left in the second quarter gave the Panthers a 19-18 lead, but it was the last lead they would hold. Mayr answered with two free throws for McDowell to spark an 8-0 run and the Trojans held a 26-19 lead at the half.

Upper St. Clair cut their deficit to seven on two free throws by Limberiou early in the third quarter, but Oduho's 3-pointer with 5:30 left in the third quarter made it 34-21, and McDowell cruised the rest of the way.

The Panthers were outscored, 27-19, in the second half.

Head coach Danny Holzer emptied his bench with two minutes remaining, greeting his seniors -- Limberiou, center Garrett DelRe and forward Harris Beck -- with hugs and pats on the back.

The Panthers may have come to the end of the road, but they built quite a scrapbook of memories along the way: a nine-game section winning streak to battle back into a tie for second place at the end of the regular season, a , a in overtime and having their despite playing in the area's toughest section. 

McDowell will move on to face Gateway in the next round of the state playoffs Saturday evening at Norwin.