USC Boys Basketball Runs and Guns To First Round Victory

The Upper St. Clair boys' basketball team entered the first round of the WPIAL playoffs Saturday afternoon eager to show what kind of team they could be if they played at their full potential.

The fans at Baldwin High School got a bird's-eye view of that full potential as three USC players scored in double figures in a 70-52 victory over Franklin Regional.

Senior guard/forward Steve Limberiou matched Franklin Regional's Sammy Ayasso for a game-high 18 points, and juniors Dakota Conwell and Derik Young added 13 and 12, respectively.

Limberiou and Conwell combined for seven of the team's 11 3-pointers made in the game, and four different players each knocked one down from behind the arc in the first quarter.

"We really spread it out and a lot of guys made shots early," head coach Danny Holzer said. "We really wanted to get the ball inside, but it just so happened the perimeter was open and we took advantage of it."

Franklin Regional kept pace and trailed by only five at the end of the first, and the Upper St. Clair coaching staff expressed their displeasure with the team's defensive effort.

But then the Panthers stepped it up and out-scored their opponent -- also nicknamed the Panthers -- 19-4, to take a 43-23 lead at halftime.

"We really emphasized that between the first and second periods," Holzer said. "We've got to guard them because they can score a lot points and once we did that it really made the difference."

By halftime Limberiou and Conwell had already reached double digits on the scoresheet and six players different players had made at least one field goal.

"We weren't playing well defensively in the first quarter," Holzer said. "Once we got the defense settled down the shooting just took over."

Even more familiar than the shared nickname between the two teams was the face on the other side of the scorer's table: Franklin Regional's head coach is former Duquesne University standout Brad Midgely, who was an assistant at USC for three years under Holzer.

 "The sky is the limit for him," Holzer said. "He's a good basketball guy and what he's doing with those young guys at Franklin Regional is really, really good. 

"It was hard [coaching against him] because I like that guy so much. It's tough, but you have to put that aside for 32 minutes."

Upper St. Clair cruised the rest of the way with a 27-19 scoring advantage in the second half, and by the time the starters came out with 3:11 remaining in the game they had accounted for 54 points.

"That's why having a complete team is so important this time of year," Holzer said of his team's offensive output. "We've been spreading it around and lately we've been shooting the ball pretty well."

The Panthers will face fourth-seeded Gateway, who beat Penn-Trafford, 52-34 Saturday afternoon. They will meet on Feb. 26 at a time and location yet to be determined.