High School Basketball playoffs:
–Pine-Richland defeated Butler 72-61 Saturday to win the WPIAL boys 6-A championship. Phil Jurkovec led the Rams with 21 points. Ethan Morton led Butler with 17 points. Both teams move into the PIAA tournament Saturday. Butler will face Canon-McMillan Saturday at 3:30pm. The game will be played at North Allegheny high school. (and can be heard on WBUT 1050am). Pine-Richland gets Latrobe at N.A at 6pm.
–The Mars boys will meet Hampton in the Class 5-A state opener Friday. The game will be played at North Allegheny high school at 6pm.
–The Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic girls joined the boys team as WPIAL champions, with a 65-36 victory over Blackhawk Friday in the 4-A championship. Sam Breen led the Lady Trojans with 34 points. North Catholic improved to 23-2 overall and will face Keystone Oaks in the first round of the PIAA playoffs Friday at Gateway high school. Game time is 6pm.
–In the PIAA 5-A girls first round: Mars will meet Erie Central Tech Saturday at the Prep-Villa Center in Erie. Tip-off is 3pm.
–Girls 3-A Saturday: Karns City will face Seneca at Clarion University. Tip-off is 4:30pm.
–The AC Valley girls defeated Otto-Eldred 59-47 Friday in the District-9 1-A consolation game. Ellie Thompson scored 25 points to lead the Lady Falcons, who will meet District-6 champion Bishop Carroll in the opening round of the PIAA tournament Saturday. Tip-off is 4pm at Central Cambria high school.
–The Grove City boys fell to Stong Vincent 66-39 in the District-10 4-A championship Friday. They will meet Central Valley at Slippery Rock University Saturday at 4:30pm. (In another 4-A opener: New Castle will meet Sharon at Butler high school Saturday at 3pm.)
–In 3-A: Karns City boys will face Erie First Christian at Clarion University Friday at 5pm.
–Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic will meet Bellwood-Antis at Gateway high school Friday at 7:30pm.
–Knoch high school’s John Wilson won the WPIAL 2-A championship in the 100-breaststroke Friday. The Knoch boys finished third overall at meet.
–Butler’s Laura Goettler finished runner-up in the 100 breaststroke in the 3-A championships.
–Knoch’s Brooke Zubowski was third in the 2-A 100 breaststroke.
The PIAA championships will be held March 17th and 18th at Bucknell University.
WPIAL Wrestling championships:
–Seneca Valley’s Louie Newell was runner-up in the 113lb class.
–Seneca Valley’s Louie Newell was runner-up in the 113lb class.
–Butler’s Caleb Baxter finished third in the 160lb class.
–The Penguins Cup high school hockey playoffs begin tonight. In a 2-A play-in round game: Mars wil meet Latrobe at Kirk Nevin Arena in Greensburg at 7:15pm.
–In 1-A: Freeport will meet Thomas Jefferson at the Rostraver Ice Garden at 7:15pm.
(Butler and Seneca Valley play later this week)
–The Robert Morris women’s basketball team defeated Fairleigh Dickinson 68-35 Sunday to reach the semi-finals of the Northeast Conference tournament for the seventh consecutive year. The Colonials will face Central Connecticut Wednesday at 7pm.
The Slippery Rock University baseball team split a doubleheader against Kutztown University Sundayafternoon at the Hartford Sports Complex in Bel Air, Maryland.
Slippery Rock won game one, 9-7, before dropping the nightcap to the Golden Bears in extra innings, 5-1. SRU exits the second weekend of its 2017 season with an overall record of 3-4. Slippery Rock will play six game in four days at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina March 11-14.