Standing outside a somber Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic locker room one floor below where his Trojans had suffered an 89-86 overtime loss to bitter-rival Vincentian Academy Jan. 12 at North Allegheny High School, longtime Trojans coach Dave Long sighed.
"We had an answer for just about everything except that last shot," he said. He was referring to a successful 3-point shot from the deep corner by Vincentian senior guard Ian Taylor with 3.2 seconds left in the extra period that gave the Royals the victory and outright possession of first place in Class A, Section 2.
"I didn't think he'd be the hero of the game, but surprise, surprise [he was]," Long continued. "I'm tired of giving the fans a good game. I'd like to give them a good game and end up on top [of the Royals] one of these times."
In the past three meetings between the two rivals, Vincentian has won all three games by identical three-point margins.
"I was happy with the way our kids hustled," he said.
Long would have liked to have had a signature win to end the first half of the section season.
As it was, though, the Trojans evened their overall record at 7-7 with a 54-39 road victory against St. Joseph that avenged a 66-62 loss to the Spartans on Dec. 12.
North Catholic has played well against section rivals. The Trojans headed into Tuesday's home game with Springdale with a 6-2 section record.
They've had tough sledding outside of section play with losses to Mars, Penn Hills, Norwin, Brashear and Seneca Valley.
But there is plenty of hope for this team as its highest-profile victory was a 71-69 triumph against Class AAAA member Gateway in the game that opened the Trojans' new era at their new campus in Cranberry.
The Trojans have had quality guards throughout their history, but they are benefiting from two solid inside players this season, 6-5 senior forward Vince LeGrande and 6-3 junior forward Isaiah Harvin.
"Vince LeGrande reminds me a lot of Dom Robb, who played for us last year," Long said. "They both have what I call 'piano fingers' where they have to squeeze that ball a little stronger and maintain possession," he said. "In all fairness to them, the other team recognizes that [LeGrande and Harvin] are a force on the floor and they come after them."
LeGrande is averaging 16 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. Harvin is averaging just 6.3 points per game, but he has played strong lately scoring 17 points against Vincentian and 13 against St. Joseph.
The Trojans' other top scorers are Timon Gribbin, a 5-10 senior guard who is averaging 9.3 points and 3.1 assists per game, and Tristan Newcamp, a 6-1 junior guard who is averaging 8.8 points and is the team's lockdown defender.
"He has been a welcome addition to the program," Long said of Harvin who played last season at The Linsly School, a private school in Wheeling, W.Va. "He hasn't gotten the minutes he would have liked early on, but he's gaining confidence and is contributing to the team."
Long said the team has made a lot of progress since that early loss to St. Joseph.
"We're taking defense a little more seriously than we did before," he said. "It was fun going up against St. Joe's, and it will be fun to play Vincentian again. Your goal is to win the game, and we didn't accomplish that [against Vincentian]. Recently, they have achieved that objective and they've beaten us. I keep explaining to our kids there are no moral victories in a loss. But I won't have any trouble getting our guys ready for the next game with Vincentian, and that's a tribute to the Vincentian coaches and the players they have on their team."
Round two against the Royals is set for Feb. 6 at the Trojans' gym.
First Published: January 22, 2015, 5:00 a.m.