Mustangs are known for covering a lot of ground very quickly, but that has not been the case for the Laurel Highlands Mustangs in the WPIAL playoffs over the years.
Getting to the postseason hasn’t been a problem. Advancing past the first round has.
That’s one of the reasons that made Tuesday’s victory against Highlands so significant. With the 49-48 Class 5A first-round win, Laurel Highlands moved into the WPIAL quarterfinals for the first time since 2007 and for only the third time in the past 30 years. They had lost in the preliminary round or first round 17 times since 1987.
It’s a win that its star player thinks may have opened some eyes, as the school located about 55 miles southeast of Pittsburgh beat a team that last season reached the WPIAL final and PIAA quarterfinals.
“I think it does, especially being from the area in Pennsylvania where we’re from and the section we’re in. I don’t think we got a lot of respect,” Bryce Laskey said.
Laurel Highlands (18-5) finished as the runner-up to McKeesport in Section 1, and McKeesport is the only team that has defeated the Mustangs in their past 13 games. Winners of eight in a row, the Mustangs can light up the scoreboard. They average 70.9 points per game and have a star in Laskey, a 6-foot-3 junior guard who averages 24.2 points a game. Laskey accounted for all 14 of the Mustangs’ fourth-quarter points against Highlands, and drained the tying and go-ahead free throws with 13.7 seconds left. He finished with a game-high 26 points. The Mustangs trailed by 10 at the half.
“I think anytime you get a playoff win against a quality team, that’s big,” Laurel Highlands coach Rick Hauger said. “We’ve been in the preliminary round the last couple of years. We did get in and played Mars [in the first round] both times. They took care of us pretty easily. I think we’re a little bit different type of team. We’re able to do a little bit more offensively maybe in some ways and our defense has improved a lot. And obviously when you win in the fashion that we won, that can really be a momentum changer for you.”
Guess who Laurel Highlands gets in tonight’s quarterfinals? That’s right, Mars yet again. Mars (14-8) is the No. 1 seed and features standout junior Robby Carmody. The Planets throttled Laurel Highlands, 90-54, in 2015 and 83-35 last season.
Said Hauger: “They present as big of a challenge as you’re going to find in 5A.”
Neshannock
You would have a hard time finding a more clutch player than Neshannock’s Ean Oprean, who has saved his team’s season twice in the past few weeks.
Oprean led Neshannock to victory by scoring a career-high 43 points in a win-or-go-home showdown at Laurel in the 2A Section 3 finale for both teams. Oprean then made two free throws with less than a second left to help Neshannock edge California, 46-45, in a first-round game Tuesday.
What was going through Oprean’s head as he stood at the line?
“Just a clear gym. Me and the hoop and the ball and shooting by myself. No pressure. I don’t let the hype and the crowd get to me,” said Oprean, a 6-foot senior guard who averages 23.5 points a game.
Neshannock (16-7) now must face No. 1 Greensburg Central Catholic (22-0) in tonight’s quarterfinals. The Centurions are the WPIAL’s only remaining undefeated team.
“We’re going to have to play our best game ever to beat those guys,” Oprean said.
Sewickley Academy
When Sewickley Academy (17-4) takes on Jeannette (12-11) in a 2A quarterfinal, it will be a rematch of one of the most thrilling games of last year’s playoffs. Nate Ridgeway, then a freshman, scored on a putback just before the buzzer to give Sewickley Academy a 69-68 win in the 1A semifinals.
Ridgeway could once again play a big factor in the game. He averages a team-high 17.8 points, which ranks him among the WPIAL’s top sophomore scorers. He scored 27 points in Sewickley Academy’s previous game, an 88-80 double-overtime win against Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
First Published: February 24, 2017, 5:00 a.m.
