North Allegheny’s leading scorer is also one of the WPIAL’s best 3-point shooters, and some have said his sweet shooting stroke compares favorably to his father’s.
Considering Mike Iuzzolino’s dad played in the NBA, that’s a pretty big compliment.
“When you compare my shot to his shot, they are almost identical. I think I have more swag than him, though,” Iuzzolino said, laughing.
Iuzzolino’s father, also named Mike, was a star guard at Altoona High School and Saint Francis (Pa.) before being drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in 1991. He played in the NBA for two seasons and professionally for another decade. The elder Iuzzolino is now an assistant coach at Robert Morris.
Meanwhile, the younger Iuzzolino is a 6-foot-1 junior guard who has helped lead North Allegheny to wins in six of its past eight games. The Tigers are 9-5 overall and 3-3 in Class 6A Section 1. Iuzzolino is averaging 14.2 points per game and shooting 45 percent (33 of 74) from 3-point range.
“His work ethic is as good as anyone I’ve ever coached,” North Allegheny coach Keith Noftz said. “He’s the type of kid who is never satisfied. He’s always working on something.”
Iuzzolino, who didn’t start playing basketball regularly until he was in sixth grade, was born just before his dad’s professional career ended, but said he’s watched some of his dad’s old games. He’s also played the original NBA Jam video game (released in 1993), which featured his dad’s likeness. Each NBA team was represented by two players. The Utah Jazz, for example, had John Stockton and Karl Malone. The two Mavericks players were Iuzzolino and Derek Harper.
“He always tells me he was on a video game and I’ll never be able to top that,” Iuzzolino said.
Cornell
There are some particularly tall players in the WPIAL, a few of the more notable ones being Serra Catholic’s 6-9 Jimmy Moon, Highlands’ 6-6 Johnny Crise and Mars’ Michael Carmody, who is 6-6, 280 pounds.
And then there’s the kid nicknamed “Nooch,” a freshman at Cornell who is anything but tall.
When you see him go through the layup line, the first thought is he’s probably the ball boy. No, Carmine “Nooch” D’Alessandro — all 4 feet 6, 75 pounds of him — plays on Cornell’s varsity team, a team that is 14-2 and ranked No. 1 in Class 1A.
“I’ll tell you what. He comes every day. Works hard every day. The guys love him here. If anybody ever touches Nooch, they’re going to have a whole slew of people on them,” said longtime Cornell coach Bill Sacco.
D’Alessandro is listed on Cornell’s roster as being 5 feet, but he’s nowhere near that. He sees most of his time on the junior varsity team, but he has gotten some varsity minutes, as well. D’Alessandro isn’t a one-sport athlete, either. Remarkably, he also plays football.
“Nooch is our man. I’ve been playing basketball with him for a while because he plays a grade below our AAU team. He’s just a fun guy to have around,” guard Kaden DiVito said.
Added DiVito: “He has some buckets in JV. He can drop buckets. Don’t sleep on Nooch.”
Class 4A turnarounds
Knoch and Ringgold finished at the bottom of their Class 5A sections last season when they combined to win just one section game. A season later, it’s safe to say these teams, now in Class 4A, have made huge strides.
Knoch is 12-3 overall and sits in first place in Section 1 with a 6-0 record. The Knights were 7-14 overall and 1-11 in section play last season. Ringgold was 3-19 overall and 0-12 in its section last season. This season, the Rams are in second place in Section 3 with 5-1 record and are 12-3 overall.
Knoch coach Ron McNabb said he had a feeling even last season that this team would be destined for a big turnaround. At the time, the Knights had four underclassman starters who start again this season. That includes the team’s top two scorers, junior Scott Fraser and senior Julian Sanks. The Knights have also benefited from moving to Class 4A and out of a section that was arguably the best in Class 5A.
“We started all those underclassmen and we were in that brutal section with Moon, Mars and Chartiers Valley,” McNabb said. “We knew those guys were going to struggle, but we also knew down the road it was going to benefit us.”
The Knights have won 10 games in a row, their longest winning streak since the 2002-03 season.
Brad Everett: beverett@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BREAL412
First Published: January 24, 2019, 12:00 p.m.