When Antonio Epps knocks down a jumper, chances are his brother, Bryce, will do the same on the next possession.
When Bryce sets up a teammate with a pretty pass, you will probably see Antonio doing something similar shortly after.
“We basically just feed off each other,” Antonio Epps said. “If one of us does something, the other has to do the same thing or something better.”
Antonio and Bryce Epps have helped South Allegheny eat up the competition in what has become the best season in school history. The Gladiators, just 6-15 last season, are 20-1, ranked No. 3 in WPIAL Class 3A, and section champs for just the second time since the school opened in 1966.
The Gladiators have gotten their pep from Epps — both of them. No other team in the WPIAL has a set of brothers both averaging better than 15 points a game. Antonio, a junior, averages 18.1. Bryce, a freshman, averages 16.4.
“Antonio and Bryce are the hardest working kids that we have. The other kids see the success they’re having and that makes them work harder,” coach Tony DiCenzo said.
Antonio is a 5-foot-11 shooting guard who has started since the first game of his freshman season. His future beyond high school might be in football — FBS programs are showing interest — but he’s a standout in basketball, as well.
“He’s really shot the ball extremely well for us,” DiCenzo said. “He’s explosive. He’s usually the most athletic kid on the floor. He’s able to blow by you, so it’s a tough task for teams to try to slow him down.”
You don’t often see a freshman starting at point guard for a WPIAL championship contender, and that’s something that makes Bryce unique. Bryce, who is 5-9, provides a calming presence at the point for a team that doesn’t have any seniors.
“On paper, he’s a freshman, but that’s about it,” said DiCenzo. “His poise and composure, I don’t even question that anymore. The ball is in his hands almost the whole game. He gets us settled down. Any team that has attempted to pressure us hasn’t had much success.”
One other Epps is part of the team. Antonio and Bryce’s father, Vada, is an assistant coach. Vada won two WPIAL titles and a PIAA title as a player at Clairton in the early 1990s. And there are more Epps brothers on the way, too. Cameron is in seventh grade and Reese first grade.
“If I’m fortunate enough, I’ll have an Epps playing point guard for me for the next decade,” DiCenzo said, laughing.
For now, DiCenzo and his team are focused on this season. South Allegheny has never played for a WPIAL championship and has won only one playoff game since the turn of the century, but the Gladiators may have never had a team this talented, either.
“Honestly, I feel like we can make a run at the WPIAL championship,” Antonio Epps said. “I know there are a lot of good teams. Lincoln Park. North Catholic. But I feel like if we keep playing like we’ve been playing, we can compete with anybody.”
Laurel Highlands
Laurel Highlands won its only WPIAL title in 1968 and has not reached the championship game since 1972, but the Mustangs could be a dark horse in the Class 5A playoffs.
The Mustangs (12-7), who will likely finish third in Section 1, earned two impressive road wins over the past two weeks, handing then-No. 1 Penn Hills its first section loss and then beating rival Uniontown, one of the best teams in Class 4A, in overtime.
“To play [Uniontown] in their place and get a victory, I think that did wonders for the team’s confidence,” said Laurel Highlands coach Rick Hauger.
The Mustangs will ride star freshman Rodney Gallagher as far as he can take them. Not only is Gallagher averaging a team-best 22 points per game, but Hauger said he has developed into one of the team leaders. Gallagher scored 21 against Penn Hills and 29 against Uniontown.
“Rodney has been outstanding,” Hauger said. “The way he goes about his business, I don’t know if there is a moment that is too big for him.”
McKeesport
The ending to last Friday’s McKeesport-Woodland Hills game was perhaps the wildest to a WPIAL game this season. Woodland Hills took a 54-53 lead on Kyere Hainesworth’s jumper with two seconds left. McKeesport then inbounded underneath its own basket. Colton Kovach threw a long pass that sailed over all of the players heads before bouncing off of the court and then off the backboard. McKeesport’s Deamontae Diggs caught the ball and missed a layup, but quickly gathered the rebound and layed the ball in to give the Tigers a dramatic 56-55 road win.
In other words, it was exactly how McKeesport coach Kevin Kovach drew it up.
“We practice it all of the time, and he always misses the first one, too,” Kovach said, tongue-in-cheek. “I’m 40 and I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Butler-McDowell
Many WPIAL teams play their final section games Friday, but there are some outstanding non-section matchups, as well. Among the top ones are Mt. Lebanon-Allderdice and Fox Chapel-Upper St. Clair. But arguably the best will be played in Erie, where McDowell hosts Butler.
Butler (No. 4) and McDowell (No. 5) are ranked among the state’s best teams in Class 6A. Butler is 16-4 and has won 11 games in a row. McDowell is 16-3 and has gone 5-0 against WPIAL opponents. The game will feature arguably the best two players in the western part of the state, Butler senior Ethan Morton and McDowell junior William Jeffress. Morton is averaging 23 points per game and Jeffress 26.
These teams met last season, with Butler grabbing a 75-72 home win. Morton scored 32 and Jeffress had 23.
Brad Everett: beverett@post-gazette.com and Twitter: @BREAL412.
First Published: February 6, 2020, 11:45 a.m.
