Adou Thiero and Markus Frank are seniors at Quaker Valley High School, good friends who like to grab a bite to eat together whenever possible. They can often be seen together at their favorite food place, Sushi Bomb in Robinson.
But these two teenagers also belong to an elite club that has nothing to do with food, but deals with 20-somethings. Membership is low — and Thiero and Frank might soon be exclusive to the club.
This 20-something club deals with basketball, points scored and dynamic duos — and Thiero and Frank are certainly that. In fact, it’s not an overstatement to say the two make for one of the greatest scoring duos in WPIAL history, or at least the past four decades plus.
The WPIAL regular season has less than a week remaining, and Frank is averaging 27.1 points after Tuesday’s win against Beaver. Thiero is averaging 24.3. It is very likely the two will end up becoming only the fourth WPIAL duo since the 1979-80 season to both average 23 points or more during the regular season.
But there’s more. If both keep their current averages, these two Quakers will be the first since at least 1980 to both average more than 24 points a game during the regular season. Who knows? They could be the first in many, many decades to both average 24. It’s just that no one kept leading scorers for the entire WPIAL until the Post-Gazette started in the 1979-80 season.
“That’s crazy,” Frank said of the WPIAL’s scoring duo history. “Honestly, it’s an honor to know what we’re doing. When you think about it, it really is hard to have two averaging 24 or more. You have three other people on the team that you have to share the ball with. It’s more difficult than you think.”
Since 1979-80, the only tandems in the WPIAL to average 22 or more in the regular season are:
• 1998-99: Allan MacQuarrie (23.1) and Mike Decker (22.5) of Pine-Richland.
• 2010-11: Matt Palo (30.1) and Andy Carter (23.0) of Norwin.
• 2019-20: Jake DiMichele (29.0) and Dante Spadafora (22.8) of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
No matter what happens to their averages in the final week of the season, Thiero and Frank already have made a mark on WPIAL basketball. After Tuesday night’s victory against Beaver, Quaker Valley had a 17-0 record — and the A.M. Team (Adou and Marcus) has fueled the perfect Quakers.
Thiero and Frank have a certain “connection” on the basketball court, and that connection started when Thiero first came to Quaker Valley Middle School in eighth grade. The two had played against each other before while playing on youth league travel teams. Frank played for Quaker Valley while Thiero played for Avonworth, where he used to attend school until he transferred to Sewickley Academy for sixth and seventh grade. Thiero and his family then moved into the Quaker Valley district when Thiero was in eighth grade.
Frank felt an immediate connection between the two four years ago. The feeling was mutual with Thiero.
“I was one of his first friends,” Frank said. “We kind of just started talking right away, ate at the same lunch table.”
Thiero said, “We got along right away. We had a lot of the same interests and connected.”
Four years later, the thread between these two is points in basketball.
“I’m surprised it’s never happened before (1980), with two averaging 24,” Thiero said. “But I can also understand it because it’s very hard to do. Me and Markus, being able to do it, that would be a pretty good accomplishment.”
Frank and Thiero are alike in so many ways. Both are seniors. Both stand 6 feet 5 inches tall. Both scored their 1,000th career point this season, within a month of each other.
But their games are drastically different — and their career paths have been extremely different. Thiero was starting as a freshman at Quaker Valley, although he was small. He was only 5-10 as a sophomore and has grown 7 inches since then.
Thiero has turned into one of the best all-around players in the WPIAL. He can play anywhere from point guard to post-up forward. Besides his 23.8 scoring average, he is good for 8.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 4.5 steals and 2.0 blocks a game. He has 18 3-pointers and recently had a triple-double in a game.
Frank, meanwhile, wasn’t quite as developed as Thiero at a younger age. Frank became a starter as a sophomore and besides his 27.2 average, he is now averaging 9 rebounds and 3.5 steals a game. While Thiero scores in various ways, Frank is a forward who scores close to the basket. He is excellent at slashing to the hoop and finishing around the rim. He is shooting 70% from the field — and has not even attempted a 3-pointer.
“They’re the same size, but have different approaches,” Quaker Valley coach Mike Mastroianni said. “They have different ways of scoring. But I think that’s what makes them so good for us because they complement each other very well.
“The thing with Markus is that you could tell right away when he was young that he could be a high-level kid. But Adou garnered so much attention at a young age, which he should have. It’s not like he overshadowed Markus, but Markus came on later.”
Thiero noticed an upgrade in Frank’s game last year. Before his junior season, Frank trained some with Thiero’s father, Al, who is 6-9 and played at Memphis and Duquesne. Thiero’s mom, Mariam, is 6-3 and was selected in the 2006 WNBA draft.
“We started working out together before our junior year and I think that’s when things really started to click with him,” Thiero said. “He started to make some noise his junior year.”
Thiero has a few Division I college offers and a few more major colleges have shown interest lately. Early in the season, Mastroianni was frustrated at the lack of recruiting interest in Frank. Mastroianni believed Frank was an excellent Division II prospect, but more Division II schools are starting to show interest in Frank lately.
But college isn’t foremost on the minds of Thiero or Frank now. High school championships are.
“We want to win the WPIAL,” Frank said. “That’s the goal for a lot of people, but we have what we need to accomplish that goal. We have to win. It’s long overdue for Quaker Valley to win it.”
It will probably take a number of 20-something efforts from Thiero and Frank to win it.
“They’re both very well-liked at school and they’re both pretty funny,” Mastroianni said. “They’re good at understanding when to keep it light and when to get after it. When they’re in the gym, they’re ready to go.
“They’ve both attracted a lot of attention, but one of the best things about them is they’re humble. If you walked into the building and didn’t know who they were, you wouldn’t know all the things they’ve already done. In this day and age, when everyone wants to tell you about what’s all going on with themselves and always talk about themselves, these two are refreshing.”
In other words, Frank and Thiero have a lot of “points” in their favor.
Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh
First Published: February 10, 2022, 10:30 a.m.
Updated: February 10, 2022, 10:46 a.m.
