His team made their coach sweat, but the storybook ending is still alive. In his final season, Belle Vernon boys basketball coach Joe Salvino is going to the WPIAL championship.
No. 1 Belle Vernon survived a semifinal thriller against No. 4 Avonworth, taking the lead with a 9-0 run before blowing it by missing five consecutive free throws. But senior forward Tommy Davis hit the one that mattered, breaking a 56-all tie and giving the Leopards a 57-56 victory Saturday in a WPIAL Class 4A semifinal.
“It feels amazing,” Davis said. “I messed up my dribble on the first one. I kind of had a bad feeling about it. And then on the second one, I got my routine down and I knew I was making it.”
Salvino said he always knew his team would win, but fought back tears talking about what the win meant to him.
“It means a lot,” Salvino said, before pausing. “I just can't believe that in my last year, I’m going to a championship game. I gotta give all those kids all the credit in the world.”
Salvino’s looming retirement was just a subplot in a game billed as a matchup of two of the WPIAL’s top scorers. Avonworth (18-6) senior guard Rowan Carmichael is the WPIAL’s leading scorer, averaging 32 points, while Belle Vernon (19-4) senior guard Zion Moore is third at 27 points per game.
Carmichael nearly met that average, scoring 31 points despite facing consistent and physical face defense. He was held without a 3 until the final seconds of the first half, when he beat the buzzer with a swish.
Here’s how Rowan Carmichael and @avonworth_bball ended the first half:
— Colin Beazley (@colin_beazley) February 22, 2025
No. 4 Avonworth leads No. 1 Belle Vernon 32-24 at halftime. Really good half of hoops. @KBarnes_PG @mwhiteburgh pic.twitter.com/eYvUHEadm2
Moore, battling injuries and foul trouble, finished with 14. He picked up his third foul early in the second quarter and fourth foul midway through the third, keeping from attacking the basket as he wanted to.
His teammates stepped up for him. Senior guard Trevor Kovatch finished with 17 points, scoring 12 in the third quarter to erase an 8-point Avonworth lead. Senior big men Dom Ghilani and Davis both had 11, with none bigger than Davis’s final free throw.
Four of five Belle Vernon starters (Moore, Kovatch, Ghilani and junior guard Curtis Wade) finished with four fouls. Two Avonworth starters (senior forward Noah Quinn and senior guard Billy Onyshko) fouled out, while senior forward Noah Goetz had four fouls and junior guard Carson Bellinger had three.
Avonworth had two chances to win, but Goetz’s drive in traffic was deflected out of bounds. Carmichael’s off-balance layup attempt on the in-bounds play rimmed out, sparking Belle Vernon bedlam and Avonworth agony.
Avonworth’s buzzer beater is no good.
— Colin Beazley (@colin_beazley) February 22, 2025
FINAL: Belle Vernon 57, Avonworth 56. The Leopards, in Joe Salvino’s final season, are headed to the WPIAL championship. @KBarnes_PG @mwhiteburgh pic.twitter.com/hFfOqUQJOk
“I'm proud of Rowan, I’m proud of the whole team,” Avonworth coach Joe Frank said. “All year, we just kept talking about if things don't go our way, how we’ve got to move on to the next play. Keep swinging. Keep swinging. We got down six really late and our guys never gave up. … I'm proud of all 15 guys that were here, just sticking together and playing to the end.”
Frank said “there’s a reason Joe has as many wins as he does,” and Salvino is coaching for a few more. His players want to send him off with a championship.
“Coach Joe is a legend,” Davis said. “We’re gonna go win it for him in the Pete.”
Other semifinal
North Catholic coach Jim Rocco will be the first to admit he sometimes has no idea what his team is doing on the floor.
“I think what we’re trying to do is immerse kids in chaos and create randomness out of it because there’s an old adage that random is beautiful,” Rocco said. “They are learning how to make chaotic situations random, which they can control.”
It may sound offbeat but watching how the Trojans cycle the ball around during their front-court attack, it makes sense.
Sort of.
Either way, it worked well enough for them to earn another trip to Petersen Events Center to play for a title.
Guard Jason Fredericks scored a game-high 30 points and junior Jude Rottmann scored 14 of his 25 — including four of his five 3-pointers — in the third quarter as No. 2 North Catholic (18-5) blew out No. 3 Beaver (19-4), 71-42 in a mercy-rule win at North Allegheny.
“It’s nice for these guys,” Rocco said. “They’re part of a really good basketball culture.”
Beaver senior Brady Mayo, a 1,000-point scorer, netted 21 points but his contributions were overwhelmed by what North Catholic was able to do. The Trojans defense frustrated the Bobcats attack and limited then to eight of 21 from the floor in the first half as they built up a 36-21 lead at the intermission.
The Trojans cruised from there.
First Published: February 22, 2025, 11:39 p.m.
