Late surge by Camp Hill basketball ousts Conwell-Egan from PIAA tourney

READING – In his last game ever in an Eagles’ uniform, Conwell-Egan Catholic (CEC) senior Vinny Dalessandro surpassed 1,000 points, pouring 25 into the basket in a PIAA-AA quarterfinal matchup with Camp Hill Saturday afternoon, March 12 at the Ralph C. Geigle Complex.

In the end, it wasn’t enough to keep Egan in the state tournament as the District 3 runner-up Lions came through with a big 25-point fourth quarter to win 60-57 and advance to the state semifinals on Tuesday.

“I would throw that thousand points away any day just to come back and play another day as a senior with my team,” said Dalessandro moments after the defending state champs were sent packing. “I’m happy I got it but I would throw it all away just to be able to play with my team again.”

Trailing 25-21 at the half, the Eagles surged ahead on a third quarter that saw Dalessandro score 11 of his team’s 18 points to help put them on top 39-35 heading into the final frame.

Camp Hill would not go away however, going ahead on a fourth-period jumper by senior David Fetrow, who, after scoring just two points in the first half, came back with 14 after the intermission. The 6-3 senior for the Lions came through with six buckets from the floor after the break including a 3-pointer in the third-period.

Camp Hill also didn’t miss much from the foul line in the final frame, making good on 12-of-16 free throws. Fetrow led the Lions with 16 points, while sophomore Casey Caruso came through with 15 including eight in the second quarter while making 5-of-6 free throws in the fourth period.

Camp Hill senior Mark Leach added 10 points to the Lions’ effort and junior Darien Perez added nine. Senior Michael Shuster scored just one field goal in the game – in the first quarter – but he made all four of his foul shots in the final frame.

Two of those free throws put Camp Hill on top 44-40 and instead of answering the bell, Egan turned the ball over near mid-court for the second time in two possessions. The Lions then  extended their lead to seven on a 3-pointer by Leach.

CEC senior Lapri McCray-Pace responded by scoring a driving layup to narrow the Eagles’ deficit to five with 4:10 remaining but Shuster canned two more foul shots to turn it back to a 7-point game.

“The game spun when we had a four-point lead and we took a bad shot,” explained CEC head coach Frank Sciolla. “It was that two-minute sequence where we turned it over. They got a run-out and a layup and boom, it was two. They got to some pressure and they got some confidence.

“At that point, it was about the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter, which has been at times a death knell for us throughout this year.”

McCray-Pace did his part, scoring 21 points for Conwell-Egan including 14 in the second half. Sophomore Eric Esposito gave the Egan faithful hope with a pair of 3-pointers late in the fourth quarter.

State playoff elimination aside, the Eagles deserve a lot of credit for getting back to the Final Eight in the PIAA tournament and a successful defense of their District 12 Class AA title. What’s more, they accomplished the feat without senior Stevie Jordan, the State Player of the Year in 2015 who averaged over 16 points-per-game last season.

Egan dispelled rumors of its demise when Jordan jumped to Advanced Prep Institute (Dallas) two months before the start of the season and captured its second consecutive district trophy when it got past Mastery Charter North in the D-12 title tilt in a late-February matchup at St. Joseph’s University.

High School hoops prognosticators were looking forward to a rematch between the Eagles and the Pumas in the state semifinals but now, that’s not going to happen.

Instead, Camp Hill will face Mastery North (15-2) in the PIAA semis at 7 p.m. Tuesday night at Garden Spot High School. The winner faces either District 7 champ Aliquippa (28-0), the team Egan defeated to win last year’s state trophy, or D-7 runner-up Lincoln Park (25-4) at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Giant Center in Hershey.

Camp Hill 60, Conwell-Egan 57

(March 12 at Geigle Complex)

Camp Hill 10 15 10 25 – 60

Conwell-Egan 10 11 18 18 – 57

CAMP HILL (21-6) — Casey Caruso 15, Logan Vallati 1, Darien Perez 9, Mark Leach 10, David Fetrow 16, Zach Kuntz 3, Michael Shuster 6; TOTALS — 19 18-24 60.

CONWELL-EGAN (17-10) — Lapri McCray-Pace 21, Drew Burton 4, Kar’ron Johnson 1, Eric Esposito 6, Vinny Dalessandro 25; TOTALS — 17 15-20 57.

3-POINT GOALS: CH — Caruso 2, Leach 2, Perez, Fetrow; CE — Dalessandro 4, Esposito 2, McCray-Pace, Burton.

Contact the author at ssherman@21st-Centurymedia.com or @BucksLocalSport on Twitter