PIAA AA Western Bracket

[WPIAL~Titan]

PIAA AA western bracket with possible sites. Actual sites will likely be released by the PIAA later today or tomorrow morning. Sites will depend on availability of facilities and matchups.


(7-1) Beaver Falls vs. (6-4) Bald Eagle @ North Allegheny or North Hills
(9-1) Brockway vs. (10-3) Mercyhurst Prep @ ClarionU

(6-1) Penn Cambria vs. (7-6) Greensburg CC @ Richland HS or UPJ
(10-2) Lakeview vs. (7-4) Quaker Valley @ EdinboroU or Slippery RockU

(5-1) Conemaugh Twp./(8-1) Westinghouse winner vs. (7-5) Brentwood @ UPJ if CT wins or Allderdice HS if House wins
(6-2) Northern Cambria vs. (7-3) Apollo-Ridge @ Central Cambria HS or Richland HS

(7-2) Burrell vs. (6-3) Bishop McCort @ Gateway HS, Plum HS, or Hempfield HS
(10-1) West Middlesex vs. (7-7) Jeannette @ Slippery RockU or Sharon HS

Quick Analysis off the top of my head...

Quadrant 1 gives BFalls a walk in their first 2 games. No contest. 6'3" jr G Elijah Cottrill leads the way for the Tigers.

Quadrant 2 will probably be the most competitive. Lakeview took West Middlesex to 5 OTs. GCC is 22-2 with losses only to AAAA Gateway by 20, and in the WPIAL AA quarters. GCC has athletes, 2 jr guards averaging around 18ppg in Hyland and Graytock and a 6'7" post, and was the #2 seed in the WPIAL tourney before being upset by Burrell. QV may have the best coach in the west in class AA in Mike Mastroianni. PC has a District 6AA championship and a good group of senior athletes led by UPJ recruit 6'6" AJ Leahey and his 21ppg.

Quadrant 3 is the weakest of the 4 quadrants. Look for Westinghouse and their effective and active 2-3 half court zone defense and their 6'2" do-it-all guard Robert Bailey (20ppg) to emerge there. Apollo Ridge and Brentwood are two Cinderellas crashing the PIAA AA dance, as they were seeded in the 20s in the WPIAL AA tourney and upset their way to PIAA bids. Northern Cambria has a senior laden team who has now advanced to PIAAs 3 years in a row in 2 different classifications (2011 and 2012 in A and 2013 in AA). Conemaugh Township, the district 5 AA champ, seems to be playing well and avenged an early season loss to 5AA runner up Northern Bedford by crushing them in the district title game. Westinghouse will travel to Somerset HS with the 5/8 sub regional PIAA bid on the line. Will the long mid-week bus ride and tighter officiating affect them?

Quadrant 4 is very competitive as well. West Middlesex has reeled off 18 wins in a row and is 22-3, with 3 losses, one to BFalls in New Castle's tip off tourney (by 10) and two higher classification teams from Ohio. GannonU recruit 6'6" 190 G/F Dan Dogan may be the best overall player in the AA western bracket, he's athletic and can put in on the floor. Bishop McCort is led by a pair of solid juniors 6'3" G Bill Hipp (13ppg) and 6'4" F Nemo Trexler (19ppg) has the potential to win a few games.

[thebrigade]

PIAA AA western bracket with possible sites. Actual sites will likely be released by the PIAA later today or tomorrow morning. Sites will depend on availability of facilities and matchups.


(7-1) Beaver Falls vs. (6-4) Bald Eagle @ North Allegheny or North Hills
(9-1) Brockway vs. (10-3) Mercyhurst Prep @ ClarionU

(6-1) Penn Cambria vs. (7-6) Greensburg CC @ Richland HS or UPJ
(10-2) Lakeview vs. (7-4) Quaker Valley @ EdinboroU or Slippery RockU

(5-1) Conemaugh Twp./(8-1) Westinghouse winner vs. (7-5) Brentwood @ UPJ if CT wins or Allderdice HS if House wins
(6-2) Northern Cambria vs. (7-3) Apollo-Ridge @ Central Cambria HS or Richland HS

(7-2) Burrell vs. (6-3) Bishop McCort @ Gateway HS, Plum HS, or Hempfield HS
(10-1) West Middlesex vs. (7-7) Jeannette @ Slippery RockU or Sharon HS

Quick Analysis off the top of my head...

Quadrant 1 gives BFalls a walk in their first 2 games. No contest. 6'3" jr G Elijah Cottrill leads the way for the Tigers.

Quadrant 2 will probably be the most competitive. Lakeview took West Middlesex to 5 OTs. GCC is 22-2 with losses only to AAAA Gateway by 20, and in the WPIAL AA quarters. GCC has athletes, 2 jr guards averaging around 18ppg in Hyland and Graytock and a 6'7" post, and was the #2 seed in the WPIAL tourney before being upset by Burrell. QV may have the best coach in the west in class AA in Mike Mastroianni. PC has a District 6AA championship and a good group of senior athletes led by UPJ recruit 6'6" AJ Leahey and his 21ppg.

Quadrant 3 is the weakest of the 4 quadrants. Look for Westinghouse and their effective and active 2-3 half court zone defense and their 6'2" do-it-all guard Robert Bailey (20ppg) to emerge there. Apollo Ridge and Brentwood are two Cinderellas crashing the PIAA AA dance, as they were seeded in the 20s in the WPIAL AA tourney and upset their way to PIAA bids. Northern Cambria has a senior laden team who has now advanced to PIAAs 3 years in a row in 2 different classifications (2011 and 2012 in A and 2013 in AA). Conemaugh Township, the district 5 AA champ, seems to be playing well and avenged an early season loss to 5AA runner up Northern Bedford by crushing them in the district title game. Westinghouse will travel to Somerset HS with the 5/8 sub regional PIAA bid on the line. Will the long mid-week bus ride and tighter officiating affect them?

Quadrant 4 is very competitive as well. West Middlesex has reeled off 18 wins in a row and is 22-3, with 3 losses, one to BFalls in New Castle's tip off tourney (by 10) and two higher classification teams from Ohio. GannonU recruit 6'5" G/F Dan Dogan may be the best overall player in the AA western bracket. Bishop McCort is led by a pair of solid juniors 6'3" G Bill Hipp (13ppg) and 6'4" F Nemo Trexler (19ppg) has the potential to win a few games.

nice write-up thanks.... hopefully the long westinghouse trip will help c.t. out some but thats a pretty good westinghouse team

[Head Roadie]

Good analysis Titan. I'll say BF vs W.Middlesex in Western final. Sleepers are Lakeview and 'house. AA seems down to me.

[Crimson's Ghost]

Well done!

[WPIALD7]

Beaver Falls, Mercyhurst, GCC, Lakeview, Conemaugh/Westinghouse winner, Northern Cambria, Bishop McCort, West Middlesex

D6 champ got a real tough game.

[Oldskoolhoops]

First round picks
Beaver Falls, Mercyhurst, GCC, Lakeview, CT, Northern Cambria, Bishop McCort, West Middlesex

[deepcreek]

Why all the disbelief for Apollo-Ridge? They beat Neshannock, Sto-Rox, and Jeanette in a row!! Must be playing some good basketball right now. That 32 point loss to Beaver Falls isn't that bad considering what Beaver Falls has done to everyone in the playoffs.

[Crimson's Ghost]

I'm taking Apollo Ridge

[WPIALD7]

Apollo-Ridge was the #21 seed in the AA WPIAL playoffs, Brentwood was #25 out of 26 seeds.

[deepcreek]

Maybe their section was underrated by the WPIAL seeding committe. Two of the section teams (Apollo and Burrell) reached the semi-finals.