Second quarter struggles doom Clairton in loss to GCC

By Jose Negron

jnegron@yourmvi.com

Clairton head coach Matt Geletko couldn’t have asked for a better start from his team Thursday night. 

Fielding a different looking starting lineup with a few younger contributors, the Bears were able to dictate the pace of the game early, forcing turnovers and hitting shots left and right en route to an 11-2 lead just over four minutes into their game against Greensburg Central Catholic.

“We had some team issues, so we had to go with a different starting lineup and I thought the younger guys played well in that first quarter,” Geletko said of his starting five, which consisted of Andre Henderson, Ta’Vaughn Moody, Kaden Smith, Devon Dean-Coles and Capone Jones. 

“We couldn’t have asked for a better start, but we knew we were kind of on borrowed time with those inexperienced guys even though they gave us great minutes.” 

While the Bears looked primed to pull away early, a late first quarter rally turned into a dominant second quarter effort by the Centurions  – who went on to capture a lopsided 71-35 road victory in Section 3-2A play. 

After going down by nine with less than four minutes left in the first quarter, GCC (2-1, 2-1) followed a timeout by going on a 10-4 run to cut its deficit to 15-12 after eight minutes. 

The Centurions then showed little mercy in the second quarter as they forced six turnovers and outscored the Bears (2-1, 2-1) by a 21-3 margin. GCC then outscored Clairton, 38-17, in the final 16 minutes. 

“We kind of ran out of gas in the second quarter; we had some missed defensive assignments and shots didn’t fall either,” Geletko said. “Greensburg Central defended us pretty well and they started hitting from the perimeter. We knew coming in that they were a solid team.” 

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