Gladiators win, set up rematch with Aliquippa

South Allegheny started out fast Saturday, then held off Camp Hill Trinity for a 76-62 victory.

The South Allegheny boys basketball team continued its historic season with a 76-62 victory over Camp Hill Trinity in Saturday’s PIAA Class 3A quarterfinals.

The last time the Gladiators (26-3) advanced to the state semifinals was in 2022, when they lost to Aliquippa. Now, a few weeks after capturing the first WPIAL title in school history against the Quips, the teams will meet again Saturday at Canon- McMillan with a trip to the state championship game on the line.

Tipoff for that game, which will see the winner play either Philadelphia’s West Catholic or District 2 runner-up Holy Cross, is set for noon.

“We have to be as hungry as we were in our first matchup against them,” SA coach Tony DiCenzo said, refering to his squad’s 37-35 win at the Petersen Events Center. “Just because we beat them once, that doesn’t mean we can relax.

“They’re playing at a really high level right now. Add in the motivation of them losing to us in the WPIAL championship, and we’re going to get a really inspired opponent on Saturday.”

To set up that much-anticipated rematch, South Allegheny had to travel to Altoona to take on the Shamrocks.

Unlike the majority of their games over the last month or so, DiCenzo was particularly impressed with how his team started out.

The Gladiators drilled seven triples in the first quarter to go up 2914 after one.

“We’ve been searching for a start like that all playoffs,” DiCenzo said. “(Leading scorers) Cam (Epps) and Drew (Cook) haven’t gotten going early in games together at the same time for a while now. Coming into the game, we were saying that we were due for that.

“We’ve been putting a lot of extra work in, and it seemed to all come together in that first quarter. It was really the difference in the game because they had to play so far behind.”

Cook led the Gladiators with 23 points, while Epps scored 17 and Josh Jackowski added 15. That trio typically paces the team’s offense, but South Allegheny also got vital contributions from Jake Uher, who had 17 points.

Uher is typically a secondary option on offense with his defensive and systematic contributions being more evident, but DiCenzo said Saturday’s offensive outburst isn’t all that surprising.

“If you come watch us practice, that’s what he looks like in practice every day,” DiCenzo said of Uher. “Just getting that to translate over into games has been the challenge for us. We just continue to try and build his confidence, and I think that’s all it is really.

“In the handful of games that he scores in double figures for us, it’s when he gets going early and gets his confidence really high. That’s when he looks like a different player.”

After the early explosion, the Gladiators withstood the response from the Shamrocks the rest of the way. Owen Schlager, a 2,000-point scorer for Camp Hill Trinity, led the way with 24 points. Andre Steele had 12 points and Marcus Yeager added 11 for the Shamrocks.

Now SA will turn its attention to a rematch with Aliquippa.

The Quips have blown their opponents out of the water thus far in state play, beating Westmont Hilltop 73-40, Mercer 64-37 and Forest Hills 73-34.

The backcourt of Joshua Pratt and Qa’lil Goode are the catalysts for Aliquippa, and they’ll again do battle with Epps and Cook on Saturday.

The last meeting was a gritty defensive battle. We don’t know what Saturday’s rematch will hold, but it should be exciting.