Jordan’s clutch 3s lift Quaker Valley
Victory clinches at least a share of section first place for Quakers
Noah Jordan has slipped comfortably into the role of clutch outside shooter for Quaker Valley.
“He’s been big all year,” Quaker Valley coach Mike Mastroianni said. “Noah’s made big 3s in every one of our games in the last month. He’s made like seven buzzerbeater 3s for us at the end of quarters.”
He didn’t hit a buzzerbeater for the Quakers in their showdown with South Allegheny. Instead, the senior guard took care of outside business midway through the fourth quarter and just when Quaker Valley needed it most.
Jordan drained back-toback 3-pointers from the right corner on consecutive possessions to turn a tight game into a six-point Quaker Valley (14-5, 8-1) lead and the team held on for a 46-43 victory against the Class 4A No. 5 Gladiators (16-4, 7-2).
“Their guy, late in the game, he made two and credit to him,” South Allegheny coach Tony DiCenzo said. “Those were two big 3s he made and that’s what this game is about.”
South Allegheny came into the night averaging 60.2 points per game, but had one of its worst shooting nights of the season. The Gladiators were 17 of 48 (35.4 percent) from the floor.
“It’s uncharacteristic and that’s what we rely on,” DiCenzo said. “All year long it’s been pretty consistent for us and, when we needed it most, in the biggest game of the season, it wasn’t there for us.”
With the win, Quaker Valley clinched at least a share of the Section 4 title. The Quakers will take it outright with a victory Friday at Montour or a South Allegheny loss to East Allegheny.
Vying for and potentially winning a section title was not where some thought Quaker Valley would be at this point in the season. The Quakers were an unknown factor after graduating four starters from last year’s squad that won the WPIAL Class 4A title and lost in the state final to NeumannGoretti.
“We really had a tough summer finding ourselves and we sort of revamped the plan of how we were gonna re-form ourselves,” Mastroianni said. “We had to take out time and we took a couple steps back to go forward.”
Quaker Valley had another misstep early in the game when it lost senior point guard Troy Kozar to an ankle injury. But the one thing the team did have was Mastroianni, who made several critical time out calls that may have saved the day.
His first came just 33 seconds into the game after Quaker Valley turned the ball over on its first two possessions and South Allegheny converted them into five transition points. Following the timeout, the Quakers went on a 7-2 run.
His second was early in the fourth quarter. Quaker Valley had turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions, capped off by a Bryce Epps steal-and-score layup that tied the game, 3636, with 5:33 left. Jordan, who finished with 17, hit his game-changing 3-pointers on the next two possessions.