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Mar. 14—New Castle’s Sheldon Cox wasn’t the senior who had everyone’s attention entering Saturday night. But by the time Cox threw down two dunks in the final seconds, all eyes were on him and his record-setting Red Hurricanes.
Cox scored 19 of his game-high 24 points in the second half and added 10 rebounds as No. 2 seed New Castle defeated No. 1 Chartiers Valley, 61-45, in the WPIAL Class 5A finals at North Allegheny.
“All I was thinking was, if we lose this, it will be the last game of my high school career,” said Cox, a 6-foot-3 guard who also won WPIAL titles as a freshman and sophomore. “So, I came out in the second half harder.”
The title was the seventh in 10 years for New Castle coach Ralph Blundo, and the program’s 14th overall — now the most in WPIAL history.
Cox was one of three New Castle scorers in double figures, but the team also had three with at least 10 rebounds — vital in a game with so many missed shots. Michael Wells had a double-double with 13 points and 11 boards. Isaiah Boice added 11 points, and Donny Cade had 11 rebounds.
“There are all kinds of ways to win basketball games,” Blundo said. “When you win it with guts and grit against a very, very, very gritty team like Char Valley, to out-tough them is hard to do. Whether we did or didn’t, I don’t know, but we fought really hard tonight.”
Blundo’s players doused him with bottled water when he entered the locker room. New Castle and Farrell had been tied with 13 WPIAL boys titles.
Since 2012, no other team has won more than four.
“Those guys acknowledge and understand the history of New Castle basketball,” Blundo said of his players. “Fourteen, that’s a lot of championships. Obviously, I don’t have all of them. There have been a lot of great coaches here and players over the years that found success. We’re just trying to do our part.”
New Castle will host a team from District 8, 9 or 10 in the state playoffs Friday.
This was the third matchup this season between New Castle (21-2) and Chartiers Valley (22-4), a series that was tied 1-1. When they last met Feb. 12, Chartiers Valley won by 18 points on New Castle’s home court, and Colts senior Brayden Reynolds scored 42 that night.
With the spotlight again on Reynolds, he scored 22 points in the championship, but made only seven of his 31 shots and went 5 for 12 from the foul line. Blundo said he labored over how New Castle should defend Reynolds.
“I toiled with it all week long,” Blundo said. “The guy had 42, but we beat them by 30 at their place (Jan. 19) and we were able to do some things there. If someone has 42, you say maybe I’ve got to do something different. But maybe we just have to be better at what we do.”
So, New Castle stuck with its previous game plans, mostly geared to keep him away from the rim. Reynolds had two points in the first quarter, eight in the second, two in the third and 10 in the fourth.
Chartiers Valley trailed by 17 points in the third quarter but cut New Castle’s lead to four early in the fourth. A free throw by Reynolds made it 40-36.
“We were in the gaps really good all night making it hard on him,” Blundo said. “But, man, he’s a load. He’s as hard as anyone we’ve had to stop over the years.”
Neither offense was very efficient. New Castle shot 37% from the field (22 of 59), and Chartiers Valley shot 28% (16 of 56). The teams combined for only 12 points in the first quarter.
New Castle led 8-4 after one quarter and 24-18 at half.
“We just weren’t hitting,” CV coach Brandon Sensor said. “We started hitting a little bit later but that’s how it is some nights. … Our defense did OK and kept us in the game.”
New Castle’s lead peaked at 37-20 with less than 3 minutes left in the third when Cox scored on a put-back basket and added a 3-pointer.
But Chartiers Valley sparked a 16-3 run that included three 3-pointers. With 7 minutes left in the fourth, New Castle’s lead was down to 40-36
“We cut it to four there and had a chance,” Sensor said. “We just couldn’t finish it. If you’re going to live and die by the 3, you’re probably going to die eventually. You’ve got to be a well-rounded team.”
Chartiers Valley went 6 for 30 from 3-point range.
Leading 40-36, Cade scored four straight points to build New Castle’s lead back to eight with 4 minutes left.
The WPIAL title gives New Castle one more than Farrell, which won 13 before leaving for District 10. Under Blundo, the Red Hurricanes won a WPIAL Class 3A title in 2012, and 4A titles in 2013, ’14, ’17, ’18 and ’19.
This was the team’s first season in Class 5A.
“Every season, no matter what classification, New Castle is always in the talk (about contenders),” Wells said. “It’s obviously great for our program and great for Coach Blundo’s legacy. It’s amazing, it feels amazing, but we expected to be here.”
After a sluggish first half for both teams, Cox sparked New Castle’s offense with 10 points in the third quarter and nine in the fourth. Cox’s play on the defensive end at times sparked his offense.
‘I’ve got a lot of adrenaline if I get a steal or a rebound,” he said, “and momentum shifts the other way.”
His final points came on a pair of breakaway dunks.
“He just had a different look,” Blundo said. “Sheldon didn’t want this to be his last game. We love what we do. It’s hard. It’s difficult. It’s not always fun.
“But I love that he just didn’t want it to end.”
Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review Staff Writer. You can contact Chris by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .
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