By Joe Sager
New Castle News

The New Castle High boys basketball team wrapped up the championship of its own tipoff tournament Saturday night.

The Red Hurricane continued its hot shooting in an 80-59 triumph over Beaver Falls.

New Castle (2-0), the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s top-ranked WPIAL Class AAAA team, drained 11 3-pointers against the Tigers, the top-ranked WPIAL Class AA squad. That came after the ’Canes cashed in on 12 treys Friday against Perry Traditional Academy.

“Our 11 3s helped mask some of our issues defensively. We really did shoot it well,” New Castle coach Ralph Blundo said. “Our guys executed pretty well against their zone. Our ball pressure bothered them a bit. I don’t think we played quite as well in the second half. A lot of that had to do with Beaver Falls being a good team. A 20-point win against a No. 1 team in AA, we’ll take it.”

Anthony Richards led the long-range barrage with six 3-pointers and 19 total points.

“Anthony hit three of them in crucial situations and took the life out of some Beaver Falls runs,” Blundo added.

The ’Canes posted a 23-16 edge after the first and went up 45-26 at halftime. New Castle maintained a 63-50 lead through three quarters.

Shawn Anderson led all scorers with 20 points. He added 14 rebounds, five assists and four steals and earned tournament MVP honors. Malik Hooker, Jesse Salzano and Richards joined him on the all-tournament team. Hooker had 18 points, 10 boards and four assists. Salzano had three points. Richards added four assists and three steals.

Elijah Cottrill paced Beaver Falls (1-1) with 14 points.

New Castle opens Section 3-AAAA play tomorrow at Butler.