Wilson leads Laurel past Mohawk

There was no stopping Jacob Wilson last night.

Laurel High’s 6-foot sophomore guard knocked down nine field goals and made 7 of 8 free throws to lead the Spartans to a 63-51 WPIAL Section 2-AA win over Mohawk.

Wilson finished the night with a season-high 28 points, and added eight steals and four rebounds. He scored a career-high 31 points in an 80-73 overtime loss to New Brighton last year.

“Jake is very capable of putting up big numbers,” Laurel coach Ken Locke said. “He’s a very unselfish player and he always plays hard. The guys were looking for him and he was able to create some opportunities for himself with the steals.”

The Spartans (5-6, 10-8) maintained their one-game lead over Shenango (4-7, 8-10) and Riverside (4-7, 7-11) for the final playoff berth in the section.

“Every win is big at this point in the year,” Locke said. “We’re pleased with where we’re at, but we’re not satisfied. We’re taking these final two weeks one game at a time. Our guys just have to come ready to play. We’re going to let the cards fall where they may.”

Laurel grabbed a 16-12 lead entering the second quarter and extended it to 27-22 entering halftime before blowing the game open with a 20-9 advantage in the third quarter.

“Our kids came out with good intensity,” Locke said. “We had some turnovers at the end of the first half that let them slide back into the game. We tried to pick up the defensive intensity a little bit in the second half and we were able to get some easy baskets off of turnovers.”

Scott Siddall scored all 12 of his points in the second half, while Noah Wertz handed out eight assists for the Spartans, who made 5 of 12 3-pointers on the night.

Zach Shasteen scored 14 of his team-high 18 in the second half to pace Mohawk (3-8, 7-11).