By Dan Irwin
New Castle News

BEAVER FALLS — The WPIAL Section 2-AA contest between Neshannock and Beaver Falls high schools was billed as a battle for first place.

There may not be another such match this season.

The Tigers stamped themselves as the conference’s dominant team by rolling to an 81-46 mercy rule win over the Lancers last night. The win left the host team undefeated through six section games (10-2 overall) and gave it a two-game lead in the standings over Neshannock and Mohawk, each 4-2.

“My only comment is that I’m eager to see how we respond to this,” said Neshannock coach John Corey, whose team dropped to 10-2 overall. “Tonight’s game, well, it was what it was.”

“I have a great group of guys in that locker room, and how we bounce back is our only concern right now.”

Neshannock trailed by only five points, 19-14, after one quarter, but the Tigers outscored the Lancers 56-21 over the next two frames — leaving the fourth period to be played by the two schools’ JV teams under a running clock.

There wasn’t much the Tigers did wrong. Their aggressive, man-to-man defense kept the Lancers’ shooters off balance all night. Neshannock entered the contest with three players boasting double-figure scoring averages, but none of the three could break out of single digits. Ernie Burkes (19.5 ppg.) managed just nine points, while Matt McKinney (15.5 ppg.) had eight and Tyler Haswell (11.3 ppg.) finished with three.

“We don’t have height, but we have quickness, and we have to use it,” Beaver Falls coach Doug Biega said. “Last year, we were blessed with seven seniors who were all 6-3 and above. We had 6-6, 6-8, 6-7, so we played more of a grind-it-out, half-court defense style.

“This year, we don’t have that luxury. We have to go out and get after it and get on every loose ball.”

He added that although the Tigers gave Burkes a little extra attention, they pretty much stuck with their regular defense.

“We always play man to man,” he said. “If anything, we may have tweaked it just a little bit that when he gave the ball up, we didn’t have his man adhere to principle. He didn’t sag into the lane to help; he wasn’t sagging off him at all. I told him once Ernie gave the ball up, just faceguard him and not let him get it back.”

Meanwhile, the Tigers were just as proficient on offense, particularly in the middle-two frames where their up-tempo attack created one easy scoring chance after another. They shot 73 percent (22 of 30) in the middle two frames, including a half-court trey by Zachary Miller at the second-quarter buzzer and another buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Micoy Mason to end the third. Mason’s shot gave Beaver Falls a 75-35 lead, launching the mercy rule for the fourth quarter.

Elijah Cottrill ended up as Beaver Falls’ top scorer with 21 points, followed by Javon Turner with 16, Mason with 14 and Miller with 11.

(Email: d_irwin@ncnewsonline.com)