By Dan Irwin
New Castle News

Dave Smialowski talked to his Union High team about focus, and the Scotties obliged.

Union drew a bead on the bucket and the Scotties never let it out of their sight, rolling to a 76-35 win at Rochester in the WPIAL Section 1-A finale.

“We talked to them about focus before the game tonight,” Smialowski said, just three nights after his team dropped an 82-58 decision to section champ Lincoln Park. “Lincoln Park was a tough game for us. I thought that we competed with them, but we missed some shots and stuff, and things didn’t work out.

“It’s not that we weren’t focused for that game, but we emphasized that we had to rebound from that and be focused tonight against Rochester. We wanted to treat tonight like a playoff game, and that’s what we did.”

Union, which finished section play at 7-3 and improved to 16-4 overall, bolted from the gate to take an 18-8 lead after one quarter. The Scotties turned up the heat even further in period two, unleashing a three-point barrage that increased their advantage to 45-18 by the half.

“We had nine three-pointers in the second quarter,” Smialowski noted. “All of our points in that quarter came on threes.”

Markel Peace drained six treys en route to a career-high 30-point effort. He had 21 of his points by halftime.

Joe Salmen added 13 points and six assists, while Tre Major contributed 10 points and nine rebounds. Ben Young finished with nine points and six assists.

Rochester (3-7, 7-15) was led by the 12-point night of Brent Johnson.

The Scotties finished in a tie for second place in the section with Our Lady of Second Heart, and will learn Tuesday who they will face in the first round of the WPIAL Class A playoff. In the meantime, they’ll play a nonleague contest Monday at Riverside.

“That will a nice challenge for us,” Smialowski said. “Riverside is a solid Class AA team. But the kids are ready.”

(Email: d_irwin@ncnewsonline.com)