Joe Sager
New Castle News

GIBSONIA — The ’Cane Train keeps on rolling.

New Castle erupted for 34 points in the first quarter last night and cruised to a 93-57 WPIAL Section 3-AAAA win at Pine-Richland.

The Red Hurricane (2-0 section, 5-0 overall) scored the game’s first 17 points to take command.

“I was pleased. I was happy with the way we got out of the gate,” New Castle coach Ralph Blundo said. “I thought the first four minutes were critical, if they were wondering if they could play with us. If you get out of the gate like that, it has to create some doubt. They have some good players. To their credit, they kept fighting; they just didn’t lie down and take it. I didn’t think we guarded well. We have to be better for 32 minutes.”

New Castle’s pressure defense was stifling once again. The Rams (0-2, 2-3) had as many turnovers — eight — as points after the first quarter.

“It’s great. It got the momentum going,” New Castle’s Stew Allen said of the team’s defense and hot start. “Coach Blundo couldn’t stress it enough. We have to pressure, pressure, pressure. We have to make plays.”

The ’Canes pushed their lead as high as 29 points, 42-13, in the second quarter. They posted a 50-23 edge at the intermission. New Castle maintained a 71-42 advantage after three quarters. The team’s reserves played for almost the entire fourth quarter.

“We came here and accomplished what we wanted to accomplish,” Blundo said. “We can still get better and that’s exciting to me. We’ll watch the film and get better in practice over the week.”

Ohio State football recruit Malik Hooker led the ’Canes with 25 points, seven assists, five rebounds, four steals and three blocks. He had a pair of slam dunks. Anthony Richards added 17 points, four rebounds and four assists. Allen had 14 points and four rebounds, while his brother, Drew, finished with 11 points, seven assists and three steals.

Overall, the team forced 29 turnovers.

“We had 17 offensive rebounds and they had 29 turnovers. They had 21 rebounds, so that gave us 25 extra possessions. We averaged 21 last year,” Blundo said. “The Poland game (on Saturday), we didn’t have that because they did a better job on the offensive boards.”

Dean Steliotis paced the Rams with 18 points. In addition, he had a game-high three uniform changes. He got blood on his original and replacement jerseys.

New Castle, which has won 61 of its last 63 games overall, pushed its regular-season win streak to 47 and its section mark to 29. This game was the team’s third in five days. The squad returns to action at home Friday against North Hills.

“I like playing as many games as possible,” Stew Allen said. “Hopefully, we can keep it going Friday.”