By RON PONIEWASZ JR.
rponiewasz@ncnewsonline.com

New Castle High boys basketball standout Nick Colella dialed long distance last night and he got an answer.

Colella buried an NBA-range 3-pointer with two seconds left in regulation to tie it. Then the Red Hurricane caught fire and breezed to a 58-48 overtime verdict over North Hills in a WPIAL Section 3-AAAA contest at the Ne-Ca-Hi Field House.

“It’s unbelievable,” New Castle coach Mark Stanley said. “Nick has a flair for the dramatic and he’s able to knock down the big shot.
“Nick was just able to catch it, squared his shoulders and boom.”

It’s the third straight win for New Castle (3-4 section, 7-9 overall) and third overtime contest in the last four matchups.

“That’s a good heart check. The guys are checking to see if I can make it through,” said a smiling Stanley.

With the clock winding down in regulation and trailing 41-38, the ’Canes were struggling to get a good look at a shot and Stanley called for a timeout. New Castle inbounded the ball on the side with 5.4 seconds remaining and Colella wiggled free, catching it cleanly at the top of the key and launched a 3-pointer that found nothing but net.

“I knew it was coming to me and I wanted it to come to me,” Colella said. “When Chris (Richards) set the screen, soon as it released from my fingertips I knew it was going in.”

“The thing that was tough was the game going to overtime,” Indians coach Buzz Gabos said. “I didn’t want to foul away from the ball.

“I’m afraid we would have got called for an intentional foul.”

The Indians (2-5, 10-7) passed the ball in and threw up a shot from three-quarter court that was short and the game went to an extra session.

North Hills’ Dante Anglin, a 6-foot-4 senior forward, picked up his fourth foul with 4:29 remaining in the fourth quarter. His foul trouble limited his aggressiveness on Colella’s basket and his play the rest of the way.

“My situation there was Anglin had four fouls and if it went another four minutes they were going to get him to pick up his fifth,” Gabos said. “I don’t know that we could beat them with him off the floor.

“We were forced to have Anglin let (Colella) catch it up the line and he didn’t have any backside help at all. If you don’t finish it in regulation then you can’t play as aggressive as you want in overtime.”

Anglin netted a team-high 14 points for the Indians but none after he picked up his fourth foul. In fact, Anglin missed the front-end of a one-and-one with 14.8 seconds left in regulation that could have sealed it.

Colella’s basket sent the crowd into a frenzy and energized the ’Canes as well. They came out strong in overtime, taking the lead for good at 44-41 on a Tyrone Steals blocked shot and a 3-pointer on the other end by Tonio Fulena with 3:11 left.

“When it comes to overtime, we just look in each other’s eyes and we know we’re not going to lose,” Colella said. “It’s amazing; the fans just fire us up and it just runs through us.”

From there, New Castle put the game away mostly with its foul shooting. The ’Canes were just 4 of 11 from the line in regulation but sank of 8 of 10 attempts in overtime.

“Coach said free throws will win this game and he was exactly right,” Colella said.

New Castle fell behind 7-2 but rallied with a 13-0 run for a 15-7 lead late in the first quarter. The ’Canes held a 15-9 buffer after one and 25-20 at the break.

“Our 7-2 start was sluggish but that’s where we picked it up,” Stanley said.

The third quarter was not kind to the hosts, as the ’Canes turned the ball over four times and scored just seven points — all by Colella.

Colella finished with game-high totals of 23 points and 13 rebounds.

“I don’t think he came out one minute. He played all 36 minutes and gave a warrior’s effort,” Stanley said. “He played a lot of positions for us, too.

Steals was next with 14 markers and nine rebounds for the winners.
New Castle returns to action at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Shaler for another critical section encounter.