By RON PONIEWASZ JR.
rponiewasz@ncnewsonline.com

The celebration continued for the Neshannock High boys basketball team last night.

After clinching a WPIAL Class AA playoff berth on Tuesday, the Lancers worked overtime to extend their winning streak to six games.

Tony Kirkwood’s jumper with 2.6 seconds to go in the extra session propelled Neshannock to a 66-65 win over Summit Academy in a Section 2-AA encounter on the Lancers’ home floor.

“I’m proud of our kids,” Neshannock coach Jim Smiley said. “To do what we’ve done is much more difficult than to start winning and keep winning.
“While winning is contagious, so is losing. Our kids had to drag themselves up off the deck whenever everybody doubted them.”

Neshannock (6-6 section, 11-10 overall) was left for dead just three weeks ago but has turned things around quickly. The Lancers defeated Shenango on Tuesday to clinch the final playoff berth out of the section.

Neshannock’s win over the Knights (7-5, 11-11) eliminated the Wildcats.
“We were dead in the water a month ago,” Smiley said. “I tried every angle I could to get us going.

“I wanted to make sure that we didn’t accept losing, which we never did. The kids kept plugging away and we really didn’t change much; here we are and we’re playing very well.”

Michael Richards buried a pair of foul shots with 1:05 left in overtime for the Lancers to close to 65-64. Neshannock committed a steal on the inbounds pass and Richards’ shot was off the mark and Elexis Rosario snared the rebound for Summit Academy.

Neshannock’s Joey Fontana fouled out on the play, sending Rosario to the foul line. Rosario failed on the front-end of the one-and-one and the Lancers secured the rebound.

Mike Conglose’s 3-pointer with six seconds left was long and the Knights knocked the rebound out of bounds. Tony Kirkwood got the inbound pass and launched a shot from just inside the arc at the top of the key that was all net for a 66-65 Lancers lead with 2.6 left.

“I wanted the big shot,” Kirkwood said. “Conglose kicked the ball out to me and I drove in a bit and hit the shot.”

Kirkwood, who comes off the bench, was seeing his first action of the second half, taking over for Fontana with 32.7 seconds left in overtime.

“It’s tough to go in cold; you have to get used to the atmosphere,” Kirkwood said. “I just blocked all that out, though.”

Summit Academy had one last chance, but Henry Brown’s runner as time expired rolled off the rim and the Lancers escaped with the victory.

Michael Richards tied the game with four seconds left in regulation at 59 on a field goal. After a timeout, the Knights’ Laron Green drove the length of the floor and hit a layup but it was just a shade after the buzzer sounded, sending the game into an extra session.

“That was too close for comfort,” Smiley said. “What we wanted to do was when the kid got the ball we wanted to make him spin.

“They’re so quick you just can’t catch him. They were going for the home run and fortunately we had people back covering the play.”

Neshannock trailed nearly the entire half. The Lancers led once at 17-15 early in the second quarter before Summit Academy grabbed control for a 30-21 halftime buffer.

“They’re good and athletic,” Smiley said of the Knights. “They had our kids back on their heels; we were doubting ourselves at halftime.”
The hosts didn’t lead again until four seconds into overtime when Mike Conglose hit a basket in the lane for a 61-59 advantage. Getting the lead was big for the Lancers.

“We could never get ahead of them to draw them out,” Smiley said.

Conglose led all scorers with 19 points, 15 of which came in the second half. He now has 994 career markers. Conglose also pulled down five boards.

Fontana and J.T. Graham added 12 points each for the Lancers. Fontana dished out five assists.

Brown tallied 18 points to lead the Knights.

Turnovers plagued both teams. Summit Academy committed 30 miscues, compared to 17 for Neshannock.