By DAN IRWIN
d_irwin@ncnewsonline.com

SLIPPERY ROCK — Sure, they’re apples and oranges — but they both taste pretty sweet to Jake DeMedal.

DeMedal was a starter on Wilmington High’s football team, which captured a state title just two months ago.

Last night, the junior guard dropped in 18 points to lift the Greyhounds basketball squad to a 47-40 win over Titusville in first-round District 10 Class AA playoff action at Slippery Rock University.

Normally, a single playoff victory might not stack up against a state championship, but this one was Wilmington’s first postseason triumph since 1992.

“This win is almost as exciting as football season, because it’s basketball,” said DeMedal, who joins four other football starters among the ’Hounds top five on the hardwood.

“Everyone always dismisses us and we just wanted some respect. Now I think we’re starting to get some.”

The win earned the ’Hounds (15-8) a matchup against Mercyhurst Prep (21-2) at a site and time to be determined.

Titusville (14-9) battled Wilmington to a 17-17 deadlock early in the third period, but the ’Hounds went on a 13-4 run to close out the period. DeMedal provided eight of those points, including a pair of treys.

“Normally, our offense, we like to get inside out, work it inside to our big guys,” DeMedal said. “I was able to hit a couple jumpers and I was opening some stuff up for Spike (Dallas Hartman) and the big guys, and we got rolling.”

The 18-point outing marked a season high for DeMedal, and was just his sixth double-figure scoring performance all year. Three of those efforts, though, have come in Wilmington’s last four games.

“Jake’s been struggling all year,” Wilmington head coach Will Harris said. “He’s just too good of an athlete to play the way he’s been playing.

“He stepped up against Sharpsville (13 points in the regular-season finale) and he had a good week of practice. He’s playing at the level he should be right now. He was really the difference-maker tonight.”

The Greyhounds took a nine-point lead, 30-21, into the final frame, and even though they were just 13-of-23 from the line the rest of the way, the Rockets never got closer than seven points.

Shane Wagner provided 10 more points for Wilmington, which shot just 38 percent (13 of 34) from the floor.

“That wasn’t one of our better games,” Harris said. “That was an ugly game, actually, but they found a way to win.

“I was talking to someone who’s been around Wilmington for a while and I didn’t realize it, but the last time Wilmington won a playoff game was 1992. I told the guys that, and I think that was a little extra incentive for them tonight. It was definitely a great win.”