Old Forge had trouble containing 6-foot-8 Mamadou Kane (23) on the boards in Friday’s state final loss to Sewickley Academy.
Tom Robinson | For Sunday Dispatch
Old Forge coaches and players hug after starters were removed from the lineup in Friday’s state final. Head coach J.J. Thomas is at right with Cameron Parker (4) while assistant Rick Notari is with Arthur Askew (23).
Tom Robinson | For Sunday Dispatch
HERSHEY — Old Forge never stopped showing off the defensive intensity and efficiency that carried the Blue Devils all the way to their first Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association championship game appearance in 93 years.
In the end, however, on Friday afternoon, Old Forge was never able to solve the height issues that disrupted the Blue Devils offensively and on the glass.
An extended Old Forge dry spell to open the second half allowed District 7 champion Sewickley Academy to pull away for a 52-36 victory in the state Class 2A boys final at the Giant Center in Hershey.
“We had a game plan, and we executed it,” Blue Devils coach J.J. Thomas said. “We were right there in the first half. It was just a couple bounces here and there, a couple rebounds here and there. I think we had them where we wanted them.
“We came out in the second half with a slow start, and it got away from us a little bit.
“But, I can’t fault the effort. It was there all season. It’s a really good group. I’m proud of this team. I’m really going to miss them.”
Cameron Parker, coming off scoring 55 points in the previous six quarters of state play, opened the game with a 3-pointer from the left corner on the first possession. After he scored just 15 seconds in, Logan Fanning added a free throw, and the Blue Devils held the Panthers scoreless for the first 2½ minutes for a four-point lead.
Old Forge went the rest of the quarter without a field goal and did not score at all in the final 5:11 of the first or the first 28 seconds of the second as Sewickley Academy ran off 11 straight points for a 13-6 lead on a Caden Battles 3-pointer a second before the first-quarter buzzer.
The Blue Devils withstood their first offensive drought because of a defense that held a Panthers lineup, with an average height advantage of five inches across the frontline, to 33 percent shooting in the first half.
Old Forge (22-7) played Sewickley Academy (30-1) on even terms in the second quarter, with the help of five points by Camren Krushnowski and four by Cameron Parker, to get to halftime within 24-17.
“Our defense, I feel very good about,” Parker said. “They average (68) points on the season, and we held them to 24 in the first half.”
The story was different on the other end of the floor, where the Blue Devils had trouble finishing against 6-foot-8 junior Adam Ikamba from the Democratic Republic of Congo, 6-foot-8 sophomore Mamadou Kane, and 6-foot-5 freshman Eric Craciun from Romania.
Sewickley Academy held Old Forge scoreless for the last 1:25 of the first half and the first 6:04 of the second half. By scoring the first 11 points of the third quarter, it opened a 35-17 lead.
Late in that run, the Panthers finally began to break down the Blue Devils’ defense, combining score and clock situations to be able to pull the ball out and force Old Forge to chase in a man-to-man defense.
“We knew we weren’t going to be able to match up with them, so we went with a match-up zone, and I think that worked,” Thomas said.
Once Sewickley Academy isolated Kane and Ikamba, they took over.
Kane had 13 points and 10 rebounds in the second half to finish with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Ikamba scored the first six points of the third quarter and finished with 14.
The prominence of international players on the Panthers’ roster added to the usual private vs. public undercurrent of PIAA championships, particularly in basketball. Ten private schools, including Old Forge and Central Dauphin, the only public schools, were among the dozen boys’ state finalists.
When Old Forge put a small dent in the Sewickley Academy lead in the fourth quarter, a “U-S-A, U-S-A” chant started up briefly.
Parker said he found “public school state champion” signs “funny,” but he was not about to add to the debate.
“At the end of the day, it’s a basketball team against a basketball team,” he said. “Wherever they’re from, both teams gave a really good effort, and I’m glad I got to step on the court with them.
“They’re a really good basketball team.”
The size advantage helped Sewickley Academy to a 35-19 rebounding lead, 16 second-chance points, and a 28-10 advantage in points produced in the paint.
Fanning, who blocked four shots, and Krushnowski scored 10 points each while Parker added nine.
