Quaker Valley Avenges WPIAL Loss at Palumbo Center

Quaker Valley boys basketball team advanced to the PIAA Quarterfinals on Wednesday night by knocking off Sto-Rox, 47-36, at the AJ Palumbo Center in Pittsburgh.  

The victory was especially sweet for QV Coach Mike Mastroianni, whom Sto-Rox had knocked out of the WPIAL Playoffs in consecutive years.  

"We felt like we gave them the first game this year. We didn't finish the game. Tonight we finished."

Quaker Valley jumped out to an early 12-3 lead powered by the early offense of Jamal Gloster, who also had a stand-out defensive game on the Vikings point guard, Lamont Harrison. Just like the last time the two teams, played, however, climbed right back into the game and trailed only 12-10 at the half. The game see-sawed through the second quarter, and QV took a 21-19 lead into the half.  

Things did not look good mid-way through the third quarter for the Quakers, as Sto-Rox jumped to a 27-21 lead and QV looked tentative on offense.

That's when junior made his impression on the game. After Gloster scored a lay-up, Moser rattled off eight consecutive points, including a long 3-pointer and an and-one lay-up. That sparked a 22-5 QV run that turned a six-point deficit into a nine point lead.

The Quakers never looked back.

"I thought that Moser was really key there, he went three straight trips and scored which got us off of the hook," Mastroianni said, "That allowed our other guys to relax and play better. That was the turning point in the game, no doubt."

The Peduto brothers also contributed solid games for . Joe Peduto scored a game-high 11 off the bench, and Sam Peduto chipped in 9. Moser finished with 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Gloster rounded out the balanced scoring for the Quakers with 9 points.

The Quakers entered the contest as the seventh-seeded team from the WPIAL and will face the second seed Monessen on Saturday. The time and location for the game have yet to be determined.  

Check back on the Sewickley Patch for more details on the next game.