PIAA BOYS PLAYOFFS Kennedy advances past DuBois, 67-46

The Eagles move on to the western semifinal round.
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- Kennedy Catholic High basketball coach Tim Loomis refers to it as the five steps to Hershey and the state championship game.
After disposing of Serra Catholic 68-37 in the opening round of the PIAA Class A playoffs, the Golden Eagles took the second of those five steps Tuesday as they downed DuBois Central Catholic, 67-46, to advance to the western semifinals.
"We look at this a little differently than most teams," Loomis said. "It is a five-game series when you start this and anybody who looks at it game-to-game is making a mistake.
"I said this series would be won on the glass and playing good perimeter defense and so far, we are doing a pretty good job in both of those areas," Loomis said.
Rozenblad ignites Eagles
With both teams struggling and tied at 7 five minutes into the game, Kennedy's Blair Rozenblad took over as he scored nine straight points as the Golden Eagles opened up a 19-9 lead.
Rozenblad completed his double-double by adding 10 rebounds to his 20 points.
"We weren't getting the ball inside early in the game," Loomis said. "They weren't really scoring, but we didn't work the ball real well against their zone.
"Once we penetrated and dumped it inside, Blair took over and that kind of got us going," Loomis said.
The Golden Eagles closed out the first half with a 14-4 run to take a 33-15 lead at halftime.
As Loomis sees it, playing tough defense and rebounding are the two big keys to staying alive.
"We weren't real happy with [David] Jackson's rebounding in the last game and he stepped it up tonight and did a real good job," Loomis said. "We also distributed the ball real well in the second half."
Jackson also had a double-double for Kennedy with 17 points and 15 rebounds, while Brandon Mirizio led the Golden Eagles in the floor game with nine assists.
For the Cardinals (22-7), the Varacallo brothers, Matt and Albert combined to score 33 of Central Catholic's 46 points. Matt led all scorers with 23 points, while Albert chipped in with 10.