Kennedy Catholic rolls past Union City in district opener

By BILL ALBRIGHT

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

SHARON — When you’ve won 10 consecutive district basketball championships, what do you do for an encore?

In the case of the Kennedy Catholic boys basketball team, the answer is simple. You put yourself in the position to win yet another crown.

Tuesday night at Sharon’s Tiger Gymnasium, the Golden Eagles took that first big step in defending their 2006-07 title as they dominated Union City (11-15) by the final of 72-43 to reach the district title game.

Although they won the game by 29 points, Kennedy (16-9) was forced to shake off a slow start before cruising to the win as they only led by three (15-12) at the end of the first period before taking a 35-28 lead at halftime.

“I think it was a combination of two things [layoff and opponent],” said Marlon McGaughy. “They [Union City] are a good team. I wasn’t really worried, but I told the guys at halftime they had to step up the defense, crash the boards and it worked out for us.”

Leading by seven at halftime, the Golden Eagles threw a press at the Bears, and as a result, outscored their opponents by a 37-15 margin in the second half to win going away.

“We worked on that [the press] all year,” said McGaughy. “We just didn’t want to bring it out in the playoffs and it worked for us tonight.”

Leading the Eagles to their win was junior guard Kyle Randall with a game-high 26 points. Although Randall was the only Kennedy player to notch double figures, three others came close as Robin Hood finished with nine, while Jake Penn and Jordan Branca each chipped in with eight.

For Union City, Tyler Dawson led the way with 13 points and Tyler Williams had 11. Dawson completed his double-double by yanking down 16 rebounds.

In the title game, the Eagles will face Iroquois for the gold at a time and place to be determined by PIAA officials. The Braves defeated West Middlesex by the final of 44-30 in the other semifinal game.

As for who his team would play in the title game, McGaughy indicated that it didn’t really matter to him.

“Right now we are just going to enjoy this one,” he said. “We will wait until tomorrow to take look at who we play.”

The season hasn’t necessarily been a typical Kennedy campaign as the Eagles struggled early against some real quality opponents, showing only four wins in their first 11 starts.

However, since 2008 rolled around, the Eagles have won 12 of their last 14 games, including a perfect 12-0 mark in regional play.

“When we lost last year in the [state] semifinals, I talked with some of the coaches and we agreed that we needed to play strong teams before beginning region play,” McGaughy said. “As it turned out, those games got us ready to play in this tournament [district].”