1-7-20 WPIAL Boys Basketball Recap: Norwin @ Fox Chapel

Fox Chapel and Norwin both did something cool during the pregame warmup. Both teams, on their own side of the court, shot three balls in their own basket at the same time and the balls got stuck in both nets. I had never seen that before, but that was pretty cool.

Anyway, Fox Chapel was the team that was making noise as they defeated Section 3 (6A) opponent, Norwin, by a score of 63-48. This was the type of win that Fox Chapel needed to continue to stay on top of the WPIAL Boys 6A rankings. The Foxes were without seniors Will Livingston (illness), and Arnold Vento (ankle) in this game, but they had no problem at all beating Norwin.

Norwin was able to make some 3-point baskets, but Fox Chapel simply just had them beat. Junior Jayden Walker made his season debut for Norwin after missing the first ten games of the season due to a surgery that he had during baseball season of last school year. Walker scored 5 points for Norwin while junior Tyler Billinsky led the Knights in points with 14. The Knights made 6 3-point shots in the game as all of freshman Adam Paul Billinsky and junior Alex Gabauer's points were from the 3-point line. They both had 6 points.

For Fox Chapel, they continue to see they have a star sophomore basketball player in Eli Yofan. He led the Foxes in points in this game with 19. Also, sophomores James Dockey, and Russell Fenton both scored 11 points for the Foxes. 3-point shots were the way that the Foxes scored. Dockey scored a 3-pointer right at the buzzer before halftime which you can say was pretty sweet. A total of 11 3-point shots were made by Fox Chapel. Junior Kent Baldauf scored 9 points in the game for Foxes as all of his 9 points were 3-point shots. He scored all of his points in the first half.

Eli Yofan's dunk in the middle of the fourth quarter got the crowd going as it was a turning point that made it clear that the Foxes were meant to win this game. Fox Chapel's student section theme for tonight's game was "Jersey Night" and you could say it was a success. Anyway, Fox Chapel went 8/10 in free-throws while Norwin went 4/8 in free-throws.

If you are on the court for Fox Chapel, head coach Zachary Skrinjar, expects you to make plays and the Foxes have a bench of players that can show up and play. After this win, Fox Chapel improved their section record to 3-0 and their overall record to 11-0. After this loss for Norwin, their section record is 0-3 while their overall record is 8-3. If Norwin could only play teams out of their section every single game, oh well. Give Norwin credit though, they only had a total of 8 wins last season, and they already have 8 wins this season under new head coach Buddy Valinsky. He coached at Taylor Allderdice prior to coaching at Norwin. There is a whole month of basketball that is still yet to be played, so Norwin can get better.

Fox Chapel's next game is on Friday at home against section opponent, Penn-Trafford. Norwin's next game is on Friday at home against section opponent Latrobe. Fox Chapel is getting some attention because of the hot start that they have had. Let's see how long they can go undefeated! Perhaps, we could see them at Hershey Center in March. You just never know.

Brentaro Yamane: bythebossandgoat@gmail.com and Twitter @BYHilton13