The crowd watched in awe as Josh Taylor stole a pass at mid-court and threw down a breakaway dunk in the final seconds to lift Brentwood to a two-point victory against Burgettstown. The play certified Taylor as a big-time player capable of not only carrying his team into the WPIAL playoffs but delivering in the clutch. “The bottom line is, that’s what good players do,” said Dave Mislan, Brentwood’s first-year coach who sat in the bleachers for that Class AA preliminary round game last year. “The ones who you end up knowing their name, they make plays when the game is on the line. There’s no doubt with Josh. Not only does he want the ball, but he steps up and makes something happen.” To Taylor, however, it was just another play. “It felt good at the time but now when I look at it, it was just a play to keep us going farther in the playoffs,” Taylor said. “I think it was good for us to get the program back to winning again, making the playoffs. That was just a small step last year. I think we can go a lot deeper this time.” Taylor is hoping to shine again when Brentwood (17-7) plays Washington (19-4) in a WPIAL Class AA preliminary round game at 8 tonight at South Fayette. The Eastern Kentucky signee has emerged as one of the WPIAL’s top players despite playing in a classification loaded with Division I talent. The list includes Duquesne recruits Antonio DiMaria of Bishop Canevin and Steve McNees of Shenango, Radford recruit Amir Johnson of Quaker Valley, as well as Beaver Falls’ Lance Jeter, Aliquippa’s Jonathan Baldwin and Herb Pope and Jeannette sophomore Terrelle Pryor, who has committed to Pitt. “Everywhere you turn, you have Division I players. You add up the rest of the classifications and you can’t get five,” Mislan said. “I wouldn’t trade Josh for any one of them.” Taylor, a 6-foot-7, 215-pound senior forward, is averaging 22.3 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots a game this season. He gives Brentwood a low-post presence capable of shooting from 3-point range and handling the ball on the perimeter. “If you put someone my height on me, I can take them outside because they’re too slow to guard me off the dribble,” Taylor said. “If you put a small forward on me, I’ll take them inside.” A four-year starter who has scored 1,527 career points, Taylor has been largely responsible for Brentwood’s turnaround from a 3-20 team in 2003-04 to one that has won a total of 31 games and made the playoffs the past two seasons. What impresses Mislan is how Taylor makes his teammates better and lifts the Spartans to improbable wins. Brentwood won at two-time defending WPIAL Class AAA champion Moon and topped Bishop Canevin and South Fayette in Section 3. “Josh is great,” Mislan said. “Everybody we play against, he is their bull’s-eye. They’re beating him up, not with one guy, but two or three. He takes it, doesn’t get aggravated by it and he gets the other guys involved. “I’ll be honest, there are teams more skilled than us. You don’t go to Moon as a small school with a normal team and compete against them without a guy like Josh. I’m saying to myself, ‘He’s going to give us a shot.’ I’d go to battle with him against anybody in the WPIAL. Having Josh gives you a chance against just about anybody.”

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