No. 1 Jeannette continued to prove the WPIAL basketball committee right — it did deserve the top seed in Class AA.
Jeannette used a big second half and rallied to defeat No. 4 South Fayette, 53-48, in a semifinal-round game at Baldwin. Jeannette (22-3) will play North Catholic in the finals at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Palumbo Center. North Catholic defeated Monessen, 65-58, in the other semifinal game.
The returning WPIAL and PIAA champions are making their third consecutive trip to the finals. They defeated Beaver Falls in the finals last season.
Jordan Hall, who finished with a game-high 18 points, scored 10 points in the fourth quarter when Jeannette took advantage after starting from a 34-33 deficit. Hall also had nine rebounds, five assists and four steals.
"We've had a lot of stars here the last three years, and sometimes people forget about Jordan," Jeannette coach Jim Nesser said. "He's a great player, great athlete and great kid. He's a winner. We expect him to make big shots and make those types of plays."
But Nesser was first to say Hall has a lot of help. He said this team is a bunch of winners.
"This is amazing," Nesser said about making the finals again. "I told the players before the game that I don't know how many people believed that we'd get this far.
"As a team we did. As a coaching staff we did. I don't think people believed that we were this good. We are that good."
Jeannette took control early in the fourth quarter by using a 10-1 run. After Moziah Harris (13 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots) tied the score at 34 with a free throw, Hall hit a driving layup and free throw after a steal by Darius Brown, giving Jeannette the lead for good at 37-34.
"Early on, we struggled offensively, and it affected our defense," Nesser said. "In the third quarter, Darius made some plays defensively, and we picked up our defensive pressure on the perimeter.
"We made a few small adjustments at halftime and we picked up our defensive intensity, and it made the different in the game."
Jeannette defeated South Fayette in overtime in the quarterfinals last year.
"We knew they'd play hard," South Fayette coach Rich Bonnaure said. "We played terrible in the second half, but give them credit for that. We didn't take advantage of our size and that was part of our plan. We were tentative.
"I feel they earned it more than they did last year. They played a real good game and I thought we stunk."
South Fayette, behind 12 first half points by Mike Lamberti (16 points), built a 24-14 lead in the second quarter. But Hall, who was held scoreless for the first 12 minutes of the game, scored eight points in the final 3:30 of the half, including a 3-pointer late to cut the South Fayette lead to 27-20 at halftime.
Patrick Zedreck finished with 12 points for the Lions, who will resume play in the PIAA playoffs on March 7.
Jeannette scored the first seven points of the second half, five by Brown and two by Dane Vaughan, to tie the score, and South Fayette seemed to falter under Jeannette's pressure.
"We lost our poise for the first time 19 games," Bonnaure said. "To beat a team like that, you have to play with poise. We didn't and they kept their composure. They played with more discipline than we did."
