If Greater Latrobe boys basketball coach Ray Zsolcsak had his way, he wouldn't have his team play in the annual Latrobe Rotary Invitational.
The veteran coach doesn't like the current format. He'd rather play a school from the WPIAL and have today off to get ready for section play that begins Monday.
Playing in the annual tournament for the past 13 seasons has not been an advantage for the Wildcats, who have only won once in 25 games. They've also lost 18 consecutive times with their only win coming in 1991.
Zsolcsak also knows that when you turn the ball over 25 times and shoot less than 25 percent from the field, you're not going to win many games no matter who the opponent is.
That's what happen to the Wildcats on Friday when they dropped a 50-22 decision to Simon Gratz, one of the top teams from the fabled Philadelphia Public League.
The Wildcats shot poorly from the field and didn't handle Simon Gratz's quickness on defense, falling to 1-3 on the season.
"I don't know what happened with our shooting," Zsolcsak said. "I don't know if we were intimidated by them or what.
"We had the open shot from the outside and rushed it. When we got the ball underneath, we didn't pump-fake. We also didn't get too many second chances."
The Wildcats were their own worse enemy early in the game. But the Bulldogs quickness and athletic ability took over in the second half.
Latrobe led 4-2 early on consecutive buckets by Brian Wallace. But Simon Gratz used a 9-0 run to end the quarter to take an 11-4 edge. The Wildcats cut the Bulldogs lead to 13-9 in the second quarter when Dan Scriver nailed a three-pointer and Wallace hit a jumper.
Simon Gratz closed the half with a 6-0 run to grab a 19-9 lead at halftime.
"We tried to get the team to play patient," Zsolcsak said. "I was worried that they didn't understand completely what we wanted them to do. I felt if we kept the game in the 40s, we'd have a shot at winning. But I never would have dreamed we would shoot so poorly."
Simon Gratz started to pull away in the second quarter when Michael Blackshear, a 6-foot-7 forward who will attend Temple next season, started to assert himself. Blackshear finished with a game-high 12 points, had 11 rebounds, four blocked shots and three steals.
"We didn't play with confidence," Zsolscak said. "And they started to push the ball up and down the floor.
"I'm not sure playing them (Simon Gratz) will help us down the road. I don't think the players really care if it was honor to play them or not. I'd like to see the format change."
Latrobe will battle Hatboro Horsham (1-1) in the consolation game at 6:30 p.m. today, and then Zsolscak has one day to get his Wildcats ready to open Section 1-AAAA play Monday against Penn-Trafford.
Simon Gratz will play Pittsburgh Central Catholic in tonight's finals. The Vikings, winners of last year's tournament, defeated Hatboro Horsham 46-41 in the first game last night.
