Dave Mackall stories, Page 13

As a basketball player at Riverview High School, Bob Rukavina could dish the rock with the best of them. Later in life, in geezer pickup games, he was money off the glass from the left wing. Yet, what he seems most to have done well in his 66 years so...

A men’s basketball season of promise for Duquesne came to a screeching halt Sunday in an 84-78 first-round loss to Rice at the College Basketball Invitational in Daytona Beach, Fla. Still, Duquesne finishes the year with a 20-13 record, a remarkable turnaround from last season’s 6-24 debacle that represented the...

As he was relaxing following a team meal along Florida’s East Coast, Keith Dambrot’s phone began to ring. The Duquesne men’s basketball coach answered and a reporter greeted him on the other end. “How are things going down there, coach?” the caller inquired while noticing the background noise from a...

Colin Kadlick remembers well when his mom babysat Aiden Fletcher — yes, that Aiden Fletcher, the son of the Deer Lakes boys basketball coach, the kid currently playing hoops for his dad, Albie Fletcher. “It seems like yesterday that Aiden was at my house,” said Kadlick, a basketball player at...

ALTOONA — Albie Fletcher makes no secret about where his loyalty lies. “We’re excited to keep our community following us,” Deer Lakes’ first-year boys basketball coach and 1993 school alum said Wednesday night in the moments after the Lancers advanced to the PIAA Class 3A quarterfinals for the second time...

JOHNSTOWN — With some light snow predicted for the ridges of Cambria County, the Highlands boys basketball team set out on a 65-mile trip to Johnstown for its PIAA Class 4A first-round game hoping to avoid any slick spots. When the Rams hit the floor Friday night at Johnstown High...

One look at the anguished expressions was all it took to feel the despair. A season full of surprise and its share of highlights ended in disappointment Wednesday night for the Duquesne men’s basketball team in its first game of the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament as No. 11 La Salle...

One-by-one, they stepped to the free-throw line. Clang! … Swish! … Swish! … Clang! … For every miss by a Duquesne basketball player, there was a chance for everyone to run the floor. A make, of course, bought some extra time. Two days removed from their worst loss of the...

ALTOONA — It didn’t take long for Rune Lawrence to flash the brilliance of his skills in the sport he loves. Frazier’s dominating 189-pound junior showed why he’s a two-time PIAA Class 2A wrestling champion by registering the only fall in the finals of the Southwest Regional championship tournament Saturday...

In three years in the Horizon League since breaking its long union with the Northeast Conference, the Robert Morris men’s basketball team steadily has improved. The Colonials went from four victories in the first year to eight last season to 16 this year, including 10 in the conference. For most...

Michael Green III cherishes his role as sixth man on the Robert Morris men’s basketball team. On Tuesday night, the Colonials senior guard played like No. 1. Green’s 3-point shot with two seconds left lifted Robert Morris to a 67-64 victory over IUPUI in a Horizon League Tournament first-round game...

If you think Craig Thurber, the highly driven wrestling coach at Thiel College, is just blowing smoke by calling Jared Curcio “a tough kid,” think again. If you suspect Curcio, the prosaic former Kiski Area athlete who continues to participate in football and wrestling for the Division III Tomcats, is...

As is often the case this college basketball season, it came down to the final seconds for a result Sunday at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, where Duquesne has been dominant, winning 15 of its first 18 games. This time, the Dukes weren’t so fortunate but still left the window open a...

No matter what happens from here, Jimmy Petruska’s 13th season as women’s basketball coach at Saint Vincent just might be his most special. In a reversal from a year ago, when the Bearcats were tabbed as the Presidents’ Athletic Conference preseason favorites but flopped, there was no sign of a...

With his coach crouching against a wall, Joe Reece stood in front of him on the block several feet from the rim at Duquesne’s practice facility at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse and watched an entry pass with a spin of English from freshman point guard Kareem Rozier bounce off his hands...

Players and coaches for No. 5 seed Deer Lakes huddled in a locker room Thursday night at Moon High School in the moments after a dominating 59-45 victory over No. 4 Mohawk in a WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinal-round boys basketball game. The message was clear: Two down, two to go....

Three years into its Horizon League voyage, Robert Morris is finally making some noise in men’s basketball. After settling for low seeds that resulted in early exits from the Horizon Tournament in their first two seasons in the league, the Colonials on Tuesday night enhanced their chance of securing a...

Penn-Trafford is hot at the right time. In a playoff atmosphere on the Warriors’ home court Friday night, P-T won its third consecutive boys basketball game and fourth in the past five to clinch a WPIAL playoff spot in its final test of the regular season. Jason Sabol scored 18...

The numbers don’t lie. Hempfield’s track and field program produces some eye-popping figures. On a recent Saturday at the PennWest Edinboro Sports and Recreation Center, three members of the Hempfield girls indoor team produced elite numbers at a Tri-State Track Coaches Association meet. With hundreds of boys and girls from...

There’s a new kid on the mat. Upstart Frazier, whose wrestling program is in its seventh season of PIAA competition, is moving on in the WPIAL Class 2A team tournament in its first season in the playoffs. The Section 2 champion Commodores earned a pair of playoff victories Wednesday night...

It’s been a far-from-perfect scenario since the Latrobe hockey team held a closed-door meeting in early November following a pair of uninspired losses that produced just two goals and dropped the Wildcats’ record to .500 after just four games. Despite his team having outscored its first two opponents by a...

For Robert Morris, reaching the .500 mark in the Horizon League men’s basketball standings this late in the season could be a reason to celebrate. Just don’t tell coach Andy Toole. “When you’re worried about making the right play for the team, you’re not worried about stats,” Toole said Sunday...

The marquee moments have been few since the Robert Morris men’s basketball team joined the Horizon League three years ago. The Colonials are a combined 13-34 since ending their long union with the Northeast Conference, where they won nine tournament championships, the last in 2019, their final year in the...

It was a mere formality Wednesday night for No. 2 Burrell to secure its 20th consecutive WPIAL section wrestling title. On their home mat, the Bucs took advantage of five Greensburg Salem forfeits and claimed all but two matches in a 57-6 rout of the outmanned Golden Lions to win...

Perhaps a new voice is needed in the Duquesne men’s basketball camp — temporarily, at least — after two sluggish offensive showings have led to a pair of losses and derailed the Dukes’ surprising, early-season momentum. Following the latest setback — Saturday’s 65-58 decision to Fordham at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse...