Dave Mackall stories, Page 8

Keith Dambrot, the latest coach to try to lead Duquesne back to the NCAA Tournament, doesn’t appear to be giving up on the idea in his seventh season on The Bluff, despite the Dukes’ recent 0-5 start in Atlantic 10 play. Neither do his players. “We know how much we’ve...

Duquesne is angling for a March peak. With just five regular-season games remaining, beginning Friday night at Fordham, the Dukes are showing signs of the team many thought could contend for an Atlantic 10 championship. Dae Dae Grant equaled his season-high of 31 points and edged closer to the nation’s...

Mud wrestling was back at Duquesne. That meant a grind-it-out style Saturday in search of the ultimate goal. Mission accomplished. David Dixon, in just his third start of the season, scored 17 points and got a career-high 10 rebounds for his first career double-double, Jimmy Clark III added 15 points,...

Knoch coach Alan Bauman bristled when it was suggested his team’s first-round playoff opponent, Beaver Area, was coming into the Knights’ gym Friday night having played a highly challenging regular-season schedule. The Bobcats competed in Section 2-4A along with top-ranked Lincoln Park and No. 5 North Catholic. “We’re pretty good,...

Don’t let the wintry forecast fool you, Pitt basketball buffs. Sunny days are here again. Winners of six games in their past seven outings, including victories over No. 9 Duke and No. 21 Virginia, the Panthers (16-8, 7-6 ACC) are back Saturday in search of more good times in a...

They have begun writing their own special story, an intriguing script any coach would peruse with utter delight. Pitt’s ascending freshman backcourt tandem is growing up fast. With the Panthers’ improving season getting even better with Tuesday night’s 74-63 victory at No. 21 Virginia that ended the Cavaliers’ Division I-leading...

Remember that victory last month at Cameron? Add John Paul to the list. The Pitt basketball team is on a roll. In a hot streak that began Jan. 20 with a four-point victory against Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Panthers continued their sizzling surge Tuesday night by knocking off...

When Virginia basketball is mentioned, the Cavaliers get defensive. Isn’t that the point? After all, they have led the ACC in scoring defense for 12 consecutive seasons, and they’re back on top of the heap again this year — and rank third nationally — with an average of 57.7 points...

In the 2020 book, “Alle-Kiski Sports History,” local historian George Guido’s writings offer a multitude of highlights from the Allegheny-Kiski Valley region’s rich sports history, including a nod to the Highlands 1995 WPIAL championship boys basketball team. Ed Jenkins recalls so well that magical time. He was a key part...

Don’t expect Washington coach David Bunting to embrace the idea of the Little Prexies playing Mt. Pleasant in another boys basketball game anytime soon. He’s seen quite enough of the Vikings and their first-year coach, Annie Malkowiak, the first woman to lead a Westmoreland County boys team. Even though Washington...

How many times can Andy Toole say it? How many times can the longtime Robert Morris basketball coach explain the process of becoming a consistent winner? “We’ll say it as many times as we have to,” said Toole, whose Colonials are deep into their fourth season in the Horizon League...

Usually a seeker of postgame cheer, Keith Dambrot to an extent is known even for uttering a light-hearted word in defeat. Wednesday night, however, Duquesne’s basketball coach was in no mood to mince words following a 72-59 loss to Davidson at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse that short-circuited the Dukes’ recent surge....

Deer Lakes held a 20-point lead over Valley when Wayne Love Jr. stopped in his tracks under the Lancers’ basket. Trailing the fast break, Valley’s Keyziyah Clay was anticipating a shot by Love, who instead held the ball while Clay went up for a block before landing on top of...

In Lorain, Ohio, Cleveland’s sports teams rule. It is the hometown of Duquesne basketball star Dae Dae Grant, a self-proclaimed beholder of NBA superstar LeBron James, a native of nearby Akron, whose prolific professional career began in 2003 with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs and Cleveland Browns put basketball and...

Derry made a trip to Valley and came away with a big boys basketball victory Friday night. Huge, in fact. The Trojans clinched a WPIAL playoff berth for the fifth time in the past six seasons, beating the Vikings, 78-51, behind four double-digit scorers, led by Nate Papuga’s 20 points....

Alvis Rogers slid the final bite of a pretzel into his mouth and looked around the visitor’s locker room. Satisfied that everything was in order, the Gateway boys basketball coach, happy to get out of Kiski Area with a victory Thursday night, followed the last of his players into the...

Beware of the trap. Duquesne’s coaches warned their players of that classic situation as they were preparing for the unusual challenge of facing a nonconference opponent at home with the regular season headed into the February stretch run. Luckily for the Dukes, they survived Chicago State’s upset bid Wednesday night...

It seems like only yesterday to Greensburg Central Catholic boys basketball coach Christian Hyland that he was playing in the Centurions’ bandbox gymnasium for championship-caliber teams that generally were torturing visiting opponents. Now, some 10 years later, Hyland is coaching at his alma mater. And his teams are making things...

Duquesne is showing it can win ugly. All of a sudden, that’s fine with the all-of-a-sudden resurgent Dukes. Just ask David Dixon, their electric sophomore forward, whom coach Keith Dambrot often jokes about as “taking the bad with the good.” In Saturday’s 68-59 victory against Fordham at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse,...

Franklin Regional needed its leader to find another gear, and that’s what Cooper Rankin did. The senior guard scored 10 of his 26 points in overtime Friday night to power the fourth-ranked Panthers to their third straight victory, a 63-58 decision over visiting Penn-Trafford in Section 3-5A boys basketball. “I...

During their recent five-game losing streak, a torturous stretch that saw the Duquesne Dukes drop three of their first five Atlantic 10 men’s basketball games by no more than five points, the team says it has remained locked in solidarity. Despite what others may think. “Adversity is always going to...

Never mind the score. That was expected. So, too, for Burrell, was securing its 20th consecutive WPIAL section championship in wrestling. It was, in fact, a mere formality Wednesday night at Greensburg Salem. No. 2 Burrell needed just 25 minutes to complete a 72-0 rout of the outmanned Golden Lions...

The chip squarely was placed on Duquesne’s shoulder. Despite playing for the third time in a row without its leading scorer Tuesday night, the Dukes, against an old nemesis, finally ended a five-game losing streak that began with the start of its Atlantic 10 schedule on Jan. 3, a span...