By Joe Sager
New Castle News

ALIQUIPPA — No time is a good time for a slump.

It’s especially harmful at the end of a season when you’re gasping for your postseason life.

Mohawk High’s struggles continued last night at Aliquippa in a WPIAL Section 2-AA boys basketball battle. The Warriors saw an 11-point second-half lead evaporate in a frustrating 61-49 setback to the Quips.

Aliquippa (7-6 section, 9-11 overall) clinched a playoff berth with the triumph, while Mohawk (6-7, 8-12) saw its postseason aspirations become a do-or-die ordeal. The Warriors, who have lost six of their last seven games, must beat visiting Shenango on Friday and hope New Brighton (6-7, 13-8) loses to visiting Riverside (8-5, 12-8) the same evening.

The Warriors need Beaver Falls (13-0, 18-3), the section champs, to knock off Aliquippa as well to tie the Quips for fourth.

“We’re playing for something, but we were in this situation last year. The last game against Shenango, if we won, we were in; if we lost, we were out. We lost,” Mohawk coach Rob Fadden said. “We wanted to be able to control our own fate, but, obviously, that’s not going to happen now. The disappointing thing is we played well enough to win; we just didn’t make free throws.”

Mohawk blew an 11-point, 38-27, lead in the third, but managed to tie the game at 39-all heading into the fourth quarter.

“As soon as we get a couple guys in foul trouble – we have kind of a short bench,” Fadden said. “We had some key guys sitting on the bench for extended periods in the third, and that definitely hurt us on the offensive end of the floor.”

In the final stanza, the Warriors, who put their full lineup back on the floor, went on an 8-2 run to post a 47-41 advantage with 3:12 to play. However, their foul-line struggles continued. They went 0 for 6 from the charity stripe from that point. Overall, they were 4 for 10 in the fourth quarter and 12 for 27 for the game.

“We had our opportunity,” Fadden said. “Aliquippa didn’t shoot it great from the line either, but they made some late. We were 12 for 27 and, realistically, you shouldn’t even be in the game if you’re 12 for 27 at the line.”

The Quips converted 14 of their 30 free throws, but made 4 of 6 in the final 46.5 seconds to take the win.

“It’s been a trying year so far. I am proud because we never stopped fighting during all this adversity, which is good for us. We’ve gone through a lot. Tonight was a good thing for us,” Aliquippa coach Bobby Williams said. “I am real appreciative of the fact that we were able to play hard the whole way through and pull out a win.”

Aliquippa, normally a basketball power, has struggled with roster turnover this season. However, the Quips were able to shake off a slow first half for the rallies in the third and fourth quarters.

“Sometimes, we just come out flat. One game, we’ll play with intensity and start the game that way. Other games, we’ll just come out flat. We have to understand we can’t do this,” Williams said. “We have to get into playoff mode and start playing hard. Mohawk is a good team. They play hard. We knew it was going to be a battle because they are in a battle to make the playoffs, too.”

Mohawk’s Jonathan Grim led all scorers with 14 points despite missing a majority of the third quarter with foul trouble. Lucas Grim and Vince Menichino both added 11 points for the Warriors.