By JOHN D’ABRUZZO
j_dabruzzo@ncnewsonline.com

MEADVILLE — It was a frustrating night for the Wilmington High boys basketball team.

Missed shots and a lack of offensive rebounds against a tough Mercyhurst Prep defense led to the Greyhounds being trounced 47-27 in a District 10, Class AA semifinal at Meadville High School last night.

Mercyhurst Prep (22-2) advances to the championship game and will play Fairview (20-4), which knocked off Region 2 champion Reynolds last night, 43-38.

Reynolds (22-2), the only region champion left among at-large seeds in the bracket, will play Wilmington (15-9) in the consolation game. The winner will earn a berth into the PIAA Class AA playoffs and play the WPIAL runner-up on March 7.

It will be the third meeting between the Region 2 foes. The Raiders won both regular-season games by two points. “I think we owe them something,” Harris said. “Hopefully, we can bounce back from this.”

Mercyhurst clinched its spot in the state playoffs with ease, forcing four early Wilmington turnovers to start the game on a 10-0 run.

“We weren’t patient and we had too many bad possessions,” Wilmington coach Will Harris said.

The ’Hounds didn’t score until senior guard Shane Wagner’s 3-pointer with 3:27 left in the quarter. Junior guard Jake DeMedal followed with a pair of foul shots before Mercyhurst Prep closed the quarter with a 6-0 run to lead16-5.

“We made some shots and that was a good thing,” Lakers’ coach Pat Flaherty said. “That set the tempo and gave us some energy and intensity on defensive.”

The ’Hounds committed a total of 18 turnovers, seven in the first quarter.

“To Mercyhurst Prep’s credit, they played that great side defense where they cut the floor in half and don’t let you reverse it,” Harris said. “We worked the past couple days skipping the pass and for some reason we didn’t do that in the beginning of the game.

“That’s where their weakness is and we didn’t expose that, and we let them use their strength against us.”

Carson Sharbaugh helped Wilmington cut the deficit to 16-11 with back-to-back 3s at the start of the second quarter. But that was as close as the ’Hounds would get.

“They box out with five guys, so you’re not going to get too many looks and offensive rebounds,” Harris said. “You’re going to get one chance.

“We did get some good looks in the first half, but other than Sharbaugh, we didn’t knock them down.”

Sharbaugh, a senior forward, made 3 of 5 attempts from behind the arc and scored all nine of Wilmington’s second-quarter points. It was also his total for game and high for the ’Hounds.

“Carson stepped up tonight when some of the other guys got down early,” Harris said. “Carson was one of the positives.”

Mercyhurst Prep’s senior forward Rick Mejewski, who had a game-high 15 points, matched Sharbaugh with nine in the second as the Lakers built a 28-14 lead at the half.

“We knew ball pressure and blocking out were going to be key,” Flaherty said. “They were a little bigger than us, but the kids did a good job pressuring the ball.

Wilmington’s shooting woes continued in the second half. The ’Hounds were outscored 11-8 in the third quarter and only mustered five points in the final stanza.

Josh Chojnacki, a 6-foot-8 junior, added 14 points for the Lakers.