WILLIAMSPORT — Nativity was competing in its first PIAA playoff game since 2007 on Friday night.
A slow start cost the Hilltoppers any chance of advancing to the next round.
St. John Neumann, the District 4 champ, used its quick start to power past Nativity 91-59 in the opening round of the Class A Tournament at Williamsport High School.
Nativity (15-10) fell into a 12-0 hole in the first four minutes of the opening quarter and never recovered.
“I felt like the slow start killed us,” Nativity coach Kevin Kennedy said. “The first three or four minutes of a game are very important, and the way we started out hurt. We got too far behind too early.”
Jeff Yordy got the Hilltoppers on the board with a 3-pointer to make it 12-3, but that was the closest Nativity got to catching the fast-paced Golden Knights.
St. John Neumann (26-1) forced 13 first-half turnovers en route to a 48-24 lead at halftime.
Yordy paced the Hilltoppers offense in the first half with 12 points, followed by Dominic Piccioni with six.
Piccioni went on to score a team-high 19 total points, while Yordy finished with 15.
“They’ve been two key players for us,” Kennedy said of his leading scorers. “All the kids played hard — the whole starting five and the seven we basically play have good teamwork.”
Nativity opened the third quarter with a quick field goal from Ayden Adams and then another by Piccioni, who scored 12 points in the quarter.
The Hilltoppers outscored the Knights 20-19 in the third, but could not keep up with the Knights’ momentum in the fourth.
“We knew how quick they were,” Kennedy said. “In practice, we put seven guys on our varsity team. We worked hard on it, but sometimes you can’t coach quickness.”
Kevin Anderson led St. John Neumann with 23 points, and Naszu Short tallied 22, including 16 in the second half.
After the loss, Kennedy said he told his team to remember that it was the first Nativity squad to reach the PIAA playoffs in eight years.
“The guys should hold their heads up and be proud,” Kennedy said. “What they’ve done for this school hasn’t been done in the last eight years, and that’s phenomenal.”
Game Summary
PIAA Class A Boys’ First Round
At Williamsport High School
NATIVITY (59) — Piccioni 7 3-3 19, Szeliga 0 2-4 2, Greco 2 0-0 4, Winter 0 0-0 0, Hoppel 3 0-1 7, Yordy 5 3-6 15, Hunyara 0 2-3 2, Adams 3 0-0 6, Shatalsky 0 0-0 0, Belding 0 0-0 0, Nelson 2 0-0 4, White 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 10-17 59.
ST. JOHN NEUMANN (91) — K. Anderson 9 2-6 23, Mars 2 0-0 5, Gough 0 0-0 0, O. Anderson 6 4-5 17, Henderson 0 0-0 0, Beiter 6 1-2 13, Persun 0 0-0 0, Roman 0 1-2 1, Short 7 8-16 22, Lynch 0 0-2 0, Reid 5 0-3 10. Totals 35 16-36 91.
Nat (15-10) 9 15 20 15 — 59 SJN (26-1) 19 29 19 24 — 91
3-point FGs: Piccioni 2, Hoppel, Yordy 2, K. Anderson 3, Mars, O. Anderson