Wilson shut down by Pittsburgh Central Catholic, sees season end
MONROEVILLE – The Wilson Bulldogs were on the road for 3 ½ hours to reach their PIAA Tournament opener Saturday afternoon. The ride home probably felt even longer.
The Bulldogs saw their season come to an end with a 50-28 loss to Pittsburgh Central Catholic in a Class 6A first round game at Gateway High School.
The Bulldogs (19-10), who have struggled to score throughout the postseason, had trouble again, finishing with season-low point total.
Cole Sullivan, a 6-3 junior who has football offers from Penn State, Notre Dame and other top programs, scored a game-high 13 points to lead Central Catholic (17-9), the District 7 champion.
Cleveland Harding and Aidan Melograna each scored six points, tops for Wilson, which entered as the No. 7 seed out of District 3. Melograna had Wilson’s only 3-pointers; he finished the season with 64 in 30 games, second-most in the league.
Dante DePante, a 6-3 senior and one of the top guards in the WPIAL, scored six first-quarter points for the Vikings, who took an 11-7 lead into the second quarter. They were up 24-15 at the half and 36-23 after three quarters.
Central Catholic opened the fourth quarter with a 9-3 run to put the game away.
DePante finished with 10 points, seven below his average. He scored 88 points in three district playoff games.
Central Catholic advances to play District 6 champ State College (24-2), a 72-42 first-round winner over Upper St. Clair.
Wilson averaged 44 points over seven postseason games, with 30 in a Berks Conference semifinal loss to Reading High and 38 in a district quarterfinal loss to Cumberland Valley. The Bulldogs finished the season going 7-7 over the final two months after a 12-3 start.
This was Wilson’s first trip to state tournament since 2020, when it beat Reading High for the District 3 championship.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Wilson | 7 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 26 |
| Central Catholic | 11 | 13 | 12 | 14 | 50 |
| Bulldogs (19-10) | FG | FT | PTs |
| Jones | 2 | 0-0 | 4 |
| Gruber | 1 | 2-2 | 4 |
| Hunsicker | 0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Harding | 3 | 0-0 | 6 |
| Melograna | 2 | 0-0 | 6 |
| Odiale | 2 | 0-1 | 4 |
| Breslin | 0 | 2-2 | 2 |
| Twiford | 0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Ciniewicz | 0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| McFadden | 0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Aikings | 0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Crocona | 0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Gehr | 1 | 0-0 | 2 |
| C. Hunsicker | 0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Totals | 11 | 4=5 | 28 |
| Vikings (16-9) | FG | FT | PTs |
| Wilkerson | 2 | 0-1 | 6 |
| Wehner | 1 | 0-0 | 2 |
| Depante | 3 | 4-4 | 10 |
| Kristian | 4 | 0-0 | 10 |
| Sullivan | 6 | 1-2 | 13 |
| Tshiebwe | 4 | 0-0 | 9 |
| Totals | 20 | 5-7 | 50 |
3-point field goals: Melograna 2; Kristian 2, Wilkerson 2, Tshiebwe.
