Which were the Ten Most Memorable Games  in Pennsylvania Basketball History?    Listed in chronological order (Click on the blue, highlighted dates to read the story of those games). March 1948, York Catholic 44 St. Mary's Central 42,  PCIAA "Class B" State Championship Game Had time expired when a half court shot was launched and 45 feet later dropped through the net? April 1949, Kane 45 Ashley 44, PIAA "Class B" State Championship Game. The Kane Republican, stated that  "the score on the scoreboard stands for all time" -and more than fifty years later, the score still stands! 1954, Farrell comes from 20 points down at the half and defeats a Meadville team that featured 6'10 Lloyd Sharrar.  He later paired up with Jerry West at West Virginia University, leading the college to a 26-2 record and earning the 1958  No. 1 ranking in the country.  In fact, the Mountaineers made consecutive NCAA appearances during his three years starting at center from 1956-58. March 15, 1960 -- Farrell, with Brian Generalovich and Willie Somerset, defeats Uniontown 59-54 for the WPIAL Class A championship. --The Steelers then cruise to their second straight PIAA title.  (Note: Farrell has since dropped into lower classifications in the basketball playoffs and are now posed to leave the WPIAL.  It's truly the end of an era!) (Nominated by Gary Olinger, Hickory, NC , Ford City manager in 1962) Find an eye witness recap of this game HERE March 15, 1961 -- Mount Lebanon upsets Uniontown 59-56 to win the WPIAL Class A championship. (Nominated by Gary Olinger, Hickory, NC , Ford City manager in 1962) March 13, 1962 -- Uniontown, with Don Yates scoring 22 points, devastates Ford City 50-34 in the WPIAL Class A championship game and goes on to win the state title. It was the last WPIAL Class A final to be played at the Pitt Field House.  (Nominated by Gary Olinger, Hickory, NC , Ford City manager in 1962)

Wilt Chamberlain, near the rim,  when he played at Farrell High School on Dec. 28, 1954, and his team was handed its only loss of his senior year by Farrell. (Photo credit: Jim Raykie, The Sharon Herald) Farrell-Overbrook Box score  HERE

1962, "On this night, though, Steve Vacendak was beaten in the final, and some say best, game of his high school career. When it was over, the players from Allentown Central Catholic filed through the Scranton Prep locker room in an understated, but obvious, show of respect.  Vacendak scored 40 that night, nearly leading Scranton Prep to a come-from-behind, playoff victory that would surely still be a thing of legend around here. As it stood, Scranton Prep lost 60-58 in quadruple overtime".

March 4, 1963 -- Norwin, led by John Naponic, beats Uniontown, which had four returning starters from its 1962 champions, in the second round of the WPIAL Class A tournament. (Nominated by Gary Olinger, Hickory, NC , Ford City manager in 1962)

1964, Catasauqua beat Steel High 65-62 before SRO at the Hershey Arena in a 1964 eastern semi-final.  Tom Taylor writes "Larry Miller had the greatest game I have ever personally seen a high school player have with 46 points (19-29, 8-10) and 20 rebounds.  Dennis Stewart had 38 points and 11 rebounds for the Rollers." 
When John Kunda, sports editor for the Allentown Morning Call, retired in Feb 1998 after 42 years of writing and editing, he said in his last column,  one of his most unforgettable moments in sports was easily the best basketball game I've ever seen."  It was 1964 and Larry Miller, a high school basketball player at Catasauqua High School, single-handily carried his basketball team to a win over Steelton High.  He scored 46 of Catasauqua's 66 points, including the team's last 11 points.  Miller went to North Carolina on a basketball scholarship.

February 7, 1964, MMI defeated West Hazleton 7-5 in what might be the lowest scoring game in Pennsylvania high school basketball history.  Few people realize that both these teams had scored over 100 points during the season.  In fact West Hazleton scored over 100 points six times that season.

Mar 20 1965,  State Class B Finals. Northern Cambria (District 6) 78 Montrose (District 2) 69. The win snapped the Montrose 52 game win streak, and spoiled their quest for back to back state titles. It was Northern Cambria's first state championship. They finished the season at 26-1, boosting a two year record to 55-2.  (Nominated by Bud Tangert, Lititz)

Mar.11 1966,  Conestoga Valley 50 Chambersburg 47. C.V. sub Bob Swavely scored four points in five seconds to tie game in regulation. C.V. prevailed in double overtime to advance in state Class A playoffs.  (Nominated by Bud Tangert, Lititz)

March 14, 1967, Altoona Guilfoyle defeats Pittsburgh Canivan 67-66 in a come from behind overtime upset in the PCIAA "Class A" Western Finals.

1968, The Philadelphia Catholic playoff game between Wyncote Bishop McDevitt and Philadelphia North Catholic was one of the most memorable games in USA history. The game was played at the legendary Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania.  The day of the game, the varsity players from North Catholic skipped morning mass and went out to the local diner.  Their coach, Jack Friel suspended the varsity players for the game, and took the junior varsity down to the Palestra instead.   As things turned out, the junior varsity players from North Catholic easily beat the Bishop McDevitt varsity in an amazing upset 77-60.  Their coach, Jack Friel became a national hero after this game. He did what was right and ended up winning. The North junior varsity had not played for eight days and only split with the McDevitt's JVs during the regular season.  The varsity was reinstated for the Catholic league semi-finals, but lost 51-49 to Springfield Cardinal O'Hara.  (Chuck Langerman)

March 1969, Farrell won a tough physical battle 59-51 over Pittsburgh Fifth Avenue in the Western Regional Championship, but beyond the great play on the floor, it was unforgettable because of what happened at the end of the game when fans stormed the court after the game, creating a full-scale riot that got so bad that alternate PIAA official for the game, Ed Plank, was stabbed near the scorer's table.

March 1972, With 10 seconds to go in the District 11 Championship Game with Jim Thorpe High School trailing St. Clair High School 50-49,  the  last shot of the game was made by a player who was named after Jim Thorpe to provide a "David over Goliath"  51-50 upset victory for Jim Thorpe High School.

"The Iron Five" at
35th Reunion of the team,
Jan 26, 2007

September 10, 1972, the Munich Olympics, Russia 51 the United States 50 and the first loss in the history of the Olympics for the United States.  The U.S. silver medals have never been claimed to date!

Dec 30, 1976- Johnstown War Memorial Invitational
West Philly 69 Brashear(dist.8) 65. Not only was the game for state bragging rights, both teams entered the game nationally ranked: West Philly #1, Brashear #3. The game featured two All Americans. M.V.P. Gene Banks' 32 pts, 19 rebs, and 5 assists led the winners. Sam Clancy finished with 14 pts, 16 rebs for Brashear.
 (Nominated by Bud Tangert, Lititz)

March 20,1977,  Steel-High 87 Nanticoke 83. Greg Manning (57 pts.) outdueled Ken Casey (48 pts) to lead Rollers to state AAA first round win. Manning, who at one time hit on 14 straight shots, finished an incredible 25 for 28 from the floor and 7 for 8 from the line to set a new Farm Show arena single game record.  (Nominated by Bud Tangert, Lititz)

1978, Lebanon defeats Steelton at the Hersheypark Arena after Lebanon star Sam Bowie is banished from the game at half time under the two technical foul rule, both for hanging on the rim after dunking.   They was done in the (pre-breakaway rim days).  During halftime, most every person in attendance was wagering that Steelton would wipe Lebanon out in the second half without Bowie.  Lebanon Coach Chick Hess surprised everyone by using a "four corner" control game the entire second half and defeating Steelton in handy fashion.  The lineups for that evening can be found HERE

 Mar 17 1978- West Philly 67 Roman Catholic 64. Game featured two Parade Magazine first team All Americans. Clarence Tillman's 31 pts led West Philly to fourth consecutive City title. Reggie Jackson had 24 pts, 11 rebs for Roman. One week earlier, West Philly won their fifth consecutive Public League title with a 68-56 win over Bartram.
(Nominated by Bud Tangert, Lititz)

Feb 21 1978- Overbrook 62 W.Phila. 61. Broke West Philly's 68 game win streak.  Carlton Willis 25 pts, 11 rebs, and playmaker Rickey Tucker led the winners. West  Philly had won 104 of 106 games over four years, 121 of 128 over five.    (Nominated by Bud Tangert, Lititz)

1978, The  WPIAL semi-final upset of undefeated Midland High School (who were streaking toward their fifth straight WPIAL Championship) by Slippery Rock High School on a last second twisting lay up by Jimmy McConnell.  The game was played at New Castle High.  The Rockets won 58-57.  Slippery Rock was led by 6’10 sophomore Steve Beatty (U. of Pittsburgh) and the Leopards were led by senior Roosevelt Kirby (U. of Pittsburgh). 

January 15, 1979,  Eastern York nipped York Surburban 107 to 106 in double overtime and Ken Fritchman of Eastern York set a YCIAA record by scoring 66 points in the game. From a spectator who saw the game, "I had been going to games since 1971 and saw a lot of great games, but no game has ever come close to that one." 

March 18, 1980, Bishop Hannan took a three overtime win from Northwestern 66-59.  The score was 45-45 at the end of regulation time, 47-47 at the end of the first overtime, 55-55 at the end of the second overtime, but Hannon took 16 trips to  the foul line in the third overtime to take home a 66-59 win in the PIAA Class A quarterfinal game played in Wilkes Barre.  Hannan lost in the next game to Darby Twp.  Darby lost the state title game to East Brady.

1981, Unranked St. Joseph's eliminates No.1 DePaul, with Terry Cummings and Mark Aguirre, with a 49-48 win in the second round of the 1981 tourney.  St. Joseph's used a slow down offense to pull the upset.  But now days, the 45 second clock has taken strategy out of the game in favor high octane, slam dunk, made for television hoops  replacing "real" college basketball.

1981-82, Prior to the three point line in high school basketball during the post-season PIAA playoffs:  New Castle defeated Penn Hills  101 to 95.  Jim Brown and  Barry Weitzel were in the lineup for New Castle while Chris Seneca, Marc Knight, Dow Misenhalter played for Penn Hills.
(Nominated by Aaron Tipton, tipton57@hotmail.com)

2/3/82, The unbeaten Southern Columbia girls recorded a 39-38 win over Bloomsburg.   Bloomsburg coach Tony Giovino called it, "the most exciting basketball game ever played in this league." Lisa Essig and Nan Martin led the winners while Karen Wordrop and Kathy Staib led the losers. Bloomsburg had the last shot with twelve seconds to go, but the eight footer bounced off the rim and Southern Columbia survived!  (Bloomsburg Morning Press)

1985, Villanova wins the NCAA title.  The favorite in Lexington, Ky.,  Georgetown had lost only twice in 36 games by a total of three points. It was the Hoyas' third Final Four appearance in the career of consensus All-American Patrick Ewing, a 7-foot senior center. "Georgetown is as good a team as has ever been assembled," Villanova coach Rollie Massimino said on the eve of the semifinals, "and that's only because of Patrick. He's the best to ever play college basketball. But Villanova pulled the upset.  Villanova entered the tourney with 10 losses and had never been ranked during the season.

1986-87, Windber advances to the State Championship. The Ramblers next took a dramatic 45-44 win over District 10 Girard in the Western Final. Estimates had 1,400 blue-and-white clad Windber fans packed into Westminster College gym. Paul Romanchock had 19 points and took command of the game. But when Girard sagged four defenders around the big man, Windber’s Tracy Horner made a huge shot at the most opportune moment.
“Girard certainly was one of the greatest basketball games I’ve ever seen from our standpoint,” Romanchock said. “It was the best game I ever played in. They were No. 1 in the state. We were No. 2. Everyone believed we were going to find a way to win.
Twenty seasons later, the 1987 PIAA Class AA runner-up Ramblers were  honored during the Windber Rotary Holiday Basketball Classic. (Story by MIKE MASTOVICH, The Johnstown Tribune-Democrat, 12/24/06)  full story found HERE

1987-88, Milton, the Black Panthers went 30-3, the big game being a "Hoosiers"-like buzzer-beating win over Holy Ghost Prep in the Class AAA state semifinals.

April 1993, the Carbondale Area Chargers(29-0) and George Jr. Republic Tigers(29-0) squared off for the AA state title in front of a sold out Hersheypark Arena crowd.

Feb 3, 1998, the highest scoring game in Pennsylvania high school basketball history; in the city of Philadelphia Washington H. S. defeated West Philadelphia H.S. 130-127 in four overtimes for a total of 257 combined points. Shannon Bussey led Washington with 44 points while Derrick Johnson led West Philly with 34 points. However, those 257 points only ranked ninth on the all-time list according to the National Federation of State High School Associations Record Book. The highest scoring game in high school history took place in Florida in 1995 when Riverview defeated Bradenton148-142 for a combined 290 points.

1999, Annville-Cleona (District 3 ) Quaker Valley (District 7) 69-57(2 OT)  PIAA Class  AA State Championship Game- Ed Drenning said it was "one of the all-time greatest games of the state tournament ever played at Hersheypark Arena!"  Mercantile history in Lebanon County HERE

2003,  Lancaster Catholic vs Harriton (eastern state semi-final)  Greg Testa slips, keeps his dribble, eludes 4 defenders and somehow passes to Keith Keller to tie the game with 0.01 seconds left in regulation. (Nominated by Adolph Testa,  Lititz, PA" -adolph.a.testa@usps.gov)

2003-2004, Do you like it fast or slow? How about the "controversial" 33-29 four-overtime game between Central Catholic and Whitehall as reported in the Allentown Morning Call or do you prefer the sensational 98-90 double overtime Bishop Hannon win over Bishop O'Hara in a game Scranton Times sportswriters tab as "the best game of the season."  Jayme Gillette (Bishop O'Hara) with 45 points scored more than either team in the Central Catholic-Whitehall game.

March 2004, Allentown Central Catholic girls win their fourth straight state championship game to tie the records held by the Carlisle boys and the Kennedy Christian boys who each have four straight. 

Saturday August 21, 2004, Lithuania defeats the U.S. Olympic team.   Sarunas Jasikevicius scored 28 points for Lithuania to help defeat  the USA. Sarunas played for Solanco High School in Lancaster County in Pennsylvania. He then was chosen to play for Pennsylvania in the Pennsylyvania vs Maryland series.  University of Maryland Coach Gary Williams was in attendance at that all-star game and signed Jasikevicius.

(Photo: Sarunas Jasikevicius in 1994 at Solanco H. S. )             
 

February 16, 2005.  Warwick vs McCaskey,  District 3 Playoffs,  First round:  Warwick the 14th seed who lost to McCaskey by 40 just one and a half weeks before the playoffs stuns the Red Tornado 53-52.  Chris Fairbanks hits game winning shot with 1.7 seconds  left (Fairbanks went on to play at Elizabethtown College.   The biggest upset in the District !  McCaskey was the 3 seed.  (Nomination by Anthony  D'Imperio)

2005. As a junior, Lance Jeter helped Beaver Falls win WPIAL and PIAA basketball championships. His performance in the 2005 WPIAL Class AA title game against Aliquippa will live in Western Pennsylvania basketball lore. He scored 37 points and banked in a 30-foot shot at the buzzer in the third overtime to give Beaver Falls a 79-78 victory against Aliquippa. Jeter also made a long 3-pointer at the end of regulation. A few weeks later, he beat Aliquippa with two free throws and a steal in the PIAA semifinals.  Jeter averaged 20.2 points a game his senior year and finished his career with 2,243 points, 13th-best in WPIAL history. In his four years as a starter, Beaver Falls was 102-19.     (Mike White, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 02, 2006)

March 2007.  This has to be one of the greatest games in PA Girls Basketball History.  Yes, there was 1/2 of a second left on the clock in the 4th quarter-- Lacey, Marissa and Monica each had 4 fouls going into OT.  This game was something else.  Definitely, an ESPN Instant Classic. (Nomination by Christine Lesie)
Altoona Mirror article HERE

March 2007. DuBois Central Catholic erases an 18 point third quarter deficit and defeats Kennedy Catholic in the 2007 PIAA Western Class A Finals in Clarion.  Story found  HERE


(Nomination by Mike Nesbit)
 

December 2007, How does a team that trailed by six points with four seconds remaining in the game end up winning by five points without going into overtime?   Story HERE  From a Pottsville Republican article.

Which game can you remember?  And why should we list it as a memorable game?  Send us your story!  Send to wgaffey@pa.net

(Credits: Todd Stanford, Sunbury Daily Item, Ray Saul, Hazelton Standard Speaker,  Dennis King,  Paul Hendrickson, Washington Post, Scranton Times Tribune, Gary Olinger (Hickory, NC), bud tangert, lititz)