Bishop Canevin emerges as state power

Posted: May 03, 2022

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second in a daily series of seven all-state boys basketball teams.

By Mike Gross, LNP Media Group

The Philadelphia area is known for powerhouse private-school high school basketball programs, especially in the monstrous Philadelphia Catholic League.

The Pittsburgh area, not so much, until recently.

Then came Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, in Coraopolis, whose current 68-game winning streak includes the last two state Class 2A boys championships.

This season, welcome Bishop Canevin.

The Crusaders, from Pittsburgh’s East Carnegie neighborhood, rolled to the Class A title last month. Two of the Crusaders – seniors Kevaughn Price and Jaden Gales – received first-team recognition on the Pennsylvania Sportswriters Class A all-state boys team.

Coach Gino Palmosina was named Class A coach of the year.

The Crusaders won the WPIAL title in 2020-21, but had to forfeit in the quarterfinals of the state playoffs after a player tested positive for COVID-19.

This season, they went 25-4, with all of the losses coming to 5A or 6A schools, three of them state-tournament qualifiers.

“Those losses were so important to us, especially the first two (to Pittsburgh Central Catholic and Penn Hills),’’ said Palmosina, who last week accepted the head coaching job at Moon Area High in Coraopolis. “I don’t know if we’d have won the state title without them.’’

Price, a 6-foot-2 senior, averaged 15 points and 7 rebounds and was called, “the guy everyone in our program looked up to, a terrific basketball player and a better young man,’’ by Palmosina.

Gales, a versatile 6-6 forward, averaged 15.8 points and 6-5 rebounds. Both Gales and Price are four-year players. They are being recruited by most of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III schools in Western Pa., according to Palmosina.

The Class A player of the year goes to Davion Hill, a 6-1 junior from St. John Neumann in Williamsport who made all-state for the third time.

Hill led Neumann to a 10th straight league title, third straight District 4 Class A crown, and the state championship game. He averaged 26.1 points, 7.9, rebounds and 4.0 steals per game.

Hill has scholarship offers from Maryland, Missouri State, Kent State and Towson. His brother Aliza Johnson played at Missouri State and in the NBA, for five teams over three seasons, most recently the New Orleans Pelicans.

Another brother, David Hill, was all-state at Neumann and is committed to Towson, although he is currently at a prep school in Florida.

Hill’s current backcourt mate, Hanief Clay, also made the first team after averaging 19.9 points, 5.5 rebounds (at 5-9), 5.5 assists and 4.4 steals. Clay has more than 900 career points despite playing only two seasons.

Scoring machine Vinnie Cugini made the second team as a freshman and sophomore. Now 6-2, he jumped to the first team after a junior year in which he averaged 36.2 points for tiny Aquinas Academy of Gibsonia, near Pittsburgh.

Cugini has averaged over 30 ppg in each of his varsity seasons and scored his 2,000th career point in February, through 55 high school games.

Marquis Ratcliffe, a 6-6 senior from Pottsville Nativity, made the first team for the second straight year. He also made the third team as a sophomore in 2019-20.

Ratcliffe averaged 20.5 points and 13 rebounds per game for a team that reached the state semifinals, after winning the Class A state title in 2020-21.

2021-22 Class 1A All-State Teams

1st Team

Davion Hill, 6' 1", junior, St. John Neumann Regional Academy (Player of the Year)

Marquis Ratcliff, 6' 6", senior, Nativity BVM

Vinnie Cugini, 6' 2", junior, Aquinas Academy

Jaden Gales, 6' 6", senior, Bishop Canevin

Kevaughn Price, 6' 2", senior, Bishop Canevin

Hanief Clay, 5' 9", senior, St. John Neumann Regional Academy

2nd Team

Lambert Palmer, 6' 1", senior, Williamsburg

Pace Prosser, 6', sophomore, Berlin Brothersvalley

Alec Srock, 6' 2", senior, DuBois Central Catholic