By Dennis Weller
After allowing 17 points in the first quarter, the Cardinal O’Hara Lions knew they had to do better than that the rest of the way Friday night at Fleetwood. They increased their defensive intensity in the second quarter, forcing seven Tiger turnovers, and went on an extended run at the end of the half that proved to be decisive in a 62-50 win in the opening round of the PIAA Class 6A Tournament.
Izaiah Pasha scored 23 and Pearse McGuinn 17 for O’Hara (18-8), which will face the winner of Saturday’s game between Allentown Central Catholic and E&S Carver in the second round on Tuesday. Aiden Soumas scored 20 and Jake Karnish 19 for the Tigers (22-5), who were making their first state appearance since 1990.
“We came out really flat defensively,” said Pasha. “We gave up 17 points. We picked up our defense after the first quarter. We wanted to keep them under 10.”