Pittsburgh Midweek Top Performers

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Thursday night saw some of the top players in the WPIAL turn in good performances and also breakout play from some younger prospects.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Wednesday</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1395834' first='Makhai' last='Valentine']</strong> quickly traded in the football cleats for the high tops and hasn't missed a beat. He's been on point the last week and while Steel Valley is struggling as everyone gets basketball ready, Valentine hit for 30 in a loss to Penn Hills. He had 35 earlier in the week vs Thomas Jefferson.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Thursday</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Junior guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1188004' first='Max' last='Hurray']</strong> was over 20 and senior guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1186069' first='Andrew' last='Maddalon'] </strong>chipped in 19 as North Catholic topped Ambridge in an early season divisional contest. Freshman guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1406902' first='Jared' last='Astorino']</strong> had 24 for the Bridgers. Astorino will be a player to watch going forward and is the younger brother of Eden Christian senior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='991350' first='Damon' last='Astorino']</strong>. We'll learn a lot about North Catholic this weekend as they take on Archbishop Wood in Warminster on Saturday and follow it up with another test against battle tested West Philly on Sunday at Cristo Rey. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brashear defeated Cornell handily behind 20 from <strong>Titus Gillett</strong>--Gillett has done a fantastic job stepping into a leadership role after key players went down with football injuries. Gillett is off to a hot scoring start and could push for All City League honors this year as one of the few non-Allderdice players on it. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In Ellwood City's win over Western Beaver, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1187966' first='Joseph' last='Roth']</strong> was over 20 points. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In a battle of two of the top underrated players in the region, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='991376' first='Tasso' last='Sfanos']</strong> and Mars outlasted <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1187997' first='Isaiah' last='Gonzalez']</strong> and Kiski Area, with Sfanos outdueling Gonzalez 34-22. Sfanos has led Mars to a 5-0 start and will be tested nightly in a division that features <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1173989' first='Royce' last='Parham']</strong> and North Hills, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1188607' first='Jayden' last='Davis']</strong> and Chartiers Valley and an upstart South Fayette. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->