Remnants of the WPIAL and vicinity were on display Sunday at Seton Hill, where as many as eight former basketball players from the area were on the floor at once.

Carlos Carter, a former Indiana star and a sophomore forward at Shippensburg, played 11 minutes before taking a seat on the bench for the rest of the game after rolling his troublesome ankle for a third time in recent weeks.

Still, the 6-foot-5 Carter, a second-team all-state player in Class 4A as a senior at Indiana, found the afternoon enjoyable as Shippensburg rolled to a 73-57 victory, taking advantage of Seton Hill’s cold first-half shooting to assume control from the start.

The Griffins dropped to 2-12 overall and 1-10 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division.

The Red Raiders (14-3, 10-1 PSAC East Division), coached by Latrobe graduate Chris Fite, feature eight former area high school players. That’s tied with Clarion for the most in the conference.

“I played against Jake Biss here when I was in high school at this exact same gym,” Carter said of the Latrobe product who is a teammate.

Biss tied for the team high in scoring Sunday with 11 points. John Castello (Mars), Dom Sleva (Montour), Lamar Talley and Kiyon Hardy also scored 11.

Sleva, a redshirt sophomore forward, is a former high school teammate of Seton Hill freshman guard Jaden Nelson.

“It’s cool to see players’ faces who you’ve seen before and go out and play with them,” said Carter, one of three Shippensburg players averaging double figures in scoring (10.9 ppg.).

Biss (15.7) leads the way, and Castello (15.2) is second. Castello, a 6-4 senior forward, also leads the Red Raiders in rebounding (8.9 rpg). He and Sleva each grabbed nine boards against Seton Hill, which made just three first-half field goals and trailed 36-14 at halftime.

Carter, despite the pain in his right ankle, was smiling afterward when reminded of all the locals in the game.

“The conversation is going to be there about how we always used to see each other and how we used to play ball and how we’ve gotten so much better,” he said. “It’s really awesome to see guys’ games getting so much better in just a couple-year span.”

Former Central Catholic star Luke Nedrow, who played a year at Marist before transferring to Shippensburg, labeled the Pittsburgh area as “a very unique place.

“There’s a fellowship within Western Pennsylvania basketball,” he said. “It’s a pretty small community with not a whole bunch of people who are super serious about basketball. Everybody knows everybody within that fellowship, and there’s just a common respect for each other, especially the guys on our team.”

Nedrow, a 6-7 sophomore forward, is among five 1,000-point scorers at Central Catholic. He said it always is intriguing to familiar faces on opposing teams.

“You meet them with a smile because you know he’s from Pittsburgh,” Nedrow said. “But then, you want to beat them because it’s just so competitive, and you want to be the top dog. Meet them with a smile before and after the game, but when it’s on the court, all bets are off, and you know it’s the same way with them.”

Senior guard Nathan Davis led Seton Hill with 14 points and seven rebounds. Freshman Marek Paola, a former Ligonier Valley star, added 12 points and five rebounds.

“Most of the time on the scouting report, if I see someone familiar, I’ll say, ‘Yeah, I remember that guy,’ ” said Paola, a 6-9 center who helped Ligonier Valley to a District 6-2A championship as a junior.

“It’s interesting how everyone gets better when they get to the next level,” Paola said. “You just practice harder, and there’s better team play. It’s a step up but a good transition. When we start to jell, we’re going to be better. Right now, it’s been a learning curve for (most) everyone on our team.”

Davis and guard Anthony Karabatsos, an Australia native, are the lone Seton Hill seniors. Second-year coach Kendrick Saunders is working with nine freshmen on his 14-man roster.

Fite has just four freshmen on a 14-player roster that also consists of four seniors and sophomores each and two juniors.

“We just keep plugging in the pieces,” said the 6-9 Fite, who played professionally for 11 seasons in Europe after leading D-III Rochester to an NCAA championship in 1990.

Fite, in his seventh season at Shippensburg, previously coached Sleva’s brother, Dustin, who became the program’s first D-II first-team All-American and is among four PSAC players to score 2,000 career points.

“When we got here, it was initially about turning the program around and being competitive and relative,” Fite said. “I’m a WPIAL guy myself and can appreciate what guys from here bring to the table. I figured we could get some tough, hard-nosed kids, and it’s turned out bigger than I thought.”

Not every school might view it that way. As Nedrow pointed out, basically it’s to each his own.

“Pittsburgh just has a different mindset in general than other places,” he said. “It’s a very unique place, and the people who come from here are unique people.”

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