What to know and who is likely to win tourney
The Colonial League has had a banner year in boys basketball.
The league features several of the area’s top players in Bangor’s C.J. Miles, Palmerton’s Kody Kratzer and Notre Dame-Green Pond’s Brendan Boyle, among others.
The league has also had signature wins over East Penn Conference — Salisbury beat Emmaus, Northwestern edged Whitehall, Notre Dame topped Allen and Southern Lehigh stunned Parkland.
Now, the league has the Lehigh
Valley-area basketball stage pretty much to itself this week.
While EPC teams complete the regular season and prepare for districts, what is expected to be a wide-open, eight-team Colonial boys tournament begins with four quarterfinal games at four schools Monday night.
Games in the quarterfinals and Wednesday’s semifinals will be at the home of the higher seed. Friday night’s final will be at approximately 8 p.m. at Moravian Academy in the second game of a girl-boys championship doubleheader.
No fans will be allowed, but the games will be live-streamed and shown on the local cable television outlets.
History
Southern Lehigh is the two-time defending champion, beating Bangor in the last two title games. The Slaters won four straight league titles from 2015-18 and five in six years overall and have been in the championship game eight times in the last nine years.
Since the tournament format began in 1995, when Northern Lehigh, Palmerton, Notre Dame and Northwestern came over from the Centennial League, Salisbury, Salisbury and Saucon Valley have each won five league crowns.
Northern Lehigh has three championships, while Notre Dame, Catasauqua and Southern Lehigh have two each and Northewestern and Wilson one each.
This will be Notre Dame’s 21st appearance in the tournament, the most of any program. Salisbury, Wilson and Southern Lehigh are in the event for the 15th time.
Salisbury and Bangor both have 16 tournament wins, the most of any programs. Notre Dame, with 18, has the most tournament losses. Palmerton is 0-5 in tournament games. Palisades becomes the last of the 13 teams in the league to play a tournament game and joins Palmerton, Pen Argyl and Moravian Academy
as schools who have never won a tournament game.
Overall, in Colonial League history, which began in 1976, Salisbury has the most championships with 11, but hasn’t won one since 2012. Bangor has nine.
The program with the next highest total is Nazareth. The Blue Eagles won five before leaving to join the Mountain Valley Conference in 1994-95.
The matchups
No. 8 Palisades (7-10) at No. 1 Notre Dame (11-2), 7 p.m. Monday Players to watch: Junior Liam Carey averages 15 ppg for the Pirates and senior Brandon Fox averages 14.4. Notre Dame’s
Boyle, a junior, is one of the leading scorers in the area, averaging 26.4 points per game. Senior Logan Rickert (16.9 ppg) and junior Sean Howlett (11.3), plus senior Joey Galle is coming off a 20-point game against Southern Lehigh. Previous meeting: Notre Dame won 75-48 at Palisades on Jan. 23. Boyle scored 23 for Notre Dame, Fox notched 21 for Palisades. What to expect: The Crusaders are the top scoring team in the area at 76.3 ppg and would appear to have too many weapons for the Pirates, who turned around their season by winning six straight after losing six straight, but have since dropped four of their last five. Just getting to the league tournament is an accomplishment for the Pirates, who are much better now than they were about 15 years ago when they went through an 88-game losing streak.
Keith Groller’s pick: Notre Dame 84-50.
No. 7 Wilson (5 -4 ) at No. 2 Bangor (9 -3 ), 6 p.m. Monday Players to watch: The Warriors are led by Na’shawn Jones, who is averaging 21 points per game. Sophomore Shamel Gibson averages 10 points per game. The Slaters are led by Miles and fellow senior Gabe Zieba, who average 26.5 and 14.8 points per game respectively.
Previous meeting: Did not play this year.
What to expect: A lot of offense from both sides. Miles has emerged as a player of the year candidate thanks to an improved outside shot. The Slaters squandered a 15-point lead and a chance to secure the top seed against Notre Dame and are looking to get another crack at the Crusaders, but they can’t look past an athletic Wilson squad that has won four straight.
Keith Groller’s pick: Bangor 77-62.
No. 6 Southern Lehigh (7 -4 ) at No. 3 Northwestern (1 2 -4 ), 7 p.m. Monday
Players to watch: Senior Daryl Coleman was an all-state player last year and is averaging 15.5 points per game. Junior Matt Tankred averages 14.7 ppg. Northwestern has a balanced attack led by sophomore Cayden Fitch and junior Derek Witkowski, who are both averaging slightly more than 10 points per game. Previous meeting: Southern Lehigh 58-55 in overtime Jan. 19. Witkowski made seven 3-pointers in scoring a season-high 28. Coleman had 21 and Tankred tallied 13 for the Spartans.
What to expect: One of the best games of the tournament as Northwestern’s effective defense figures to have a challenge with Southern Lehigh’s size. The Spartans had a lackluster regular season capped by Saturday’s loss at Notre Dame, but have a second chance in the league tournament. Coleman, so brilliant in leading Solehi to back-to-back league titles, will need his best games of the season if the Spartans are to three-peat.
Keith Groller’s pick: Southern Lehigh 50, Northwestern 47.
No. 5 Salisbury (10-5) at No. 4 Palmerton (11-4), 7 p.m. Monday Players to watch: Salisbury’s balanced attack is led by senior Quintin Stephens (13.2). Kratzer, the Palmerton Senior, went over 1,000 points this season, and is one of the area’s leading scorers at 20.4 ppg. Previous meeting: Salisbury won 58-41 at Palmerton on Jan. 19, getting 16 points including three 3-pointers from Kenyo Herrera. Kratzer had 16 for Palmerton, but the Bombers had just one 3-pointer in the loss.
What to expect: Palmerton has won nine in a row and 10 of 11 since the loss to Salisbury. The Blue Bombers seem to have figured things out since starting 1-3 and 2-4. But Palmerton coach Ken Termini said six teams could win the tournament, including Salisbury. The Falcons have gone from five to eight to 12 wins and have continued their climb back to relevancy. They enter on a fourgame win streak. These two could meet again in districts.
Keith Groller’s pick: Palmerton 54, Salisbury 51.
Morning Call reporter Keith Groller can be reached at 610-820-6740 or at kgroller@mcall.com.