Tide rolls in second half over Spartans
When you play defense as well as the Pottsville boys basketball team does, bad shooting halves don’t concern you.
The Crimson Tide struggled in the first half of Thursday night’s District 11 Class 5A title game at Blue Mountain High School.
But even though the Schuylkill League champs led Southern Lehigh (17-9) by just a point at halftime, 18-17, they weren’t worried.
“We were so encouraged to be up by one considering how we played offensively in the first half,” Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said. “We were just waiting for our run. We knew we had a run in us.”
That run came early in the third quarter. The Tide (23-3) outscored Southern Lehigh 12-2 in the first four minutes of the second half and never looked back in an impressive 51-33 win for the program’s fourth district title in 10 years and seventh overall.
The Spartans, seeking their first district gold since 2009, could never get on a run or even a fast-paced walk.
Southern Lehigh, winners of 13 of its last 14 games coming in, shot 6-for-20 in the first half and struggled even more in the second with just five field goals in 22 attempts.
The result was a disappointing loss for the Spartans who ventured north on Route 61 looking for more success after beating Blue Mountain at Pottsville in the semifinals on Monday night.
“Their defense really took us out of our offense and we really struggled to find any kind of groove offensively,” Southern Lehigh coach Ben Tannous said. “You look at them and they don’t have tremendous athletes or tremendous size. But what they do have is guys who can really get into you and deny the basketball. With their on-the-ball defense, you can’t get around them because they toe the line of playing physical without picking up fouls.”
John Coyle led Southern Lehigh with nine points. He had seven in the second half. The rest of the team had nine after halftime
Mason magic
Junior Mason Barnes delivered his second well-rounded performance in the tournament.
In the Tide’s semifinal win over Bangor on Monday night, he had 22 points, eight rebounds, and four assists.
This time, he had 16 points, five rebounds, and six assists and was instrumental in the second-half surge with two baskets and two assists in the third quarter.
“We weren’t hitting our shots in the first half and we knew they would have to fall soon, so we kept shooting and attacking,” Barnes said. “Defensively, ball pressure is the key. We want to be in the passing lanes, and get good help defense. We don’t gamble either.”
Rising Tide
Pottsville was able to win both the Schuylkill League and District 11 titles without its leading scorer, Kevin Schenk, who has been sidelined for disciplinary reasons.
“Considering all of the adversity we’ve faced the last few weeks to get both a league and district title means so much and I’m so proud of our seniors,” Mullaney said. “It seems like someone different steps up every game in the four games since Kevin has been out.”
Senior Zak Tobin led all scorers with 19 points and had six rebounds. He had seven in the third quarter, 11 in the second half.
“He’s a good player,” Mullaney said. “Getting in the starting lineup has given him a confidence boost. We always had confidence in him as a coaching staff, but he knows now that he’s going to play through some mistakes because we need him out on the floor. That kind of relaxes him a little bit.”
What’s next
Both teams advance into the state tournament beginning on March 8 and both will be matched up with District 3 teams. Southern Lehigh will get the No. 4 seed and Pottsville will play the No. 5 seed.
Tannous feels the practice time will be beneficial for a team that will return the majority of its key players in 2019-2020.
“We’re going to take a couple of days off to regroup and then we have four days to prepare,” Tannous said. “We’ll scrimmage Parkland and hopefully get our feet back under us.”
Tannous believed his team would respond positively after the initial disappointment.
“You hope you have a chance and we didn’t have a chance in the second half,” Tannous said. “We couldn’t knock down shots and it got worse and worse and worse. But we’ll regroup.”