Allen claims district berth with win
But Northhampton still has shot; Becahi tops Nazareth in 2OTs
An up-and-down regular season ended on a high note for the Allen boys basketball team on Monday.
The Canaries, who began the season 1-3 and had a late four-game losing streak, earned a return trip to the District 11 tournament with a 55-40 win over visiting Northampton.
Allen (11-11, 8-8 EPC) will be in the district tourney for the 16th straight year. The Canaries will be one of six teams in the 6A field, but won’t be in action until the quarterfinals would be held on Feb. 25.
Northampton (10-12, 6-10) still has a chance at the final 6A berth pending the final numbers compiled in the power rankings. Nazareth, which lost a double-overtime thriller to Bethlehem Catholic on Monday night, also has a chance before all the numbers are crunched.
The numbers on the scoreboard also produced wins by Parkland, Pocono Mountain West, Liberty, East Stroudsburg South and Freedom on Monday. All of those teams will participate in the EPC tournament, which begins Friday.
What is known that Emmaus will be the No. 1 seed, Pocono Mountain West will be the No. 2 seed and Parkland will be the No. 3 seed. Each of those teams will host quarterfinal-round games on Friday. Liberty, as the No. 8 seed, will play at Emmaus. The official pairings are expected to be released Wednesday.
Here’s a look at the EPC recaps:
Allen 55, Northampton 40
The Canaries took control by holding the Konkrete Kids to 14 first-half points and built a ninepoint lead at halftime. They pulled away in the fourth quarter thanks to nine points by Adrian Figueroa, who led his team with 17 overall. Northampton 8– 6– 14– 12— 40
Allen 12– 11– 13– 19— 55
NORTHAMPTON (40)
Kolumber 50-011, Pinnock 42-210, Graff 34-510, Kauffman 12-34, Christman 10-02, Haupt 10-03. Totals 158-1040.
ALLEN (55)
Figueroa 70-017, Jackson 22-68, Justo 21-15, Monroe 50-212, Brant 52-212, R. Johnson 01-21,
J. Johnson 00-20. Totals 216-1555.
3-pointers: Northampton (2) Kolumber, Haupt. Allen (7) Figueroa 3, Jackson 2, Monroe 2.
Liberty 59, Easton 50
The Hurricanes got 16 points from freshman Jake Pukszyn and 15 from sophomore Dywane Chess Jr., in finishing the regular season strong. Liberty is 14-8, 10-6, which is marked improvement from going 11-12 and 8-8 last season. The Hurricanes will be at Emmaus Friday night. Easton finished 2-20, 1-15.
Liberty 24– 9– 14– 12— 59
Easton 10– 9– 19– 12— 40
LIBERTY (59)
Cosgrove 35-912, Pukszyn 60-016, Rivera 20-04, Chess, Jr., 70-115, Kamanga 22-26, Vermuelen 0 2-42, Goodman 20-14. Totals 229-1759.
EASTON (50)
Cornish 20-06, Folk 60-112, Muhammad 52-212, Hunt 31-27, Hoadley 61-213. Totals 224-750. 3-pointers: Liberty (6) Pukszyn 4, Cosgrove, Chess, Jr. Easton (2) Cornish 2.
Parkland 50, Whitehall 44
The defending league and District 11 6A champion Trojans rebounded from back-to-back losses to Emmaus and Archbishop Wood and finished the regular season at 13-7, 12-4, and will host a quarterfinal-round playoff game Friday night. The Zephyrs (11-11, 6-10) didn’t qualify for the league tournament, but will be in the District 11 5A tournament, which is set to begin Feb. 24.
Whitehall 11– 10– 8– 15— 44
Parkland 9– 15– 14– 12— 50
WHITEHALL (44)
Keppel 53-414, Orochena 10-02, Hoderewski 3 2-27, Kneller 42-410, Bashore 34-610. Totals 15 11-1644.
PARKLAND (50)
Coval 55-616, Ray 35-613, Spang 40-110, Johns 00-10, Smaltz 11-23, Ruisch 30-08. Totals 16 11-1650.
3-pointers: Whitehall (3) Keppel 2, Hoderewski. Parkland (7) Ruisch 2, Spang 2, Ray 2, Coval.
Pocono Mt. West 73, Pleasant Valley 59
The Panthers won their sixth straight game and finished the regular season at 18-4 overall, 13-3 league and went 10-0 in the EPC North. They will have a home game Friday night when the league tournament begins.
Poc. Mt. West 15– 14– 18– 26— 73
Pleasant Valley 5– 15– 18– 21— 59
POCONO MOUNTAIN WEST (73)
Pagan 99-1428, Coles, Jr. 52-315, Artis 10-02, Sakwa 10-02, Smith 61-114, Huggins 11-23, Brito 33-49. Totals 2616-2473.
PLEASANT VALLEY (59)
J. Moore 85-1221, Greene 20-06, Hallenbeck 2 1-25, P. Moore 36-612, Pandolfo 52-415. Totals 2014-2459.
3-pointers: PM West (5) Coles, Jr. 3, Smith, Pagan. Pleasant Valley (5) Pandolfo 3, Greene 2.
Bethlehem Catholic 47, Nazareth 45
The Golden Hawks went 5-for-5 at the foul line in the second overtime and outscored the Blue Eagles 9-7 in the period to get a win in their EPC regular-season finale. Becahi improved to 15-6, 11-5. Nazareth lost out on a chance to qualify for the District 11 6A tournament, but can still get in pending the final power ratings numbers. Nazareth 8– 13– 10– 4– 3– 7— 45
Bethlehem Catholic 6– 11– 14– 4– 3– 9— 47 NAZARETH (45)
Ramin 43-511, Kuehner 31-27, Banghart 21-26, Roberts 22-26, Dibilio 51-414. Totals 168-1545. BECAHI (47)
Rompilla 10-02, Cercado 45-616, Benka-Coker 1 4-66, Brown 20-04, Drysdale 54-414, Wickenheiser 12-25. Totals 1415-1847.
3-pointers: Nazareth (5) Dibilio 3, Ramin, Banghart. Becahi (4) Cercado 3, Wickenheiser.
Freedom 97, Dieruff 53
The Patriots set a school-record for points scored in closing out their EPC schedule with a rout of the Huskies. The 97 points broke the record set on Jan. 26, 1980, in a 94-38 win over East Stroudsburg.
Freedom senior Nick Ellis had 16 points, 16 rebounds, 8 steals, and 5 assists and his rebound with 2:40 left in the third quarter to set a school rebounding record. It gave him 630, breaking the previous record of 629 career rebounds by Andrew Stein (class of 2008). Ellis ended the night with 633 career rebounds.
Ellis needs 37 points to become Freedom’s all-time leading career scorer. He has 1,189 points and is currently third all-time behind Luis Ortiz who scored 1,225 between 1991-94, and Caleb Mims who had 1,201 before graduating in 2020.
Freedom finished the regular season 15-7, 11-5, and will be in the EPC tournament Friday night. Dieruff ended its season at 6-16, 5-11.
Dieruff 16– 8– 14– 15— 53
Freedom 22– 31– 21– 23— 97
DIERUFF (53)
Xion Chapman 10-02, John Diaz 30-09, Buster Fallah 95-824, Jayden Walker 00-00, Kevin Hanna 00-000. Austin Pearsall 10-02, Alexis Rosario 4 0-08, Kenyatta Moore 40-08, Ashuan Espinal 0 0-00. Totals 225-853.
FREEDOM (97)
Aaron Levy 61-313, Krishna Mangroo 62-314, Cristian Morot 10-02, Jalen Fletcher 00-00, Joseph Dew 40-011, Dylan Alvarez 30-07, Jaden Wilson 20-04, Jackson Parker 00-00, Orion Richardson 10-02, Jaden Tillett 90-120, Trent Vandever 10-02, Nicholas Ellis 72-416, Nathaniel Sletvold 3-0-06. Totals: 435-1197.
3-pointers: Dieruff (4) John Diaz 3, Buster Fallah
1. Freedom (6) Dew 3, Tillett 2, Alvarez.
Final EPC standings
WEST DIVISION
Team, Division, Conf, Overall D:Emmaus, 8-2, 12-2, 18-4 D:Parkland, 6-4, 12-4, 13-7 D:ACCHS, 6-4, 11-5, 14-8
D:Allen, 5-5, 8-8, 11-11
D:Whitehall, 3-7, 6-10, 11-11 Northampton, 2-8, 6-10, 10-12 EAST DIVISION
D:Freedom 8-2, 11-5, 15-7 D:Liberty, 7-3, 10-6, 14-8
D:Beth. Cath., 6-4, 11-5, 15-6 Nazareth, 5-5-, 7-9, 10-12
Dieruff, 3-7, 5-11, 6-16
Easton, 1-9, 1-15, 2-20
NORTH DIVISION
D:Poc. Mt. West, 10-0, 13-3, 18-4 D:S South, 6-4, 11-5, 17-5
ES North, 5-5, 7-9, 9-11
Pleas. Valley, 5-5, 7-9, 9-11 Stroudsburg, 3-7, 3-13, 7-15
Poc. Mt. East, 1-9, 1-15, 4-18 D: District 11tournament qualifier.
Freedom 97, Dieruff 53
The Patriots set a school-record for points scored in closing out their EPC schedule with a rout of the Huskies. The 97 points broke the record set on Jan. 26, 1980 in a 94-38 win over East Stroudsburg.
Freedom senior Nick Ellis had 16 points, 16 rebounds, 8 steals, and 5 assists and his rebound with 2:40 left in the third quarter to set a school rebounding record. It gave him 630 rebounds, breaking the previous record of 629 career rebounds by Andrew Stein (class of 2008). Ellis ended the night with 633 career rebounds.
Ellis needs 37 points to become Freedom’s the all-time leading career scorer. He has 1,189 points and is currently third all-time behind Luis Ortiz who scored 1,225 between 1991-94, and Caleb Mims who had 1,201 before graduating in 2020.
Freedom finished the regular season at 15-7, 11-5, and will be in the EPC tournament Friday night. Dieruff ended its season at 6-16, 5-11.
Dieruff 16– 8– 14– 15— 53
Freedom 22– 31– 21– 23— 97
DIERUFF (53)
Xion Chapman 10-02, John Diaz 30-09, Buster Fallah 95-824, Jayden Walker 00-00, Kevin Hanna 00-000. Austin Pearsall 10-02, Alexis Rosario 4 0-08, Kenyatta Moore 40-08, Ashuan Espinal 0 0-00. Totals 225-853.
FREEDOM (97)
Aaron Levy 61-313, Krishna Mangroo 62-314, Cristian Morot 10-02, Jalen Fletcher 00-00, Joseph Dew 40-011, Dylan Alvarez 30-07, Jaden Wilson 20-04, Jackson Parker 00-00, Orion Richardson 10-02, Jaden Tillett 90-120, Trent Vandever 10-02, Nicholas Ellis 72-416, Nathaniel Sletvold 3-0-06. Totals: 435-1197.
3-pointers: Dieruff (4) John Diaz 3, Buster Fallah 1. Freedom (6) Dew 3, Tillett 2, Alvarez.