Court is in session
Seventeen PIAA tourney berths at stake
The District 11 boys basketball tournaments began over the weekend with some good crowds, but little drama.
There were 14 boys games played and the higher seeded team won 13. The average margin of victory was 13.6 points per game.
But expect the games to get tighter this week as the semifinals, finals and consolations unfold with teams going for gold in six classifications and 17 PIAA berths at stake.
Weather permitting, the action begins Tuesday night with a 5A doubleheader at Pleasant Valley featuring Southern Lehigh and East Stroudsburg South in the opener followed by Whitehall and No. 1 seed Pocono Mountain West in the nightcap.
The 4A semifinals are split up with Eastern Pennsylvania Conference champ and No. 2 seed Allentown Central Catholic taking on Pottsville at Whitehall in a single game at 7. No. 1 seed and Schuylkill League champ Blue Mountain will play Bethlehem
Catholic at Pottsville’s Martz Hall.
One of the 2A semifinals will precede Becahi-Blue Mountain at Martz Hall as No. 1 seed Mahanoy Area takes on Minersville at 6 p.m. while the other 2A final four game will be at 7:30 at Minersville where Tri-Valley faces Schuylkill Haven.
On Wednesday night there will be a 6A semifinal doubleheader at Easton Area Middle School with defending champ Parkland taking on Freedom in the 6 p.m. opener followed by Liberty taking on No. 1 seed Emmaus.
That same night at Northampton, the 3A semis will feature No. 2 seed and Colonial League champ Notre Dame-Green Pond meeting Saucon Valley in a rematch of the Feb. 17 Colonial final that went 2 overtimes and resulted in a 45-42 Crusaders win. That game will be followed by Palmerton and new 1,000-point scorer Matt Machalik taking on No. 1 seed Executive Education, which will try to make it 5-for-5 in district championships since the school began fielding a boys basketball program.
The 1A subregional semis will be held at separate locations. No. 1 seed Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg, under the direction of first-year coach Matt Gallagher who had been the coach at Stroudsburg, will face MMI Prep at 6 p.m. at Pleasant Valley and first-year program Bethlehem Christian will play at Forest City Regional at 7. Forest City is a borough in Susquehanna County near Wayne and Lackawanna counties.
Here are 11 things we learned the first weekend of tournament games:
No. 1: Bethlehem Christian has a nice team. Didn’t know much about the Panthers, but they have some talented kids and are well-coached by Matt DeJesus, who has an extensive AAU background. Plus, Bethlehem Christian features great fan support and even the long trip to Forest City won’t deter the parents from showing up in large and loud numbers.
No. 2: Saucon Valley had no disappointment hangover from its heartbreaking, 2OT loss to Notre Dame-Green Pond in the CL finals. The Panthers took care of business in solid fashion against MaST Community Charter and now get something I am sure they covet — another shot at the Crusaders.
No.3: The Lehigh Valley is blessed with several multiple-sport athletes and near the top of the list is Palmerton’s Matt Machalik who reached 1,000 points in the Blue Bombers’ convincing win over Panther Valley. As Palmerton coach Ken Termini pointed out, Machalik was able to reach the milestone with a full year left and also did it so soon even after missing a batch of games as a freshman in 2020-21 due to COVID-19.
No.4: While Machalik is headed to a college career in football where he’s a record-breaker, Palmerton’s other junior standout Brayden Hosier is headed to career in college basketball. He scored a career-high 32 points in the team’s win over Panther Valley, making four 3s. If Hosier and the Bombers shoot well from the outside, they have a shot at upsetting Executive.
No. 5: Allentown Central Catholic continues to play at a high level in the postseason. There was no letup for the Vikings in their first game after winning the EPC title. This is one of the most balanced teams Dennis Csensits has ever had with four players averaging between 9.5 and 12 points per game, including Lucas Mushrush who has become one of the area’s best 3-point shooters with 68 treys in 16 games.
No. 6: Bethlehem Catholic will not be intimidated by playing at the mecca of District 11 boys basketball, also known as Martz Hall. Coach Scott McClary said his kids are looking forward to the trip to Pottsville. “I hope it is Martz Hall,” McClary before the destination was known. “We play there a lot in the summer and it’s such an iconic gym.”
No. 7: Despite a 63-61 win over Pocono Mountain West in December, Whitehall won’t be favored against the Panthers in their rematch Tuesday night. But no matter what happens this has to be considered a successful year for the program after the Zephyrs went 11-28 over the previous two seasons. Whitehall will lose just two seniors who got a lot of minutes this year, Gavin Kneller and Aidan Parvel.
No. 8: Pocono Mountain West also figures to be in contention for league and district titles for several years to come. The Panthers feature a first-team all-league player in Julian Pagan, but freshman Kyon Coles (13.6 ppg) and sophomore Adrian Brito (12.5 ppg) are going to keep West strong for at least the next two seasons.
Nick Coval, the league’s MVP, has made 142 of 156 foul shots this season, 91%, and is just 13 shy of scoring 600 points this season. He has 1,350 career points with Parkland having at least two more games in his junior year. He’s on target to pass Sam Iorio as the school’s all-time leading scorer sometime next year. Iorio scored 1,892 points in a career that ended in 2017.
No. 9:
Freedom senior Nick Ellis needs 26 points to become the all-time leading career scorer in Freedom history. Ellis has 1,200 points. He also needs 23 rebounds to set a school single-season record. He has 241 rebounds this season, for an 11.0 rebounds per game average.
No. 10:
No. 11: According to a book compiled by scorekeeper Greg DeStasio on 100 years of Liberty basketball, the Hurricanes are 47-33 all-time against Emmaus but lost the previous meeting this year to the Green Hornets 60-39 at Emmaus in the EPC quarterfinals. It was the lowest point total of the season by Liberty.