Matt Prociak continued his strong Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association tournament and Holy Redeemer extended what is now its longest trip through the state boys playoffs.
Prociak scored 18 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as Holy Redeemer defeated Math, Civics & Sciences Charter School from Philadelphia, 56-48, in a Class 3A quarterfinal at Bethlehem Freedom High School.
It was a deep 3-pointer by Prociak that put the Royals ahead late in the first quarter as part of an 8-0 run to a 14-10 lead early in the second quarter.
Prociak has 71 points, including the 1,000th of his career, during the three state tournament wins by the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 and District 2 Class 3A champions.
After beating the District 12 champions, Holy Redeemer advances to face the District 12 third-place team, Devon Prep, Saturday at 4 p.m. at Bethlehem Liberty.
Three of the last four eastern teams in the Class 3A bracket were from District 12, which is the Philadelphia public schools and Philadelphia Catholic League, which extends into the suburbs. Holy Redeemer is the exception.
Devon Prep from Chester County defeated West Catholic from Philadelphia, 63-57, in their quarterfinal meeting at Cardinal O’Hara in Springfield.
In Bethlehem, Holy Redeemer scored first, then missed its next four shots to fall behind, 7-2.
Prociak broke the dry spell with a 3-pointer to make it 7-6 and, after Trent Middleton answered with a 3-pointer for the Mighty Elephants, the Royals went on their run.
Justice Shoats hit two free throws, Darryl Wright made one of two for the second time in the quarter and Prociak made another 3-pointer for a 12-10 lead after one quarter.
Shoats started the second quarter with an elbow jumper and Holy Redeemer continued a stretch in which it limited MCS to four points for more than eight minutes. Even when the Mighty Elephants scored last, Holy Redeemer took a 20-16 lead into the locker room.
Two Prociak free throws capped a 9-4 start of the second half to extend the lead to nine.
Zach Perta helped close out the win, finishing 8-for-10 at the line for 17 points. Shoats finished with 15 points.
Jaheim Bethea led MCS with 11 points.
Khalif Crawley Jr. added 9 points and 11 rebounds.
Holy Redeemer, which had made one previous state semifinal appearance, has won five straight to improve to 24-4.
