EDITOR’S NOTE: While NEPABasketball.com compiles more complete reports, here is a quick recap of Sunday’s highlights.
By Tom Robinson, NEPABasketball.com
EASTON – The only thing lacking from District 2’s collective Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state tournament performance this season prior to Sunday was the ability to pull out games involving close finishes.
The Dunmore girls, along with boys teams from Scranton, Holy Redeemer and Old Forge, fixed that Sunday afternoon.
Dunmore, Scranton and Holy Redeemer all won in overtime while Old Forge erased a double-figures, second-half deficit on the way to its victory.
The Holy Cross boys pulled out a win after trailing at halftime, but by the time the Crusaders were done, it was no longer close.
Technically, neither was Holy Redeemer’s win after a 17-0 overtime advantage for the Royals.
The three District 2 teams outscored their opponents by a combined 39-10 in overtime.
Only the Abington Heights girls lost a close game, falling by one after also erasing a double-figures deficit in the second half.
District 2 teams went a combined 5-3 on the day, finishing the second round at 7-6 after going 13-8 in first-round games.
Sunday’s five winners joined the Dallas boys and Riverside girls as state quarterfinalists from the district.
Six of the seven teams still in action are district champions while the Old Forge boys have extended their season after reaching the tournament as a state runner-up.
Moriah Murray scored 35 points and grabbed 11 defensive rebounds for Dunmore, which downed Villa Joseph Marie, 63-54, in overtime in a Class 4A girls game.
Sophia Talutto and Mia Blume each added a dozen points and contributed a series of clutch plays late.
Dunmore, continuing to play without Naismith All-American Ciera Toomey after a knee injury suffered in the first half of the district final, was in trouble multiple times.
The Jems, who led by nine in the second quarter and five in the final minute of regulation, scored quickly to begin overtime, then immediately forced a turnover.
The Lady Bucks, however, did not allow another field goal while outscoring the Jems, 13-2, the rest of the way. Murray scored nine of the points on a 3-pointer and 6-for-7 free throw shooting.
Talutto hit two free throws with 19.1 seconds left and Dunmore made a defensive stop on the final possession of regulation to force overtime.
Holy Redeemer overcame a seven-point, second-quarter deficit and a three-point late deficit to get into overtime where it shut out Executive Education for a 66-49 victory in a Class 3A game at Lehighton Elementary.
Three technical fouls on Executive Education during overtime contributed to the game getting away.
Justice Shoats led Holy Redeemer with 27 points. Matt Prociak added 21 and Zach Perta had 12.
Kobe Magee led Executive Education with 23.
Scranton missed out on chances to put the game away at the foul line late in regulation and then trailed three times in overtime, but the Knights recovered to win 52-49 over Garnet Valley in a Class 6A boys game at Bethlehem Freedom.
Arvel Chandler had a go-ahead 3-pointer in overtime among his 21 points.
Jason Shields made a tough floater while moving from left to right across the lane with 14 seconds left for a 50-49 lead.
The Knights pressed and forced a long pass that Dillon Lazdowsky intercepted. Lazdowsky was fouled and hit two free throws with 4.6 seconds left.
Garnet Valley had a 3-point shot hit the front rim and backboard at the overtime buzzer.
Old Forge rallied past Karns City, 51-46, in Class 2A at Mifflin County High School in Lewistown.
The Blue Devils trailed 35-23 with five minutes left in the third quarter.
Old Forge then closed the third quarter with an 8-2 run and followed that up by outscoring Karns City 20-9 in the fourth quarter.
Ayden Davitt had half of his 20 points and Mario Samony 8 of his 11 in the fourth quarter.
Joe Macciocco also scored 11 points.
Holy Cross, playing without head coach Al Callejas Sr. for medical reasons, got past Church Farm, 55-39, in Class 2A at Bethlehem Freedom.
Logan Tierney hit the boards to produce a double-double and led a third-quarter surge that carried the Crusaders.
Tierney had 9 of his 17 points in the third quarter when Holy Cross outscored Church Farm 20-5 to take the lead.
Will Kittrell added 14 points, including the go-ahead basket, which started a 13-point streak to end the third quarter with a 39-26 lead.
Kaeden Carr had 7 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter as Holy Cross continued to expand its lead.
While District 2 boys teams were going 4-0 on the day, Dunmore’s was the only win among the four girls teams in action.
Scranton Prep, playing before Dunmore at Easton Middle School, had the lead on defending state champion Archbishop Wood after one quarter.
The Classics, however, ran into foul trouble and did not score again until the last minute of the first half as Archbishop Wood began taking control on the way to the 44-21 Class 4A victory.
Archbishop Wood limited Scranton Prep to 12 points over the last 3 quarters.
Mechanicsburg fought off an Abington Heights rally for a 45-44 Class 5A girls victory at Pottsville’s Martz Hall.
The Wildcats took leads of 16-7 after one quarter and 20-9 early in the second quarter. With the help of five 3-pointers, they led the Lady Comets, 30-18, at halftime.
Abington Heights used a 17-4 third quarter to move in front.
Cassie Eager, who led Mechanicsburg with 11 points, hit a key 3-pointer with less than three minutes remaining.
Jim Thorpe pulled away from a three-point game at halftime and a two-point game early in the third quarter to defeat Lake-Lehman, 64-37, in a Class 4A game played at the Berwick Middle School.
MORE
Wednesday’s quarterfinal matchups for each of the five Sunday winners: https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/Playoffs/UpNext0316Weds.
MORE TO COME
This is just the start of the coverage recapping Sunday’s action. Return to this website for more.
