Throughout the District 2 basketball tournament, NEPABasketball.com reporter Tom Robinson has been predicting the outcome of playoff games, correctly projecting the winner in 90 percent of the quarterfinal and semifinal games.

With the results a bit more difficult to predict now that the championship matchups are set, for the fourth straight season, NEPABasketball.com will use a panel to try the project the outcomes.

A group of 12 has joined together in the prediction process for the 11 title games over 3 days at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza. That group is made up of those who have played a role in coverage of basketball on NEPABasketball.com and partner website NEPASportsNation.com or are involved in local basketball through our parent company, Nineteen 9 Sports Inc.

Jason O’Malley, Kevin Clark, Dave Maddock, Chris Kucharski, Paul Gerrity, Doug Walsh, Joe Sheehan, Brian Coyle and Lamont Tillery are back to join Robinson on our panel of prognosticators for the district championship series. Ben Magnotta and Jess Rini have been added this season.

O’Malley, an attorney from Roaring Brook Twp., is part of Nineteen 9 Sports Inc., a group of local businessmen who own and operate Riverfront Sports in Scranton, along with NEPABasketball.com and NEPASportsNation.com. He will provide color commentary on NEPABasketball.com broadcasts during this year's championship games.

Clark is co-owner of Riverfront Sports and the NEPA Elite AAU basketball program. He is head coach of the Dunmore boys high school team and the NEPA Elite 17U team that won the Hoop Group Girls Showcase League titles in each of its first two seasons.

Maddock is the owner of one of the major sponsors of NEPABasketball.com coverage throughout its history. The Maddock Nationwide Insurance Agency is a multi-line insurance and financial service agency that puts its “members” first.

Kucharski, from Riverfront Sports, created and oversees the broadcast side of the NEPABasketball.com operation. He will handle the play-by-play for the majority of the district championship audio broadcasts that will be part of NEPABasketball.com’s coverage of the games from the arena.

Gerrity and Walsh have been involved in past broadcasts on NEPABasketball.com along with other roles in local basketball.

Gerrity handles many radio and television broadcast assignments, including play-by-play for Service Electric Cable in Wilkes-Barre, and contributes information to NEPABasketball.com’s coverage. Walsh, a former coach, is the color commentator for ESPN3 broadcasts of Binghamton University basketball, also serves as an analyst of games in District 2 for WQMY-TV, and promotes the annual Conference Challenge bringing Lackawanna League and Wyoming Valley Conference opponents together at Lackawanna College each December.

Sheehan is the Chief Operating Officer of Riverfront Sports.

Coyle coaches the NEPA Elite 17U boys entry in the Hoop Group Showcase League during the AAU season. He also will be providing color commentary from arena championship games this season.

Tillery provides individualized and group training of basketball players at Riverfront Sports.

Robinson has covered more than 250 state and district championship basketball games and has been courtside as a reporter for every second of every District 2 championship game that has been held at Mohegan Sun Arena. He handles all aspects of the editorial content for NEPABasketball.com and NEPASportsNation.com.

Magnotta joined on this winter as a frequent freelance contributor to NEPABasketball.com and NEPASportsNation.com. Also the Student Director of Abington Heights High School Media, he offers a variety of skills, working on graphics, reporting, social media and occasional writing.

Rini coached an NEPA Elite 17U girls team to a 21-6 record in 2021 and will be coaching an NEPA Elite 15U in the season ahead. She also instructs individual and group training sessions for players at Riverfront Sports.

Their various roles have kept each in contact with many of the top players and teams in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Here is how they see this week’s title games:

THURSDAY’S GAMES

FRIDAY’S GAMES

SATURDAY’S GAMES

PICKS RECAP

In 2019, the first year of our panel, Joe Ross and Tom Robinson tied at 10-1 and Pete Danchak was 9-2, leading a group of six.

The following year, the group expanded to 10. Robinson was 10-1 to finish alone in first, one game ahead of Kevin Clark, Chris Kucharski, Matt Shaffer and the consensus.

The panel reached its current size of 12 last year. Brian Coyle and Shaffer tied for the best record at 9-1, which was one game better than Clark, Kucharski and Paul Gerrity.