The District 2 basketball tournament season resumes Friday before heading into a busy Saturday necessitated by several weather-related changes.
As of Friday at 7 a.m., three games were still scheduled to be played in the semifinal round.
NEPABasketball.com editor Tom Robinson, who covers and writes about District 2 basketball for the website, is once again predicting the outcomes of games throughout the district and subregional playoffs.
His predictions for the Friday night games are below.
DISTRICT 2 PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS
By Tom Robinson
(Home teams in CAPS)
DISTRICT 2 CLASS 5A BOYS SEMIFINALS
PITTSTON AREA by 1 over Abington Heights
DISTRICT 2 CLASS 4A GIRLS SEMIFINALS
SCRANTON PREP by 5 over Lake-Lehman
DISTRICT 2 CLASS 2A GIRLS SEMIFINALS
ELK LAKE by 10 over Lackawanna Trail
WHAT TO EXPECT
After a Wednesday set of quarterfinals loaded with blowouts, a competitive weekend is ahead with several near-tossup games, starting with those that still remain on the Friday schedule.
The last time Pittston Area and Abington Heights met in the district playoffs, a state berth was on the line in the 2020 third-place game and current Patriots guard J.J. Walsh hit a game-winner in the closing seconds for a 37-35 victory that ended Abington Heights’ streak of state tournament appearances at 13. Tonight’s winner in all three games clinches a state appearance, but there is no third spot in Class 5A this year, so once again the loser of the Pittston Area-Abington Heights game is out.
One of the season’s most-anticipated girls games takes place when Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 and tournament champion Lake-Lehman travels to four-time defending district champion and five-time Lackawanna League Division 1 champion Scranton Prep to finally square off after their regular-season, non-league meeting was called off when COVID was disrupting schedules. The game is a rematch of last season’s semifinal on the same court when Lake-Lehman gave Scranton Prep the closest of its three district games before the Classics broke away for a 51-30 victory. This one should remain close throughout and, unlike the other two games, the loser gets a second chance to reach the state tournament through the third-place game.
Elk Lake finished second and Lackawanna Trail third in Lackawanna Division 3 where their last meeting on this court resulted in Elk Lake pulling out a 45-42 victory as part of its season sweep of the home-and-home.
RECAP
Wednesday was the best day in four years of these predictions. All 16 winner picks were correct, including identifying the two “upsets” that happened with lower-seeded teams winning on the road. The predictions included the exact margin of victory in a 35-point Dallas boys victory over Honesdale, a 31-point Elk Lake boys victory over Lackawanna Trail and a 5-point Lakeland girls road victory over Mid Valley. In addition to those exact picks, the Wednesday predictions came within a point of exact hits in wins by the Nanticoke boys and Dallas girls and missed by two points in two games, four points in two games and five points once.
Wednesday’s boys picks: 9-0 (100.0 percent), 2 exact margin picks
Wednesday’s girls picks: 7-0 (100.0 percent), 1 exact margin pick
Wednesday’s total picks: 16-0 (100.0 percent) 3 exact margin picks
District/subregional boys picks: 13-1 (92.9 percent), 2 exact margin picks
District/subregional girls picks: 11-2 (84.6 percent), 1 exact margin pick
District/subregional total picks: 24-3 (88.9 percent), 3 exact margin picks
