The second round of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state tournament begins Friday with five games involving District 2 teams.
The action includes games involving Class 5A and 4A boys teams, as well as Class 3A girls teams.
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 state tournament after also picking all the games in the District 2 tournament.
His predictions for the Friday games are below.
PIAA PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS
By Tom Robinson
CLASS 5A SECOND-ROUND BOYS GAME
Pittston Area by 1 over Shippensburg
CLASS 4A SECOND-ROUND BOYS GAME
Dallas by 3 over Cardinal O’Hara
Neumann-Goretti by 19 over Scranton Prep
CLASS 4A FIRST-ROUND GIRLS GAMES
Riverside by 3 over Palmerton
Western Wayne by 4 over Conwell-Egan
WHAT TO EXPECT
District 2 teams finished up 13-8 in the first round by adding a 3-1 effort Thursday to Wednesday’s 5-2 mark. The Scranton Prep boys draw one of the state’s top programs, Neumann-Goretti from Philadelphia, which won eight PIAA state titles in nine years between 2010 and 2018, is widely regarded as one of, if not, the best Class 4A teams in the eastern half of the state. The Cavaliers have a huge undertaking on their hands. The other four District 2 teams in action all figure to have a good shot, although the matchups seem so even that it is difficult to picture all four winning.
RECAP
The only incorrect pick Thursday was when the Lake-Lehman girls went on the road and pulled off a win over Berks Catholic. The 3-1 night included picking the Jenkintown girls to win by 3 over Susquehanna in a game that it actually won by 4, along with a prediction for the Abington Heights girls to win by 12 over Twin Valley in a game they wound up winning by 16.
Thursday’s PIAA boys pick: 1-0 (100.0 percent)
Thursday’s PIAA girls pick: 2-1 (66.7 percent)
Thursday’s total PIAA picks: 3-1 (75.0 percent)
PIAA state boys picks: 8-2 (80.0 percent)
PIAA state girls picks: 8-3 (72.7 percent)
PIAA state total picks: 16-5 (76.2 percent).
Total postseason boys picks: 35-6 (85.4 percent)
Total postseason girls picks: 38-5 (88.4 percent)
Total postseason picks: 73-11 (86.8 percent)
MORE
Friday’s playoff schedule: https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/Playoffs/SecondRoundSitesFriday.
