There are seven District 2 teams left pursuing state championships, but just two that play during Tuesday’s half of the quarterfinal round of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association playoffs.
With the seven teams remaining, six of them are involved in doubleheaders, creating the possibility of District 2 schools supporting each other in gyms in Bethlehem.
Tuesday’s schedule has Riverside, in Class 3A girls, and Dallas, in Class 4A boys, taking on Philadelphia opponents at Bethlehem Liberty High School.
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 Tuesday games are below.
PIAA PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS
By Tom Robinson
CLASS 4A QUARTERFINAL BOYS GAME
Dallas by 7 over West Philadelphia
CLASS 3A QUARTERFINAL GIRLS GAME
Riverside by 3 over Imhotep Charter
WHAT TO EXPECT
District 2 is having a successful state tournament through two rounds and, although each step should become more difficult, there is a chance for that run to continue Tuesday night. The Lady Vikes and Mountaineers will be trying to add to District 2’s state performance that to date includes a 13-8 record in the first round and 7-6 in the second round. Both are battle-tested. Riverside is 5-4 vs. bigger schools, with all of the losses coming to teams with state tournament wins; 12-0 by an average margin of 31.8 vs. other 3A teams; 5-0 by an average of 28.2 in the playoffs; and 6-0 vs. smaller schools. Dallas is 13-3 against bigger schools, 13-0 by an average of 26.4 vs. Class 4A teams, 7-0 in the postseason by an average of 22.1 and has not played a smaller school. Those average margins, particularly Riverside’s, are about to come down, but that does not mean the teams can’t continue their seasons.
RECAP
The last set of predictions, on Sunday’s eight games, pointed out that it was time for District 2 teams to improve their performance in close games if they wanted to keep winning. Three of Friday’s five wins came in overtime and the other two were the result of second-half comebacks. The only close loss was one of our two misses, when the Abington Heights girls, picked here to win by two, actually lost by one. The other loss came when the Old Forge boys, regarded as a three-point underdog here, rallied to win by five. The three overtime winners were teams that were picked here to win by two, four and five points.
Sunday’s PIAA boys picks: 3-1 (75.0 percent)
Sunday’s PIAA girls picks: 3-1 (75.0 percent)
Sunday’s total PIAA picks: 6-2 (75.0 percent)
PIAA state boys picks: 13-4 (76.5 percent)
PIAA state girls picks: 12-5 (70.6 percent)
PIAA state total picks: 25-9 (73.5 percent).
Total postseason boys picks: 40-8 (83.3 percent)
Total postseason girls picks: 42-7 (85.7 percent)
Total postseason picks: 82-15 (84.5 percent)
