District 2 First Round (Boys 2A, Girls 4A, Boys 6A Recaps from Wilkes Univ)
Written by: Jon K on March 7, 2020
March 7, 2020
First Round of PIAA State Tournament Continues
Boys 3A: Holy Redeemer 61, SLA Beeber 32
Girls 4A: Dallas 58, Shamokin Area 32
Boys 6A: Pennridge 49, Wilkes-Barre Area 41
By Phil T.
WILKES-BARRE – Wilkes University hosted three games on the second day of the PIAA First Round Basketball Tournament. A Boys’ 3A match between Holy Redeemer and Science Leadership Academy (SLA) at Beeber got the day started followed by a Girls’ 4A game between Dallas and Shamokin Area before Wilkes-Barre Area and Pennridge finished off the day in a Boys’ 6A matchup.
The District 2 Boys’ 3A champions, Holy Redeemer, got the day underway with a convincing 61-32 win over the fourth seed from District 12, Science Leadership Academy at Beeber.
The Rockets would get an early jump on the Royals after a Rasool Dover steal and layup would give them a 4-0 lead. But the advantage would not last long as Holy Redeemer answered back with a 10-0 run to take a 10-7 lead after the opening period.
Once the Royals got rolling, there was no stopping them as they ended the half on a 11-0 run and outscored SLA Beeber 18-5 in the quarter.
The Rockets would struggle from the foul line in the third quarter, going 2-8, as Holy Redeemer kept up the pressure after the break en route to their 29-point victory.
The Royals were led by Justice Shoats with 19 points, Jared Piontkowski with 12 and Mason Mendygral with 11 as the trio combined for 19 of the team’s 26 field-goals.
Brandon Richardson led the Rockets with 10 points in the losing effort.
The ensuing 4A Girls’ First Round game would have a similar outcome as Dallas dispatched Shamokin Area, 58-32.
The Lady Mountaineer’s size advantage played a key role in this one as they would outrebound Shamokin 49-28 in the game.
Dallas got off to a fast start as they went on a 23-2 run that lasted over nine minutes between the first and second quarters. Shamokin Area struggled from beyond the arc failing to hit any of their first half attempts and only make two triples over the game.
Shamokin would find an advantage outscoring the Mountaineers in the third quarter as Dallas struggled from the charity stripe, only converting two of their six attempts.
However, trailing by 20 heading into the final period, there was little the Lady Mountaineers had to worry about as Shamokin would only score six points in the final quarter.
The Lady Mountaineers were led by Lauren Charlton with 17 points and 14 rebounds, Deanna Wallace with 12 points and Bella Hill with 10 points.
The day was capped with a Boys’ 6A First Round matchup between District 2 champion, Wilkes-Barre Area, and the seventh seed from District 1, Pennridge.
Both teams would trade the lead back and forth, but a four-point final quarter from the Wolfpack would give Pennridge the victory 49-41.
Both evenly matched teams, the Rams and Wolfpack battled in a back-and-forth first half, in which the teams would only be separated by four points.
Wilkes-Barre Area led 10-8 after the opening period, but a late triple by Christian Guldin would give Pennridge the 20-17 advantage heading into the halftime break.
Two buckets by Luke Yoder would increase the Rams lead to seven early in the third quarter, but the Wolfpack would battle back.
Brandon Hall would make three baskets in the period and all three brought the Pack fans out of their seats. A breakaway dunk and an alley-oop dunk early in the quarter would cut the deficit down to three points. Several minutes later Hall would come up with a steal and take it to the basket – the “and one” conversion tied the game at 30.
Two foul shots from Cole Walker and a triple from Matt Egidio would give Wilkes-Barre a 37-34 lead heading into the final eight minutes.
With a little more than four minutes remaining in the game Cole Walker would get a layup to put the Wolfpack up 41-37 but they would not score again. Pennridge finished the last four minutes of the game on a 12-0 run to advance them to the next round.
The Rams were led by Colin Post with 13 points, Trent Fisher with 12 and Guldin with 10.
The Wolfpack were led by Hall with 16 points and Walker with 12, 10 coming in the second half.
This was Wilkes-Barre Area’s inaugural season and expect all five starters to return next year.
Holy Redeemer will face District 12 Champion Neumann-Goretti (23-4), the No. 1 Boys AAA team in the state, in the Second Round of the PIAA State Tournament.
Dallas will face District 12 Champion Lansdale Catholic (23-3) in the 2nd round of the PIAA State Tournament.
Follow LLhoops on Twitter @LLhoops
