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2014 Crimson Tide Summer Trip
2014 Barefield Tuesday & Thursday League
Players
2014 Barefield Tuesday & Thursday Champions
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| Photos Coursey Of David McGown and Pottsville Republican |
Stars come out - Blankenhorn and Mahmod grab Co-player Honorsby
mike carnahan (staff writer mcarnahan@republicanherald.com) Published: April 19, 2014
Mahanoy Area's Dylan Mahmod is a fiery
performer on the basketball court and isn't afraid to let his emotions show. The senior guard also has the game to back it
up. "He is one of those guys that if you are the opposition, he is a target," Golden
Bears coach Mickey Holland said. "If he is on your side, you love him." Pottsville's
Travis Blankenhorn is more quiet and reserved. Don't, however, be fooled by the junior guard's demeanor. Blankenhorn has plenty
of game, too. "He's a humble superstar," Crimson Tide coach Dave Mullaney said. "You
would never guess by talking to him that he's the best at every sport." While their leadership
styles and on-court personalities are different, both Mahmod and Blankenhorn share similar traits. Both are successful, multi-sport
athletes, with a burning desire for success, both individually and for their teams. Mahmod and
Blankenhorn certainly delivered this past boys' basketball season and for their performances they are 2013-14 Republican-Herald
Co-Players of the Year. Mahmod, a Republican-Herald first-teamer last year, missed the first two
games of the season with a broken collarbone suffered during football but recovered to lead Mahanoy Area in scoring at 13.5
points per game, including 40 3-pointers. An all-around offensive threat with a knack for finding the open man, the 6-foot-2
Mahmod was also an excellent defender and was selected to the third team on the Associated Press' Pennsylvania All-State Boys'
Basketball team in Class A. Mahanoy Area finished the season 25-3, winning Schuylkill League Division
III, overall league and District 11 Class A titles. The Golden Bears reached the second round of the PIAA playoffs, suffering
a season-ending 56-52 loss to Church Farm. Blankenhorn, a 6-2 guard, was a Republican-Herald Co-Rookie
of the Year as a freshman, a first-teamer last season and built on that this past winter. With the loss of Brandon Bridy to
graduation, Blankenhorn took over the role as offensive leader and became more multi-dimensional, adding post moves and the
ability to get the basket to go along with a deadly accurate outside shot. Blankenhorn finished
second in the league in scoring at 18.2 points per game and drained 61 3s on the year. He added 5.7 rebounds per game, was
78-for-105 (74 percent) from the foul line and currently has 1,103 points in his career. The Crimson
Tide (24-6) were the Division I champs for the fifth consecutive year, reached the league title game for fifth straight season
and played in their first District 11 Class AAA title game since 2010. Pottsville advanced to the second round of the state
playoffs before losing to eventual state runner-up Susquehanna Twp. 52-45. For the second consecutive
season, Holland is Coach of the Year. In his 33rd and final season, this season's Golden Bears
became the third team he coached to both overall league and district titles in the same season, joining the 1990-91 and 1998-99
squads. The Schuylkill League title, a 45-44 victory over Pottsville on Feb. 14 at Martz Hall, was Mahanoy Area' first since
2006 and ended the Crimson Tide's four-year championship run. The Golden Bears 62-42 rout of Pius X on Feb. 28 at Martz Hall
was their second consecutive district championship. Mahanoy Area finished ranked No. 4 in the
Penn-Live.com/Harrisburg Patriot-News state rankings in Class A. Rookie of Year honors go to
North Schuylkill sophomore Tevin Murray. A 6-5 forward, Murray was one of the four new starters
for the Spartans this season and steadily improved as the year progressed. A tenacious rebounder, Murray helped North Schuylkill
continue its winning ways as the Spartans finished 16-7. Mahmod takes leadership role on experienced
team Mahmod was having a great football season as the Golden Bears' quarterback (1,545 rushing,
554 passing) before he broke his collarbone Oct. 25 against Schuylkill Haven. With limited practice time during the basketball
preseason - Mahmod was cleared to go full-board in practice Dec. 12 and played his first game the next night against Shenandoah
Valley - he started slow offensively. But Mahmod cranked in up late in the year, averaging 17.8 points per game over final
10 games and 15.7 during the Golden Bears' six postseason games. He scored 17 in Mahanoy Area's
49-35 league semifinal win Feb. 11 against Blue Mountain and 21 in the title game against Pottsville as the Golden Bears built
a 40-25 lead with 2:26 left in the game before holding off a furious Crimson Tide comeback. "Overall,
that was probably my best game," Mahmod said. One of Mahmod's best defensive efforts came
in the district title game when he held Pius X' Eric Marbury, who came averaging 17.2 points per game, to 13. Still, Mahmod felt he stepped up the biggest as a leader. Even with a senior-heavy team and four retuning starters,
Mahmod wanted to take on more of that role that started during football as a quarterback. The Golden Bears won their first
six games and finished 8-4, losing to Marian in the Eastern Conference Class A title game. "(Teammates)
Larry (McNeil) and Andy (Kuzma) definitely had a big leadership standpoint, too, but I felt me and (Tyler) Cavenas had to
take control of the team," Mahmod said. "There were many times when coach told us we are going to go as far as you
take us. I definitely felt like I lot of it was on my shoulders." What Mahmod, who is headed
to Susquehanna University to play basketball for coach Frank Marcinek, also has is a burning desire to win. "You can sense there are certain kids that it is every bit as important to them, winning, as it is to you,"
Holland said. "It causes you to really trust them and at times listen when they have things to say. With Dylan, he and
I had that kind of relationship." Blankenhorn quietly leads Crimson Tide continued success Blankenhorn was the lone returning starter from the 2012-13 campaign and finished as Pottsville's second leading
scorer behind Bridy. While others, such as junior Eli Nabhohz (12.9) and sophomore Jordan Melochick (9.8) stepped up offensively
this past winter, it Blankenhorn turn to lead the way. "We knew we needed players to step
up and I feel like we did that this year," he said. Especially Blankenhorn. He average five more points per game more this season compared to his sophomore year and reached double figures in
29 of Pottsville's 30 games. Blankenhorn's season high was 33 at Williamsport on Dec. 17, a key early-season, confidence boosting
53-37 Crimson Tide victory. Blankenhorn, who has verbally committed to play baseball at the University
of Kentucky, went over 1,000 points for his career Feb. 11 against Williams Valley in the league semifinals. Blankenhorn felt he didn't need to become more of a leader this season, but Mullaney knows he did. He describes Blankenhorn
as one who isn't a rah-rah type player but leads by example. "These kids look up to him,"
Mullaney said. "As humble as a kid he is, he is just as competitive." One area Blankenhorn
focused on was becoming more of a complete offensive player. Known as a 3-point shooter his first two years, he became more
of an inside threat and scorer off the dribble this season. It was somewhat of an up-and-down
year for the Crimson Tide. Their only championship was a division title but the program still reached new heights. Pottsville's
58-38 win over Lower Moreland in the first round of PIAA playoffs March 7 was it first start-tournament victory since 1974.
The Crimson Tide also gave Susquehanna Twp., which lost in the Class AAA state finals to Neumann-Goretti, a battle in the
second round. "It was definitely a good season but we could have done better," Blankenhorn
said. Pottsville will get that chance. All five starters will return next season. Holland finishes career in style and on top Holland tried to keep it secret that this
was going to be his last season but everybody involved in the Mahanoy Area program knew that this was likely the end. It turned out to be a grand finale as Holland guided a squad with high expectations. It's a role that perfectly suits
Holland, who finished with a career record of 614-243, getting win 600 on Jan. 10 against Lourdes. "I
always liked to be the one being chased," he said. "It means that you are good. We always felt that way. We never
minded the target on our back." The Golden Bears were as good as advertised. They led the
league in scoring defense, allowing 33.8 points per game, fourth in scoring offense at 57.6 and won their games by an average
margin of 27.4 points. When Mahanoy Area did seem to lose focus, it quickly recovered. With three of his starters also members of the football team, Holland felt there was a football hangover for the
first month of the year. But a 61-41 rout of Danville in the championship game of the Cardinal Classic on Dec. 28 got them
going. After a 62-61 defeat at North Schuylkill on Jan. 31, the most points the Golden Bears allowed
all season, Mahanoy Area got its defensive focus back and allowed only one team, Church Farm, to score 50 or more the rest
of the year. While his players wanted to go further, Holland was proud of was accomplished this
season. The state playoff loss to Church Farm, a game that was tied at 52 with 1:21 to go before it slipped away, was the
perfect example. Church Farm lost to eventual state runner-up Math, Civics & Science 47-46
in the quarterfinals. "Honesty, to me it was real rewarding in the fact that we were right
there at the end, really," Holland said. "It was a great opportunity to play some great teams, some very good teams
with some very good city kids and we looked at it, we played it and we walked away saying 'No excuse.' "This was a special group of kids and I am super proud of them. It was great group to go out with." Murray helps Spartans continue winning ways North Schuylkill coach Curt Ziegmont wasn't
exactly sure what he was going to get from the Spartans or Murray this season. Murray gave Ziegmont
more than he expected. As Murray's confidence grew, so did his production. Over North Schuylkill's
final 11 games, Murray averaged 15.6 points per game. His season high was 23 during the Spartan's win over Mahanoy Area he
was 13-for-17 from the foul line, hitting go-ahead points from the line with 13 seconds left in the game. But it was Murrary's rebounding ability, a combination of positioning and aggressiveness, that stood out the most.
Ziegmont figured Murray ended the season with at least 12 double-doubles and averaged around 12 rebounds per game. Murray had 18 points and 16 rebounds in the Spartans' season-ending 52-46 loss to Catasauqua in the District 11 Class
AA semifinals. "He's the best rebounder I've ever coached," Ziegmont said. "Some
guys just have the knack. They always seem to find the ball or the ball always finds them."
2013-2014 Schuylkill League All-Area Boys Basketball
Travis Blankenhorn - Pottsville and Dylan Mahmod
- Mahonoy Area -- Co-Players of the years 2013-2014 Republican Herald Boys Basketball All-Area First Team Eli Nabholz-Pottsville-Junior- Forward 6'5" Will Bornstein - Blue Mountain-Senior-Guard 6'1" Jeff Yordy-Nativity-Junior-Guard 6'1" Tyler Cavenas-Senior-Center 6'5" Brett Kosciolek-Tamaqua-Junior-Forward 6'7" 2013-2014 Republican Herald All-Area
Boys Basketball Second Team Jake Szczecina-Panther
Valley-Senior- Guard 6'0" Bo Rottet-Tamaqua-Junior-Guard
6'0" Skyler Panchari-Blue Mountain-Senior-Center
6' 4" Larry McNeil-Mahanoy Area-Senior-Guard
6'4" Stephen Sedesse-Williams Valley-Senior-Forward
6'2" Honorable Mention Jordan Melochick-Pottsville Sophmore-6'2"
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| Photos Coursey Of David McGown and Pottsville Republican |
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| Photo Coursey Of Pottsville Republican/Dave McKeown |
"Good Luck" to our Seniors
John Toomey and Daymarr
Jackson
Travis "Money" Blankenhorn selected
Crimson Tide's MVP 2014 by Pottsville Boys Basketball League
The Basketball Banquet
will be held on Sunday, March 16, 2014 at 5:00 pm at the Middle School Cafeteria!
"BAND OF BROTHERS"
READING — Survive and advance. In other words, survive by finding a way to defeat
the guys standing in front of you and advance to play one more day — at some site on some day. Well, after churning
out a 52-45 victory over a stubborn Pottsville club Tuesday night at the Geigle Complex, Susquehanna Twp.’s basketball-playing
Indians found a way to survive the second round of the PIAA Class AAA playoffs. “Our motto right now is just survive
and advance,” Susquehanna Twp. guard Gabe Mack said. “As long as you win, you play another game. You’ve
just got to win.” And, thanks to Tuesday night’s difficult yet gratifying result, Vince Rogers’ resourceful
ballclub will tee it up again in Friday night’s quarterfinals at a site and time to be determined against District 3
playmate Lancaster Mennonite. Mennonite downed No. 6 Chartiers Valley 68-64 in another second-round scrap.  Bud Mack (3) scored a game-high 22 points in Susquehanna Twp.'s 52-45 victory
over Pottsville. (Mark Pynes, PennLive.com) Nehemiah “Bud” Mack
collected a game-high 22 points, while Gabe Mack pocketed all 11 of his points following the halftime break as the District
3-AAA champs (21-7) extended their winning streak to six games and moved into the state quarterfinals for the first time since
2008. That club reached the state title game. Quintin Ward added nine points, eight rebounds and seven blocked shots
for the seventh-ranked Indians, who won for the 17th time in 20 games. Rogers’ outfit
also picked up six points and seven boards from Joe Marshall. Eli Nabholz, a 6-5 junior with a terrific touch from the
perimeter, dropped in 21 points for Pottsville. Nabholz’s productive night included four treys. Dave Mullaney’s
gritty Crimson Tide (24-6) — all five starters are underclassmen — also picked up 15 points from Travis Blankenhorn. Pottsville,
despite falling in arrears nearly three minutes in, stayed close enough to maintain control of the tempo and remain in its
comfort zone. And while that proved frustrating, the Indians managed to find a way to survive. The Tide also crowded
the paint with its man defense in an effort to make it difficult for Susquehanna Twp. to jam the ball inside and/or penetrate.
That ploy also limited the Indians’ second- and third-chance opportunities, especially in the first half. Add
those tactics to a deliberate tempo and … “We tried to push the ball in transition, but they just did enough
not to allow that to happen,” Rogers admitted. “We really thought tempo was gonna be a big part of it and
we think the majority of it we were able to do that,” Mullaney said. “I was really proud of our guys for
just sticking with our game plan — even when things weren’t going and shots weren’t falling early. I just
think that 3 [Bud Mack] and 4 [Gabe Mack] were just too good,” Mullaney continued. “We did force them into
some difficult shots, but they’re good enough to make them.”  Shown addressing his team, Dave Mullaney's Pottsville Crimson Tide never allowed
Susquehanna Twp. to dictate tempo. (Mark Pynes, PennLive.com) And advance. “That’s
the biggest thing right now,” Gabe Mack continued. “I kept telling them, ‘If we win by one, we win at the
buzzer, as long as we win, just survive and advance.’ “I was watching [ESPN’s] ’30 for 30’
the other day, [about N.C. State winning the 1983 NCAA tournament], just kind of took that in. “Just survive and
advance, that’s the biggest thing right now.” PIVOTAL SEQUENCE Although Susquehanna
Twp. was able to barge in front by 10 points (24-14) early in the second half on a Marshall stickback, an 11-2 Pottsville
spurt had the Tide within one (26-25) when Nabholz buried a trey with 3:21 to play. The Indians, however, never relinquished
a lead they grabbed with nearly three minutes gone in the game as Jordan Millberry’s pop from the right elbow at the
2:24 mark pushed the lead back to three. Bud Mack’s fadeaway bank from the left wing moments later made it a five-point
game. “That shot by Jordan, it kept our composure there,” Gabe Mack admitted. “They didn’t go
away. We were trying to pull away, but they definitely made some big shots and stayed there. As a team, we kept our composure
really good.” And when Marshall buried a 16-foot from the left baseline just before the buzzer — off Bud
Mack’s penetration and kick — Rogers’ club bounced into the break between the third and fourth quarters
sporting a six-point edge (34-28). “That was huge,” Rogers said. “That was huge.” Didn’t
last. Mullaney’s Tide kept hanging around, pulling to within one yet again (36-35) with 6:25 showing on Blankenhorn’s
runner in the lane. Pottsville even had a chance to go in front, but Blankenhorn missed a trey from the top of the key,
Gabe Mack grabbed the rebound and took it to the other end, pulling up from the foul line for a deuce that gave Susquehanna
needed space. Still hanging — the Tide was down 39-37 following Nabholz’s jump hook — Mullaney’s
Tide had another chance to go back in front. But Jordan Melochick’s 3-point pop from the left wing glanced off the rim
and Takhi Turner latched on. Moments later, Gabe Mack’s flash into the lane upped Township’s lead to four. When
Blankenhorn missed on Pottsville’s next possession, the Indians promptly unveiled their spread and started milking the
clock. Not only was Susquehanna able to can nine of its 12 looks at the line, but Rogers’ Indians also picked
up a clutch bucket when Gabe Mack broke pressure and found the 6-6 Ward all alone for an emphatic flush. Moments later,
Susquehanna had survived — and advanced. CLICK HERE FOR A PIAA CLASS AAA TOURNAMENT BRACKET REVIEWING THE NUMBERS Susquehanna Twp. shot 48.6 percent (17-for-35) from the floor, 52.6 percent
(10-for-19) in the second half. … The Indians were 3-for-7 from the arc, with Bud Mack knocking down all three treys.
… Rogers’ ballclub was 15-for-22 from the free-throw stripe — including 12-for-16 in the fourth quarter.
… The Indians committed just eight turnovers, one fewer than Pottsville. … Susquehanna Twp. wound up outrebounding
the Crimson Tide 32-21, even though Mullaney’s club held a 16-12 edge at halftime. … Gabe Mack also dropped three
of the Indians’ 10 dimes. … The Mack brothers combined for 15 of Susquehanna Twp.’s 18 points in the fourth
quarter. … Pottsville targeted 35.7 percent (15-for-42) of its field-goal attempts, but shot 52.3 percent (11-for-21)
after halftime. … Mullaney’s Tide was 7-for-18 from the arc — 6-for-13 after the break — with Nabholz
nailing four and Connor Hinchliffe two. … Nabholz snared six rebounds to go with his 21 points — Nabholz
was 4-for-6 from deep — while Blankenhorn and Melochick each snagged four boards. … Ty Painter dished out three
of Pottsville’s 10 assists. MORE NOTES AND NUGGETS Turner spent much of the second half
chasing Blankenhorn defensively. Rogers turned to Lawrence Holley late to provide perimeter defense on Nabholz. … Bud
Mack was 9-for-12 at the free-throw line, 6-for-8 in the fourth quarter. … Susquehanna Twp. also mixed some 1-3-1 with
its man looks. … Gabe Mack was 5-for-6 at the stripe, all in the final eight minutes. … Gabe Mack and
Turner also snared four boards apiece. … Bud Mack, Turner and Marshall each dished out two assists. … Hinchliffe,
Melochick and Nabholz had two assists apiece for the Tide, which had helpers on 10 of its 15 field goals. …  Takhi Turner (left) spent much of the second half playing Pottsville's Travis
Blankenhorn man to man. (Mark Pynes, PennLive.com) Gabe Mack was offered
a scholarship by Mansfield following Susquehanna Twp.’s 65-47 victory over Imhotep Charter in Friday’s opening
round. … Ward reeled in a scholarship offer from Seton Hill earlier this week. … Nabholz (Penn State)
and Blankenhorn (Kentucky), merely juniors, already have issued verbal commitments to play baseball at the next level. Nabholz’s
uncle, Chris Nabholz, pitched six seasons in the major leagues for four clubs. … POST-GAME REACTION (Rogers
on Mullaney’s Crimson Tide) “I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Pottsville, man. I knew they were gonna
play hard. They’re a physical team, a strong team. [Nabholz], I knew he was pretty good, but the kid can really shoot
the ball. We didn’t do a good job defending him on the perimeter. I thought we did a pretty good job, for the most part,
on [Blankenhorn]. Overall, I’m happy with our team’s performance but we have to do a better job guarding the perimeter. (Rogers
on the Mack brothers) “I can’t say enough about them. They really came through, especially G in the fourth period.
He might have missed one shot in the fourth period … that just shows you his senior leadership. But we needed that.
I told G starting the second half, ‘I really need you to get going for me.’ He stepped up and he got the job done.” (Rogers
on grinding out a victory coming off Friday’s win over Imhotep) “This was a real playoff basketball atmosphere.
You always want to get away from an opponent, but this was nip and tuck the whole game. Our kids kept their composure. They
handled all the end-of-game situations the right way. And we finished. So, I’m proud of them.”  Susquehanna Twp. coach Vince Rogers issues directions to Bud Mack (3) and
Gabe Mack (4) during the Indians' 52-45 win over Pottsville. (Mark Pynes, PennLive.com) (Rogers
on his club’s collective effort) “At this point, all you want to do is advance and move on. We had a lot of key
contributions from different players. Look at Holley, he stepped in and [Nabholz] didn’t hit any more baskets from the
perimeter on us. Jordan Millberry gave us some productive minutes.” (Mullaney on Nabholz and Blankenhorn) “They’re
two very confident kids. They’re very good players, too, but they’re very confident. A big stage isn’t gonna
do anything to them. They showed up like they have all year.” (Mullaney on the Mack brothers) “They’re
very, very quality players. Actually I think our kids did a great job on them. I was very proud of our defensive effort, our
positioning, effort, our beating them to spots. Sometimes they were just too good.” (Gabe Mack on trying to break
down Pottsville) “They definitely stuck to their game plan to a T. They weren’t allowing anything in the paint.
We just had to be patient. We kind of just knew our run would come and it did.” (Gabe Mack on meeting Lancaster
Mennonite) “We’re gonna come in confident and I know they are, too. I know they’re a tough team, very tough
team. Pretty much expect the same thing. We’re always gonna stay on the attack mode and be ready for quite a fight.” (Bud
Mack on trying to pull away from Pottsville) “In the beginning of the season, usually we would find a way and go up
by 12. But tonight, it was a like a little bubble and we couldn’t get inside of it. So we were trying to find it in
transition. And we got it sometimes.” (Bud Mack on the clutch second-half shots made by Millberry and Gabe Mack)
“Those were two big possessions. If [G] wouldn’t have gotten the rebound, they would have had the momentum and
might have gone up — and then almost win the game. And Jordan, his shot was big. We needed that because we were only
up a point and if he didn’t make that they could go down and score.”
Susquehanna Township eliminates Pottsville by kevin keating (CORRESPONDENT kkeating@republicanherald.com) Published:
March 11, 2014 READING - Trailing by 10 early in the third quarter and with its
season beginning to slip away, Pottsville stuck with its game plan. In just
two minutes, the Crimson Tide nearly completely erased Susquehanna Township's lead. The go-ahead score never came for Pottsville. Susquehanna Township's
sibling duo of Gabe and Bud Mack helped the Indians close out a 52-45 victory over the Tide in the second round of the PIAA
Class AAA boys' basketball state tournament Tuesday night at the Geigle Complex, ending Pottsville's successful postseason
run. The District 3 champion Tribe (21-7) advance to face Lancaster Mennonite,
a 68-64 winner over Chartiers Valley, in Friday's state quarterfinals. Pottsville
(24-6) refused to fade quietly into the warming March air even after falling behind by 10 to start the second half. The Tide played their hallmark stingy man-to-man defense, containing the Tribe throughout.
Offensively, shots weren't finding their way through the twine in the early going as Pottsville hit just 4-of-22 from the
field in the first half. Something clicked early in the third quarter, though,
as the Tide used an 11-2 run to pull within a point at 26-25. "I was
really proud of the way we just continued to believe in our game plan the entire time," Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney
said. "First half, we had some open looks that didn't fall. We knew if we just stuck with the game plan and defensive
rebounding. That was so crucial to us, and our kids did an absolutely great job. We knew some shots would fall late." Pottsville had several open looks draw iron in the fourth quarter and harmlessly bounce
into the hands of Susquehanna Township rebounders to stifle the Tide's late runs. "I
knew Pottsville was solid," Hanna coach Vince Rogers said. "Their record speaks for itself. I knew they were going
to be ready. "They were physical and strong. They battled. They battled
with us. Those kids don't have anything to hang their heads down on." Eli
Nabholz delivered another huge performance for the Tide, finishing with a team-high 21 points and six rebounds. Nabholz had
some success in the post, then moved outside and drained four 3-pointers to help Pottsville's comeback bid. Defensively, Nabholz had to contend with 6-foot-6 center Quintin Ward, while the Tide's guards were busy trying to
deal with both Macks on the perimeter and driving to the rim. "Eli …
he's played so big for us down the stretch," Mullaney said. "His ability to score inside and out is such a difficult
guard for people. We probably don't give him enough credit on the defensive end. He does a great job on that end. He's grown
so much in that regard. Obviously, his rebounding has been tremendous all year." The Macks proved to be the difference, especially down the stretch. Bud
Mack finished with a game-high 22 points, knocking down 6-of-8 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter. Gabe Mack added
11 points, with all 11 coming in the final stanza. "I really believe
that it was (numbers) 3 and 4 (Bud and Gabe Mack)," Mullaney said. "They're great players and their ability to make
tough shots. I was really proud of our defensive effort. We forced them to take shots, but they're that good. They made them." Travis Blankenhorn added 15 points for Pottsville, which loses just one senior - reserve
forward John Toomey - to graduation. "John symbolizes everything that
we want from a Pottsville basketball player," Mullaney said. "I think the best compliment that I can give him is
he's just as good a teammate as I've ever been around. We will miss him a lot." The Crimson Tide return all five starters next season. The first victory in states since 1974 are certainly steps
to build on for 2014-15. "I think tonight, obviously we're disappointed
with the loss, but we definitely showed that we belong with the top teams in the state," Mullaney said. "I think
our guys, with some of the teams that we played down the stretch, it's really going to carry over to the next year." Pottsville (45) Hinchliffe 2 0-0 6, Painter 0 0-0 0, Blankenhorn 7 0-0 15,
Toomey 0 0-0 0, Melochick 1 1-1 3, Nabholz 5 7-8 21. Totals 15 8-9 (45) Susquehanna Township (52) Blair 1 0-0 2, Milberry 1 0-0 2, Mack 5 9-12 22, Mack 3 5-6 11, Turner 0 0-0 0, Marshall
3 0-2 6, Ward 4 1-2 9, Letterlough 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 15-22 (52) Pottsville (24-6)
8 6 14 17 --- (45) Susquehanna (21-7) 13 7 14 18 -- (52) 3-point FG's: Hincliffe 2, Blankenhorn, Nabholz 4, B. Mack 3
PIAA Boys' Basketball CapsulesPublished: March
11, 2014 PIAA Boys' Basketball Capsules CLASS AAA 3-1 Susquehanna Twp. (20-7) vs. 11-2 Pottsville (24-4) When/where:
Today, 7:30 p.m., Geigle Compex, Reading About the Crimson Tide Head coach: Dave Mullaney (7th season) How got here: Beat District
1 runner-up Lower Moreland 58-38 in the first round Team stats: Offense (54.7
ppg), defense (37.2) Probable starters: G Travis Blankenhorn (jr., 6-foot-2,
18.3 points per game), G Ty Painter (jr., 5-8, 2.9), G-F Jordan Melochick (soph., 6-2, 10.0), G-F Connor Hinchliffe (jr.,
6-1, 6.1), F Eli Nabholz (jr., 6-5, 12.6) Key reserve: F John Toomey (sr., 6-2,
1.4) About the Indians Head coach:
Vince Rogers (8th season) How got here: Beat District 12 fourth-place finisher
Imhotep Charter 65-47 in first round Team stats: Offense (63.0), defense (53.3) Probable starters: G Nehemiah "Bud" Mack (soph., 6-0, 17.5), G Gabe Mack (sr., 5-10, 10.9), F Joe Marshall
(jr., 6-4, 9.1), F Quintin Ward (jr., 6-6, 8.8), F Roman Letterlough (jr., 6-5, 5.5) or G-F Takhi Turner (sr., 6-1, 6.1) Key reserves: F Jaquan Blair (jr., 6-3, 3.5), G Jordan Millberry (sr., 5-8, 2.8), F Lawrence Holley (sr., 6-3, 2.5) Game Notes Marshall scored a game-high 21 points (10-for-11 from the
floor) and grabbed team-high eight boards in the Indians' first-round win. Gabe Mack added 18 points, with 10 in opening quarter,
including two huge 3-pointers, while Bud Mack had 16 points and was 10-for-12 at the line, including a 7-for-7 performance
the fourth quarter. ... Nabholz scored a season-high 25 points, while Blankenhorn added 18 in Crimson Tide's first-round victory.
... Indians have won five straight and 16-of-19 since losing to Imhotep Charter (51-49) on Jan. 4. Avenged that loss with
opening-round win. … Indians making second straight appearance in states, beating Upper Moreland (62-42)
in first round in 2013 before losing to eventual state champ Imhotep Charter (57-48) in second round. ... Indians' district
title was first since 2008, when they lost in state championship game to Steel-High. ... Crimson Tide's first-round victory
was program's first in state playoffs since 1974. … Crimson Tide have won 8-of-10, with losses coming
to Mahanoy Area in Schuylkill League championship game and Allentown Central Catholic in District 11 title game. ... Bud Mack
has interest from Drexel, Norfolk State, Holy Cross, Bucknell, Boston University, Radford and Temple, while Marshall drawing
attention from Bucknell, Colgate, Holy Cross, Radford, Mount St. Mary's, George Mason and Loyola (Md.). ... Tide have hit
148 3-pointers on the season, led by Blankenhorn (60) and Hinchliffe (22), while Nabholz and Melochick have 19 apiece. ...
Indians are currently ranked No. 7 in latest PennLive.com state rankings. Crimson Tide are an honorable mention. What's next: Winner faces either 3-7 Lancaster Mennonite (21-7) or 7-2 Chartiers Valley (22-4) in quarterfinals
Friday at site and time to be determined.
The Crimson Tide (24-5) plays Susquehanna Township
(20-7) at the Geigle Complex
in Reading on Tuesday, March 11, 2014 at 7:30 pm. Come Out and
Support the Crimson Tide
Pottsville advances to the "Sweet Sixteen"
for the first time in 40 years
Tide Rolls 58 - 38 over Lower Moreland
Pottsville tames Lions to advance to 2nd round of state playoffs by kevin keating (correspondent kkeating@republicanherald.com) Published: March 7, 2014 ORWIGSBURG - Eli Nabholz doesn't really concern himself
with making matchups in the post "personal." Sure, Pottsville's 6-foot-5
big man embraces the challenge of playing better around the rim than his opposing defender. Nabholz just tries to let his opportunities come to him within the Crimson Tide's offensive sets. That's usually a good thing, since Pottsville does its best to work the ball inside-out on the offensive end. In Friday's PIAA Class AAA first-round playoff game, Nabholz received plenty of chances to flourish in the paint
and capitalized on most of them. Nabholz tallied a game-high 25 points, helping
Pottsville to a 58-38 rout of Lower Moreland at Blue Mountain High School to advance in the state playoffs for the first time
in 40 years. "I don't know if it was any different. It's something that
we stress every game, working inside-out," Nabholz said. "Today instead of passing the ball out of the post, I just
had opportunities to score today. "I try to not get personal," he
continued. "I try to focus on the things we work on as a team - working inside-out, getting the ball in the post. If
I have a chance to make a move, I make a move. If not, I find somebody. I wouldn't say it's personal, but I definitely take
it as a challenge to be better than my opponent." The victory puts the
District 11 runner-up Crimson Tide (24-5) into Tuesday's second round against District 3 champion Susquehanna Township, a 65-47
winner over Imhotep Charter, at a site and time to be determined. Nabholz was
a major reason for Pottsville's success against District 1 runner-up Lower Moreland (16-10). The junior connected on 9-of-13 shots from the field, scoring 14 points in the first half to give Pottsville a 33-17
lead at intermission. "Definitely with Eli, we wanted to get him the ball
as much as possible," Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said. "But also I thought we were driving the ball, too, and
that was creating open looks for us." It certainly was. Travis Blankenhorn amped up the scoring for Pottsville in the second quarter, knocking down a jumper and a driving
layup before hitting two 3-pointers to help extend the Tide's lead from 10-8 after a quarter to double digits by the 2:44
mark of the second period. "They didn't really have anything to answer Eli,"
Blankenhorn said. "He did a great job, so we kept on giving it to him. "They
were doubling down on Eli then. He was kicking it back out." Defensively,
the Tide locked down on the Lions. Jordan Melochick and Ty Painter kept Lower
Moreland point guard Danny Duffy in check, holding the 5-9 sophomore point guard to just four points. "Overall, I was pretty happy with our defensive effort," Mullaney said. "In particular I thought Jordan
Melochick did a good job on (Duffy). Their point guard is very good, averaging about 14 points and over eight assists a game.
I thought Jordan really did a great job on him along with Ty Painter." Pottsville
also kept 6-5 center Phil Madden and 6-4 forward Nick Cerruti in check as well. "I
think our defense in the first half, we played fairly well," Nabholz said. "I think that got us going more offensively.
It definitely helped out with the pace of the game and that kind of stuff." The
Crimson Tide used a 14-0 run that started with a free throw by Nabholz at the 1:21 mark of the second and finished with a
Melochick 3-pointer with 4:43 left in the third to bury the Lions. From there,
the Tide controlled the clock to secure the program's first state playoff win since 1974. "It's taking that next step as a program," Mullaney said. "We'd love to be recognized on a state level,
and this is definitely a step in the right direction. "This has been a great
group to be around," Mullaney added. "They're all close friends, which makes it that much better. We're excited
for the next challenge. We know Tuesday's going to be difficult whether it's Susquehanna Township or Imhotep - they're both
very talented teams. We're going to approach it the same way and hopefully get a win on Tuesday."
Pottsville (58) Hinchliffe 1 0-0 2, Painter 3 0-0 8,
Blankenhorn 7 2-2 18, Toomey 0 0-0 0, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Melochick 2 0-0 5, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Witman 0 0-0 0, Nabholz 9 6-8 25,
Coyle 0 0-0 0, Hampford 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 8-10 (58) Lower Moreland (38) Cerutti 3 2-2 9, Titus 1 0-0 2, Turelsky 0 0-0 0, Zaubroulis 5 4-4 14, Madden 2
0-0 4, Duffy 2 0-0 4, Fazio 0 0-0 0, Millian 0 0-0 0, Rhoades 0 0-0 0, Cerutti 2 1-2 5, Smelda 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 7-8 (38) 3 Point FG's: Cerutti, Painter 2, Blankenhorn 2, Melochick, Nabholz
The Crimson Tide will play Lower Moreland
on Friday Night at Blue Mountain in the First Round of the PIAA playoffs. Come out and
support the Tide!
PIAA Boys' Basketball Capsules CLASS AAA 11-2 Pottsville (23-4) vs. 1-2 Lower Moreland
(16-9) When/where:
Tonight, 7 p.m., Blue Mountain H.S. About the Crimson Tide Head coach: Dave Mullaney (7th season)
How got here: Lost to Allentown Central Catholic 64-34 in District 11 championship game Last PIAA appearance: 2011 - Lost to Neshaminy 64-45
in first round of Class AAAA playoffs Teams stats: Offense (54.6 ppg), defense (37.2)
Probable starters: G Travis Blankenhorn (jr., 6-foot-2, 18.3 points per game), G Ty Painter (jr., 5-8, 2.7),
G-F Jordan Melochick (soph., 6-2, 10.2), G-F Connor Hinchliffe (jr., 6-1, 6.3), F Eli Nabholz (jr., 6-5, 12.1) Key reserve: F John Toomey (sr., 6-2, 1.5) About the Lions Head coach: Seth Baron (3rd season) Last PIAA Appearance: 2007 - Beat Northern Lehigh 44-38,
lost to Prep Charter 56-44 in Class AA playoffs.
How got here: Lost to Holy Ghost Prep 65-47 in District 1 championship game Team stats: Offense (51.2), defense (50.0) Probable starters: G Danny Duffey (soph., 5-8, 12.9),
G Dickey Rhoades (soph., 5-9), F Phil Madden (jr., 6-5), F Nick Cerruti (sr., 6-3, 9.0), G-F Stefan Zoubroulis (sr., 6-1) Key reserves: G Matt Cerruti (fr., 6-1, 11.0), G Nick
Smolda (fr., 5-10), G Dylan Morganstein (sr., 6-1), F Jake Fazio (soph., 5-10) Game Notes Tide have hit 142 3-pointers this season, led by Blankenhorn (58), who has
reached double figures in scoring in 26 games, including 11 straight. ... Cerruti led Lions with 11 points, while Duffy had
eight in district final loss. Game was tied 12-all after the first quarter before Holy Ghost Prep went on a 25-5, second-quarter
run to go up 37-17 at halftime. ... Lions reached district title game for first time since becoming a Class AAA school and
are making first appearance in states in Class AAA.
What's next: Winner faces either 3-1 Susquehanna Township (19-7) or 12-4 Imhotep Charter (20-6) in second
round Tuesday, March 11
Former Crimson Tide Player Nick Schlitzer
March 4, 2014 Men’s
basketball lands three on All-CACC teamNEW HAVEN, Conn. – Philadelphia University sophomore forwards Peter Alexis (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Holy Reedemer) and Derek Johnson (Conshohocken, Pa./Atlantic Christian) and junior guard Nick Schlitzer (Pottsville, Pa./Pottsville) were named to the All-Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference team on Tuesday. The voting was
conducted by the conference's 14 head coaches. Alexis was named to the first team, Schlitzer was selected to the second
team, and Johnson was a third team pick. Alexis—an All-CACC third team selection as a freshman—is leading
the team with 18.3 points per game, 9.5 rebounds per game, 52 blocks, and a shooting percentage of 60.3 A three-time CACC
player of the week, Alexis ranks second in the CACC minutes per game (37.6), field goals made (222), and field goal shooting,
third in rebounding, and fifth in scoring and blocks. In January, Alexis was tabbed for the 2013-14 Capital One Division
II Academic All-District 1 Men's Basketball Team. Schlitzer owns the CACC's best 3-point shooting percentage at 45.4
percent and is third in free throw shooting at 83.8 percent. He has knocked down a career-high 69 3-pointers, which is fourth
in the conference. In CACC play, Schlitzer hit 52 3-pointers and shot 48.1 percent from behind the arc, which both rank second
in the CACC. Schlitzer is averaging 16.2 points per game, which is sixth in the CACC, and 5.4 rebounds per game. Johnson
is third on the team in scoring (15.6 points per game) and rebounding (6.2 per game). He has connected on 62 3-pointers to
rank fifth in the CACC. Johnson also sits seventh in field goals made (154), ninth in scoring, and 10th
in 3-point shooting (37.6 percent). Philadelphia (23-6), the CACC southern division champion, will face USciences in
the semifinal round of the CACC Tournament on Friday, March 7 at Caldwell College. Tip-off is slated for noon.
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ACC rolls past Tide in AAA final by kevin keating (correspondent kkeating@republicanherald.com) Published: February 28, 2014 Abdur-Rahkman played every bit like the Division I basketball player that he has the offers and potential to become. The 6-foot-4 senior knocked down a pair of 3-pointers from the top of the key to kick start the unbeaten Vikings,
who dominated the Crimson Tide on their way to a fourth straight district title with a 64-34 victory at Bethlehem Freedom's
Joseph McIntyre Gym. Abdur-Rahkman finished with a game-high 34 points, increasing
his career total to 2,052 points to pass Billy McCaffrey as the Vikings' all-time leading scorer. Both teams advance to the PIAA Class AAA state playoffs, which begin March 7. ACC (27-0) meets District 3 sixth-place
West York, while Pottsville (23-5) will await the loser of today's District 1 final between Holy Ghost Prep and Lower Moreland. Pottsville, one of the top defensive teams in the Schuylkill League, had no answer for Abdur-Rahkman, who scored
from beyond the arc, inside the paint and added a two-handed flush on a breakaway following a steal in the second quarter
that brought the crowd to its feet. It wasn't a case of the Tide giving up what
they could to Abdur-Rahkman and trying to lock down the rest of the Vikes. "I
wish that was the case," Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said. "We were actually trying to ... we actually sunk and
were supposed to be helping every time he caught the ball. I don't think we did a great job of that. But at times, he's that
good that it doesn't matter if you're helping or not. He can play. He can score." In reality, Abdur-Rahkman had plenty of help from his mates, especially from the perimeter, as ACC bagged 10-of-20
3-point attempts. Zay Jennings hit three triples, Brian McCarthy added two, Ben
Pratt drilled one and Abdur-Rahkman knocked down four. Pottsville was able to
limit 6-8 center Brendan Wagner to just 10 points, and 6-5 forward Jean Lee Baez left the game with an injury in the first
half. However, Wagner contributed 14 rebounds as the Vikings outrebounded the Tide 35-16. "I always think playing a team like that is going to help you moving forward," Mullaney said. "I can't
think of too many positives. "I think as far as us defending in the post,
we did what we wanted to do," he continued. "You're always going to give up something against a team of that caliber.
We though we'd give up some outside shooting. Unfortunately, they made everything." Travis Blankenhorn led Pottsville offensively with 16 points, while Eli Nabholz added 10. Nabholz had the Tide's
only two 3-pointers as Pottsville went 2-of-13 from beyond the arc and finished 13-of-43 from the field. Fortunately, it's not the end of the road for Pottsville. Mullaney and his staff rallied their troops in the locker
room with the intention of refocusing the Tide for next week's game, which could land at Blue Mountain's gym. "We were just talking about that with our guys. We'll get a game at Blue Mountain next Friday," Mullaney
said. "A game that, if we play our game, we could get a victory. We've just got to come back, refocus and get ready for
next week." Pottsville
(34) Hinchliffe 0 0-2 0, Painter 1 0-0 2, Blankenhorn 7 2-2 16, Toomey 1 0-0 2, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Melochick 1 2-4 4, Shuman
0 0-0 0, Witman 0 0-0 0, Nabholz 3 2-4 10, Hampford 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 6-10 (34) Allentown Central Catholic (64) Baez 0 0-0 0, Maley 0 0-0 0, Vaughan 0 0-0 0, Abdul-Rahkaman 14 2-3 34, Pratt 1 0-0
3, McCarthy 2 0-0 6, Kohli 1 0-0 2, Guensch 0 0-0 0, Shephard 0 0-0 0, McKee 0 0-0 0, Stevens 0 0-0 0, Nosovitch 0 0-0 0,
Wagner 5 0-0 10, Jennings 3 0-0 9. Totals 26 2-3 (64) Pottsville (23-5) 7 8 10
9 --- (34) Allentown CC (27-0) 15 16 17
16 --- (64) 3-point Fg's:
Nabholz 2, Abdul-Rahkman 4, Pratt, McCarthy 2, Jennings 3
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CLASS 3A •WHO: No. 2 Pottsville vs. No. 1 Central Catholic
•WHEN/WHERE:
7 p.m. Friday at Freedom High School POTTSVILLE (23-4) •Coach: Dave Mullaney (seventh season 139-48). •Projected starters: G Travis Blankenhorn (6-2, Jr., G) 18.4 ppg; Ty Painter (5-8, Jr., G); 2.7 ppg; Jordan
Melochick (6-2, So. F); 10.4; Connor Hinchcliffe (6-1, Jr. F) 6.4 ppg; Eli Nabholz (6-5 Jr. F) 12.2. •Key reserve: John Toomey (6-2, Sr., F) 1.4 ppg. •About the Tide:
Average 55.3 ppg, allow 36.2 ppg. … Advanced by beating Lehighton 69-33 in quarterfinals and Blue Mountain 56-42 in
semis. … Nabholz (16), Blankenhorn (13) and Melochick (13) all reached double figures in district semifinal win …
Have made 169 3-pointers (6.3 per game) this season, knocking down seven in district semis. Blankenhorn has 58 on the season.…
Blankenhorn (15.3), Nabholz (12.4), Melochick (12.0) are all averaging in double figures during postseason. … Blankenhorn
has 1,054 career points. … Won fifth consecutive Schuylkill League Division I title with 51-42 victory over Blue Mountain
in tiebreaker game Feb. 8. … Reached league finals with 56-30 victory over Williams Valley in semis, but lost to Mahanoy
Area 45-44 in title game, snapping four-year league championship streak. … Had 51-game division winning streak snapped
with 51-33 loss to Blue Mountain on Jan. 27. … Have won five 3A districts, beating Central Catholic for the gold in
both 1985 and 2010. Lost to Southern Lehigh in the 2009 finals. … Have had five straight seasons of at least 21 wins. CENTRAL CATHOLIC (26-0) •Coach: Dennis Csensits (second season, 50-4). •Projected starters:
Muhammad Ali Abdur-Rahkman (6-4, Sr. G) 22.7 ppg; Jeanlee Baez (6-5, Sr., C) 13.4 ppg; Brian McCarthy (5-11, Sr. G) 5.8 ppg;
Jimmy Vaughan (5-11, Sr. G) 3.6 ppg; Brendan Wagner (6-8, Sr. F/C) 8.2 ppg. •Key reserves:
Zay Jennings (5-11, So. G) 6.7 ppg; Ben Pratt (5-10, Sr. G) 2.7 ppg; Bryce Maley (5-11, Jr. G) 2.9 ppg; David Stevens (5-10,
Sr. G) 3.0 ppg. •About
the Vikings: Average 70.4 ppg; allow 50.7 ppg. … Won the Lehigh Valley Conference title for the first time
to secure top seed and then advanced to the title game with a 80-52 win over Saucon Valley in quarters and a 81-68 win over
Bethlehem Catholic in semis. … Baez, who reached the 1,000-point mark in the final game of the regular season, scored
a season-high 25 points and had nine rebounds in the win over Becahi while Abdur-Rahkman added 18 points and five assists.
Abdur-Rahkman became the 10th player in District 11 history to reach 2,000 points, hitting the milestone against Saucon Valley
in the district quarterfinals. … He is just 33 points shy of tying Billy McCaffrey as the school's all-time leading scorer … Ranked No. 3 in the state in 3A. … In the District
11 finals for the 24th time since 1985 and own 16-7 in previous title games. A win would give program district gold for the
fourth consecutive year. … Vikings also won four straight between 1992-95. … Lost to Pottsville in the 63-58
in the 2010 title game. … Lost to Pottsville in the 1984 district semifinals, but regrouped to win state title. Also
lost to the Tide in the 1985 finals. •Keith Groller's prediction: It will be interesting to see how the Vikings react to a challenge since it has happened rarely this
season with only three games decided by less than 10 points. The Tide's 3-point ability makes them dangerous, but Central's
seniors are determined to complete a district four-peat. There's no reason to doubt them at this point. CCHS 66-58.
District 11 Boys' Preview Capsules District 11
Class AAA Championship No. 2 Pottsville (23-4) vs. No. 1 Allentown Central Catholic
(26-0) When, where: Tonight, 7 p.m., Freedom High School About the Crimson Tide Head coach: Dave Mullaney (7th season) Previous district titles: Five - 2010, 1990, 1984, 1984 (Class AAA); 1942 (Class A, now Class AAAA) How got here: Beat No. 7 Lehighton 69-33 in quarterfinals and No. 3 Blue Mountain 56-42 in semifinals Team stats: Offense (55.3 ppg), defense (36.2) Probable starters:
G Travis Blankenhorn (jr., 6-foot-2, 18.4 points per game), G Ty Painter (jr., 5-8, 2.7), G-F Jordan Melochick (soph., 6-2,
10.4), G-F Connor Hinchliffe (jr., 6-1, 6.5), F Eli Nabholz (jr., 6-5, 12.2) Key
reserve: F John Toomey (sr., 6-2, 1.4) About the Vikings Head coach: Dennis Csensits (2nd season) Previous district titles:
15 - 2013, 2012, 2011, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2001, 2000, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1989, 1986 (Class AAA) How got here: Beat No. 8 Saucon Valley 80-52 in quarterfinals and No. 5 Bethlehem Catholic 81-68 in semifinals Team stats: Offense (70.4 ppg), defense (50.7) Probable starters:
G Muhammad Ali Abdur-Rahkman (sr., 6-4, 22.7), C Jeanlee Baez (sr., 6-5, 13.4), G Brian McCarthy (sr., 5-11, 5.8), G Jimmy
Vaughan (sr., 5-11, 3.6), F-C Brendan Wagner (sr., 6-8, 8.2) Key reserves: G
Zay Jennings (soph., 5-11, 6.7), G Ben Pratt (sr., 5-10, 2.7), G Bryce Maley (jr., 5-11, 2.9), G David Stevens (sr., 5-10,
3.0). Game Notes Crimson Tide have
hit 169 3-pointers (6.3 per game) this season, knocking down seven in district semis. Blankenhorn has 58 on the season. …
Vikings won first Lehigh Valley Conference title in program history with 66-62 win over Parkland on Feb. 15, only the third
game this season decided by 10 points or less. … Abdur-Rahkman, the Lehigh Valley Conference MVP the past
two years, has received Division I offers from Richmond, Temple, Virginia Commonwealth and Penn State. He's the 10th player
in District 11 boys' basketball history to reach 2,000 career points, reaching the mark in the district semifinals. He has
scored in double figures in every game this season. … Baez also has over 1,000 career points. …
Hawks are ranked No. 3 in state in Class AAA in most recent PennLive.com rankings. … Teams met in Class
AAA final in 2010, won by Pottsville 63-58. What's next: Winner faces sixth-place
finisher out of District 3, while loser takes on District 1 runner-up in first round of PIAA playoffs Friday, March 7
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Crimson Tide Moves on to the District XI AAA Championship game against Allentown
Central Catholic on Friday Night at Bethlehem Freedom High School!!
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Pottsville-Blue Mountain Highlights
By Mike
Carnahan Herald Sports Writer Following
Pottsville’s 56-42 victory over Blue Mountain in the District 11 Class AAA semifinal Tuesday, coach Dave Mullaney talked
a little bit about the Crimson Tide getting to their first championship game since 2010.
“We had some inexperienced
guys (at the start of the season) but we knew we had some pretty good athletes,” he said. “At the beginning of
the year we talked about having three (Travis Blankenhorn, Eli Nabholz, Jordan Melochick) we thought who would be consistent
scorers and to find some other guys and those other guys are stepping up.”
One has been Connor Hinchliffe. The
other has been Ty Painter.
Painter might never be the offensive
threat Blankenhorn, Nabholz, Melochick, all of whom are averaging in double figures, and, to a lesser extent, Hinchliffe have
become. But Painter has certainly improved as the season has gone on.
For starters, he appears to be gaining more confidence
offensively and is taking more shots than he did earlier in the year.
He scored six points Tuesday. He drove to the
hoop twice early in the game, missing his first shot inside but scoring on the second. He was fouled in the process and hit
the free throw for a three-point play, giving the Crimson Tide the lead for good at 4-3 5 minutes into the game. Painter added
a 3-pointer early in the third quarter, one of the seven 3s Pottsville hit in the game, on a kick-out pass from underneath
by Nabholz. The Crimson Tide led at that point 35-23.
“Ty can shoot the ball, we all know that,” Nabholz
said. “We all have confidence in him and now he has confidence in himself that he can step up and shoot. It opens up
a lot of other things for other people.”
Painter added three assists and also came up with two other key plays.
Pottsville turned the ball on its first possession on a steal by the Eagles’ Kyle Slane, who appeared to be headed
in for a layup. But Painter got back on defense and blocked the attempt.
Then in the fourth quarter with Blue Mountain
attempting to get back in the game with full-court pressure, Painter looked to be trapped in a double team near the half-court
line. But he somehow got the ball to the other side of the court to Blankenhorn, who then drove to the hoop on scored. It
gave Pottsville a 53-40 advantage with 2:34 left in the game.
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Balance attack, early 3-pointers lift Crimson Tide past Blue Mountainby mike carnahan (staff writer mcarnahan@republicanherald.com) Published: February 25, 2014 MINERSVILLE - The ability to knock down 3-pointers has been a big part of Pottsville's offense this season. That certainly has been the case when the Crimson Tide have faced rival Blue Mountain. Tuesday was no different. Four first-half 3-pointers helped
No. 2-seeded Pottsville build an early lead it never lost in a 56-42 victory over the No. 3 Eagles in a District 11 Class
AAA semifinal at Thomas Fitzpatrick Gymnasium. Eli Nabholz paced a balanced offensive
attack with a game-high 16 points for Pottsville (23-4), which advances to the district game for the first time since 2010.
The Crimson Tide face undefeated Allentown Central Catholic in Friday's title game at 7 p.m. at Bethlehem Freedom The top-seeded Vikings (26-0), who are currently No. 3 in the state in Class AAA in the most recent PennLive.com
rankings, beat No. 5 Bethlehem Catholic 81-68 in Tuesday's other semifinal. The
victory also means Pottsville is headed to the PIAA Tournament for the first time since 2011, when the Tide qualified in Class
AAAA after beating Pocono Mountain West in the consolation game. "It is
absolutely an amazing feeling, especially after the last two years not being able to," Nabholz said. "We're in the
running to obtain two of our goals this year, which is win a district championship and make a run in the state playoffs. We
are on course." Will Bornstein had 14 points to lead the Eagles (20-6),
who will take on Bethlehem Catholic (12-13) in Friday's consolation game at 4:30 p.m. at Martz Hall, with the winner heading
to states. Tuesday was the fourth meeting between the Crimson Tide and Blue
Mountain this season, with Pottsville winning two of the three, including a 51-42 victory in the Schuylkill League Division
I tiebreaker Feb. 8. In its previous two wins over Blue Mountain, Pottsville
hit a combined 14 3-pointers. In its lone loss to the Eagles, 51-33 on Jan. 27, it had three. The Crimson Tide finished the night 7-for-12 (58 percent) from beyond the arc Tuesday. The 3s opened up the
right of the Crimson Tide's offense as they ended up shooting 19-for-32 (59 percent) from the floor on the night, including
an 11-for-13 (85 percent) performance in the second half. What made Pottsville
even more dangerous was that all five starters hit at least one 3. Connor Hinchliffe and Travis Blankenhorn had two apiece,
while Ty Painter, Jordan Melochick and Nabholz each had one. Blankenhorn and
Melochick each finished with 13 points. "I think just having five guys on
the court that are comfortable shooting the ball, it just fits into our offense," Nabholz said. "If that is how
the game ends up starting and gets us off and running, it is a good thing for us." Pottsville
knocked down three 3s in the first quarter, while Painter added a three-point play, to build a 13-8 lead after eight minutes.
A bucket inside and a 3-pointer from Nabholz, followed by a foul-line jumper from Hinchliffe after he pumped-faked a defender
into the air and moved for a more open shot, got the Crimson Tide out to a 20-10 advantage with 4:59 left in the first half. "We don't really talk about that, but obviously we just keep preaching the same thing: We want to try
and get as many inside outs as we can," Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said of the first-half 3s. "We want to get
the ball, post touches on drives and if that resulted in a 3, then that's great." Nabholz
scored all of his points during the second and third quarters, including a buzzer-beating tip-in off a missed shot at the
first-half buzzer to make it 24-19. Pottsville then opened the second half on
an 18-4 run to go up 42-23 with 2:03 left in the third quarter. Blue Mountain
tied to crawl back in the game in the fourth, getting to within nine points twice, the final at 49-40 after two foul shots
by Skyler Panchari at 3:40. But that was as close as the Eagles got. Pottsville pushed the lead back to double digits on spin
move by Melochick and layup from Blankenhorn. The Crimson Tide's defense played
a big role in Tuesday's win, too. Pottsville controlled the tempo and took away the Eagles' transition game. Blue Mountain's
only transition points came from Kyle Slane in the fourth quarter. "The
tempo of the game was in our favor absolutely," Mullaney said. "That is all we preach. If we can hold them down
in transition, we have a good chance to win." Pottsville (56)
Hinchliffe 3 0-1 8, Painter 2 1-1 6, Blankenhorn 5 1-3 13, Toomey 0 0-0 0, Melochick 3 6-7 13, Nabholz 6 3-3 16. Totals 19
11-16 (56) Blue Mountain (42) Stramara 0 0-0 0, Bornstein 5 3-4 14, Kerstetter
0 0-0 0, Harding 0 0-0 0, Slane 2 0-0 5, Grapsy 3 0-0 8, Chelius 3 0-2 6, Panchari 3 3-4 9. Totals 16 6-10 (42) Pottsville (23-4) 13
11 20 12 (56) Blue Mountain (20-6)
8 11 9 14 (42) 3-Point
FG's: Borstein, Slane, Grapsy 2, Painter, Blankenhorn 2, Melochick, Nabholz
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| Photos Coursey Of David McKeown and Pottsville Republican |
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| Photos Coursey Of David McKeown and Pottsville Republican |
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| Photos Coursey Of David McKeown and Pottsville Republican |
-----------------------------Class
AAA---------------------------- | Tues Feb 18 | Fri Feb 21 | Tues Feb 25 | Fri Feb 28 |
| | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
1 Allentown Central Catholic | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | @Allen 7:30 |
1 Allentown Central Catholic 80 - 52
| | | | 8 Saucon Valley | | | | | | | 8 Saucon Valley 72 - 39 | | | | | @7:00 | | | | | | 9 Northern Lehigh | | | | | | | | @Allen 7:30 | 1
Allentown Central Catholic 81- 68 | | | | | | | | | | 4 Salisbury | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | @Allen 6:00 | 5 Bethlehem Catholic 73-66 | | | | | | | | | | | 5 Bethlehem Catholic | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | @ Freedom 7:00 | | | | | | | | | | 2 Pottsville | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | @ Blue Mt 7:30 | 2 Pottsville 69 - 33 | | | | 7 Lehighton | | | | | | Wed Feb 19 | 7 Lehighton 85 - 59 | | | | | @7:00 | | | | | | 10 Tamaqua | | | | | | | | @ Minersville 7:00 | 2 Pottsville 56 - 42
| | | | | | | | | |
3 Blue Mt | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | @ Martz Hall 7:30 | 3 Blue Mt 67 - 51 | | | | | | | | | | | 6 Southern Lehigh | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 5 Bethlehem Catholic | | | |
| | @ Martz Hall 4:30 | 3rd place | | 3 Blue Mt | |
Blue Mountain, Pottsville to collide for 4th time for even higher stakesPublished:
February 25, 2014
We are down to six. That's
how many Schuylkill League boys' basketball teams are left in the District 11 playoffs after quarterfinal-round play this
past weekend. In Class AAA, No. 2-seed Pottsville (22-4) and No. 3 Blue Mountain (20-5) remain,
while No. 3 North Schuylkill (16-6) and No. 5 Minersville (16-7) are still alive in Class AA, and No. 1 Mahanoy Area (22-2)
and No. 3 Nativity (17-6) are left in Class A. Now it is on to the semifinals, with both Classes
AAA and A tonight, featuring Blue Mountain and Pottsville getting together for the fourth time this season at 7 o'clock at
Minersville High School. The other Class AAA semifinal has No. 5 Bethlehem Catholic (12-12) taking on No. 1 Allentown Central
Catholic (25-0) at 7:30 p.m. at William Allen. In Class A, Nativity has a long bus ride to Stroudsburg
High School to battle No. 3 Pius X (18-3) at 6 p.m., while No. 5 Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg (16-7) faces Mahanoy Area at
7:30 p.m. at Blue Mountain High School. The Class AA semifinals are set
Wednesday with a doubleheader at Whitehall High School. North Schuyklill takes on No. 2 Catasauqua (16-8) at 6 p.m. and Minersville
battles top seed Notre Dame-Green Pond (15-9) at 7:30. The Class AAA and A finals are scheduled
Friday, while the Class AA championship game is set for Saturday. The top three finishers in Class AAA qualify for the PIAA
Tournament, with the top two in Class AA going. Only the district champ in Class AA gets a state berth. While all of the games are big for those involved, the most intriguing matchup among the local teams is Blue Mountain
and Pottsville. Not only is there a trip to the championship game on the line tonight, but the winner qualifies automatically
for states. The loser will need to win Friday's consolation game to get to states. Both won big
in Friday's quarterfinals. Travis Blankenhorn had 20 points as the Crimson Tide rolled past No. 7 Lehighton 69-33. Will Bornstein
scored 15 of his game-high 21 points in the second half as the Eagles pulled away for a 67-51 victory over No. 6 Southern
Lehigh. Here a look at the previous three meetings between Pottsville and Blue Mountain this season: - Pottsville 53, Blue Mountain 36, Saturday, Jan. 4 at Martz Hall: Eli Nabholz scored 14 of his game-high 19 points
in the second half at the Crimson Tide pulled away for the win. Pottsville hit seven 3-pointers in the game. - Blue Mountain 51, Pottsville 31, Monday, Jan. 27 at Blue Mountain: Will Bornstein scored 14 of his 20 points in
the second half as the Eagles outscored the Crimson Tide 30-15 over the final 16 minutes of the game. Blue Mountain held the
Crimson Tide to 3-for-19 from beyond the 3-point line in the contest. - Pottsville 51, Blue Mountain
42, Saturday, Feb. 8 at Minersville High School: Blankenhorn had a game-high 18 points as a hot-shooting first half paced
the Crimson Tide in the Division I tiebreaker contest. Pottsville shot 11-for-17 over the first 16 minutes of the game, including
a 6-for-9 showing from 3-point land, to build a 28-22 halftime lead. Two distinct patterns came
out of the previous meetings: When the Crimson Tide were able to hit 3-pointers, they won. In their win, the Eagles were able
to get their transition game going, especially in the second half. With the familiarity both teams
have with each other, preparation for tonight's game shouldn't be difficult. There won't be any surprises or new wrinkles
to learn. The outcome is all going to come down to execution. "Both
know each other and know what we are going to do to each other, so it should make preparation pretty easy," Blue Mountain
coach Dustin Werdt said after the Eagles' semifinal win Friday. "We know what kind of defense they are going to play
and we know what they are going to do. We know where they are going to try and get their points from. They know the same thing
about us." The last time the two met in the district playoffs was a Class AAA pigtail game
in 2009 at Blue Mountain. The Crimson Tide won 44-39. (Carnahan is the boys' basketball beat writer
for The Republican-Herald. Read his blog at blogs.republicanherald.com/ac/
Round 4 - Pottsville plays Blue Mountain on Tuesday
at Minersville at 7:00 PM
Crimson Tide throttle Lehighton by
kevin keating (correspondent kkeating@republicanherald.com) Published: February 21, 2014 ORWIGSBURG - Pottsville has earned a reputation as one of the best defensive teams in
the Schuylkill League during head coach Dave Mullaney's seven-year tenure. As usual, the Crimson
Tide defense was clicking on all cylinders against Lehighton during Friday's District 11 Class AAA boys' basketball quarterfinal
at Blue Mountain High School. However, rhythm with which Pottsville executed its offense may have
overshadowed even the best of defensive nights. Hitting backdoor cuts, working inside-out and
knocking down open jumpers, the Crimson Tide buried Lehighton 69-33 to advance to Tuesday night's semifinals. In the semis, second-seeded Pottsville (22-4) will meet archrival Blue Mountain for the fourth time this season after
the No. 3 Eagles defeated Southern Lehigh 67-51 in another quarterfinal. How effective was the
Tide's offense? Pottsville recorded assists on 19 of its 26 field goals in the contest, shot 26-of-43
(.605) from the floor and knocked down 9-of-16 3-pointers (.563). "That's great to hear,"
Mullaney said of the assists. "We've really been trying to focus on working inside-out, whether that's with a post entry
or a dribble drive. I think our guys responded pretty well tonight." Every Pottsville starter
found the scoring column, with Travis Blankenhorn leading the way with a game-high 20 points. Jordan
Melochick added a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, and 6-foot-5 center Eli Nabholz tallied 16 points, seven boards
and four assists. "Offensively, I felt like we were in a great groove," Blankenhorn
said. "We were making our shots and it was just going well." There was no rest on the
defensive end for the Tide. Lehighton (14-11) scored 85 points in its first-round victory over
Tamaqua on Wednesday, with Jordan Knappenberger dropping 39 points and hitting nine triples. Blankenhorn
and Melochick locked down on Knappenberger and Tyler Crum, limiting the duo to just eight total points on 3-of-17 shooting.
The Indians went just 13-of-43 from the floor and 4-of-16 from beyond the arc. "(Knappenberger
is) a great shooter. Crum is a great shooter, too," Mullaney said. "Melochick and Blankenhorn just did an outstanding
job on them all night. They didn't get many breaks, either. They had a great defensive game, as well as the rest of our team
as a whole." Added Blankenhorn: "Defensive part, we were definitely prepared for everything
they were going to do. The coaches had us well prepared and the plays that we needed to stop." Pottsville
was aided by a strong start on both ends of the floor. The Tide got their entire starting lineup
in on the action in the first quarter with Melochick, Blankenhorn and Connor Hinchliffe knocking down 3s, Nabholz scoring
in the paint and Painter running the show and assisting on two buckets. A 19-5 first-quarter lead set the tone for the rest
of the night. "I think it's important against them because they'll play so many different
defenses," Mullaney said. "They'll try to play different zones. I think by getting up, even when they were sagging
off some of our guys, we were comfortable the entire game. I think we handled it well. I think that was due to the good early
start." Pottsville added to its lead in the second, taking a 33-17 edge into halftime, and
continued to build with a few putbacks by Nabholz near the end of the third for a 52-27 lead. Next
up for the Tide is another matchup with Division I rival Blue Mountain. "They're a very good
team, very talented, well coached," Mullaney said. "We know each other so well that we take away each other's strengths.
At times when it's between us, it's an ugly game. I think it'll be another tight one Tuesday." Pottsville (69) Hinchliffe 2 0-0 5, Jackson 0 0-0 0, Painter 0 2-4 2, Blankenhorn 8 1-4 20, Toomey 2 0-0 4, Dunkel
1 0-0 2, Melochick 5 2-5 14, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Witamn 0 0-0 0, Nabholz 6 3-4 16, Coyle 0 0-0 0, Hampford 2 0-0 6: Totals: 26
8-13 (69) Lehighton (33) Rossino 3 0-1 8, Farano 6 2-6 14,
Crum 1 0-0 2, Ruzika1 0-2 2, Chambers 0 1-2 1, Kapperenberger 2 0-1 6, Mele 0 0-1 0: Totals: 13 3-13 (33) 3-Point FG's: Rossino 2, Kapperenberg 2, Hinchliffe, Blankenhorn 3, Melochick
2, Nabholz, Hampford 2
Crimson Tide Plays Lehighton Friday Night at Blue Mountain.
Mahanoy Area captures Schuylkill League boys' crown
by mike carnahan
(staff writer mcarnahan@republicanherald.com) Published: February 14, 2014 Dylan Mahmod turned in one of his best offensive games of the season to help Mahanoy Area build a big
lead. Then Mahmod and teammate Larry McNeil made two of the biggest defense plays of night with under 10 seconds to
go. After walking off the Martz Hall floor disappointed last year, the Golden Bears didn't want to leave it Friday night. Mahmod
poured in a game-high 21 points, and Mahanoy Area's defense came up big late to lift the Golden Bears to a thrilling 45-44
victory over Pottsville in the Schuylkill League boys' basketball championship game. After the Crimson Tide won last
year's title game over Mahanoy Area 35-21, Friday's victory by the Golden Bears (22-2) denied Pottsville (21-4) its fifth
consecutive league championship. The league title was the first for Mahanoy Area since 2006, and the program's seventh
overall. "Honestly, there is no better feeling than this," Mahmod said as he clutched the championship trophy.
"Coming in here, knowing that they are four-time, back-to-back-to-back-to-back champs, it just feels amazing. We felt
that everybody was against us. That's how we like it, I guess, that why we like it. We like being the underdogs." McNeil
added 11 points and three steals for Mahanoy Area, which built a 27-12 advantage midway through the third quarter, led 29-17
at the end of the third and had a 40-25 cushion with 2:26 remaining. But Pottsville turned up the pressure defensively,
started hitting shots and turned the rout into a thriller. The Crimson Tide tied the game at 44 with 11 seconds left when
John Toomey spotted Eli Nabholz open underneath for a layup. Mahmod gave the Golden Bears the lead for good, hitting
the second of two foul shots in a double-bonus situation with 8.9 seconds left. Mahanoy Area was 6-for-13 from the
foul line in the fourth quarter, but finally sealed the victory with its defense. Trailing by one point, Pottsville
had a chance for victory. Blankenhorn dribbled up the court and drove to the basket, but Mahmod swatted his shot out of bounds
with 3.7 seconds to go. After a Mahanoy Area timeout, Pottsville attempted to get the ball into Blankenhorn underneath.
But McNeil got his hands up to steal the ball, and then was fouled with 1.5 seconds remaining. He missed both ends of
the double bonus, but all Pottsville could get was a heave down court by Nabholz that fell short as the Bears' celebration
began. "I knew the ball was going to Blankenhorn," said McNeil, who gave credit to assistant coaches Robert
Killian and Scott Hudson for scouting what was coming. "He's a great scorer and a great player. I knew the ball was going
to him. I was like 'Just play defense, play my butt off for these last seconds and get this win.' They lobbed it and I was
in the right spot at the right time." After the Golden Bears were awarded their medals, the student section sang
the alma mater to them. Then the players went up into stands to celebrate with the fans. "To come out of this with
a 'W,' I am on cloud nine," Mahanoy Area coach Mickey Holland said. Mahmod scored 15 of his points over the first
three quarters, including seven in a 10-0 Golden Bears' run to open the third quarter. Mahmod opened the third with
a 3-pointer from the wing, then used a pump fake to get his defender up in the air and drive in for a layup. After McNeil
hit a 3 on a cross-court pass from Jason Richmond, Mahmod scored on a hard drive down the lane. He missed the foul shot to
complete the three-point play, but the Golden Bears had their biggest lead of the night up to that point at 27-12 with 3:23
left in the third. "Basically, I didn't think about it," Mahmod said. "The main thing coming in here,
we weren't even thinking about offense, we just knew we had the confidence to score. We just had to play good solid defense." Travis
Blankenhorn led Pottsville with 15 points, while Jordan Melochick and Nabholz added 13 apiece. Nabholz scored 10 of his points
in the fourth quarter and Melochick nine as Pottsville hit 10-of-17 from floor in the fourth after going 7-for-30 over the
first three. The win was extra special for McNeil, who missed last year's championship game with a broken wrist. He
returned for the Golden Bears' District 11 Class A championship run. "It is greatest feeling," McNeil said.
"To come back and play this year, playing through this and help us win this, it is just amazing." Game Summary Pottsville
(44) Hinchliffe 0 0-0 0, Painter 1 0-0 3, Blankenhorn 6 2-2 15, Toomey 0 0-0 0, Melochick 5 2-3 13, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Nabholz
5 0-0 13: Totals 17 4-5 (44) Mahanoy Area (45) Richmond, McNeil 3 4-9 11, Mahmod 7 4-8 21, Miller 1 0-0 2, Cavenas 0
1-2 1, Kuzma 3 0-0 6: Totals 16 9-19 (45) Mahanoy (22-2) 9 8 12 16
(45) Pottsville (21-4) 7 5 5 27 (44) 3
Point FG's: McNeil, Mahmod 3, Painter, Blankenhorn, Melochick, Nabholz 3
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| Photos Coursey Of David McKeown and Pottsville Republican |
Pottsville shoots for 5th straight title in rematch vs. Golden Bearsby mike carnahan (staff writer mcarnahan@republicanherald.com) Published:
February 14, 2014
 andy matsko/staff photo Pottsville's Travis Blankenhorn leads his team
in scoring at 18.7 points per game. As a result, he will be a focal point of the Mahanoy Area defense during tonight's Schuylkill
League title game.
Here we go again. For the second time in the
past five years, and just the third time since 1985, there is a rematch for the Schuylkill League boys' basketball championship. This
time, Division I champ Pottsville (21-3) is taking on Division III champ Mahanoy Area (21-2) again in tonight's title game
at 7:30 at Martz Hall. The Crimson Tide are going for their fifth consecutive league championship, winning last year
over the Golden Bears 35-21. Pottsville also beat Pine Grove in both 2011 and 2012. The other rematch championship
game was in 1997, with Shamokin beating Schuylkill Haven after winning the year before. Pottsville downed Williams Valley
56-30 in Tuesday's semifinal, while Mahanoy Area beat Blue Mountain 49-35. The Golden Bears haven't won a league title since
2006, beating Schuylkill Haven, and are the last "small school" team in the league to win a championship. There
are plenty of similarities between the teams: - Both have played plenty of basketball during the offseason, no doubt
helping both get to this point; - Both have averaged around the same amount of points per game, with the Golden Bears
at 58.2 points per game and the Crimson Tide at 55.2; - To that end, both are balanced offensively, too, as each has
three players averaging double figures in scoring; - Both are also known for their defense. Mahanoy Area has allowed
32.7 points per game and Pottsville 35.7, ranking them first and second in the league. For Mickey Holland, who currently
has 610 career wins in his 33 years as Golden Bears' coach, he believes containing Pottsville means containing junior guard
Travis Blankenhorn, who has emerged as the Crimson Tide's leading scorer. He finished the regular season second in the league
in scoring behind Nativity's Jeff Yordy and enters tonight averaging 18.7 points per game, including 52 3-pointers. "Blankenhorn
is a major concern," Holland said. "He is probably overall the best player in the league. But then you have to take
into consideration the other weapons they have and balance everything up." Junior center Eli Nabholz is averaging
11.8 points per game for Pottsville, while sophomore forward Jordan Melochick is at 10.0. Senior guard Dylan Mahmod
leads the Golden Bears at 13.1 points per game, followed by senior guard Larry McNeil (11.8) and senior center Tyler Cavenas
(11.0). Mahanoy Area has also hit 160 3-pointers as a team this season, with McNeil (42), Mahmod and junior point guard Jason
Richmond (31) leading the way. "I think the way they position themselves on the offensive end," Pottsville
coach Dave Mullaney said on what concerns him the most. "They really spread you out. They obviously have Cavenas in the
middle, which we have to give a lot of attention to. At the same time, while you are providing your attention in there, they
have very capable 3-point shooters and that makes it really difficult." Holland believes winning tonight is going
to come down to the basics and isn't making any changes to what the Golden Bears have done all season. "All the
tweaks and stuff that you make, it makes a difference and they make a huge difference, but not as big a difference as the
fundamentals you go over with your guys year in and year out," he said. "They are going to run some stuff that is
going make that harder and harder to do. But if you stay solid, stay solid, stay solid, you are going to stay true to yourself
and not try and go and make huge wholesale changes all over the place." Mullaney isn't expecting a repeat of last
year's title game when the Crimson Tide jumped out to a 23-9 halftime lead, forcing 14 first-half turnovers. "It
is going to be a tight game," he said. "I really believe it is going to be a close game and it might come down to
more things like turnovers and rebounding. "They are too talented. They are not going to have 21 points, I can
tell you that." A victory tonight would benefit Pottsville much more than Mahanoy Area in seeding for the District
11 playoffs. The Crimson Tide are currently No. 2 in the Class AAA behind Allentown Central Catholic (23-0) and if the Crimson
Tide win tonight and the Vikings lose to Parkland in Saturday's Lehigh Valley Conference title game, Pottsville would move
up to No. 1. The Golden Bears have locked up the No. 1 seed in the Class A playoffs.
"1000"
Travis "Money" Blankenhorn Reaches 1000 points for his career against Williams Valley in tonight's
Schuylkill League Semi-Final Playoff Game! Congratulations
Travis!!!
Pottsville - Williams Valley Highlights
SCHUYLKILL SEMIS: Pottsville rolls past
Williams Valleyby mike carnahan (staff writer mcarnahan@republicanherald.com) Published: February 11, 2014 Pottsville's Connor Hinchliffe wasn't exactly sure what his role was going to be this year when basketball practice
started in November. It turned out he's had a key role in the Crimson Tide's continued success
this season. He certainly did Tuesday night. Hinchliffe, a junior,
scored nine of his game-high 13 points in the first quarter, helping Pottsville build an early lead en route to a 56-30 victory
over Williams Valley in a Schuylkill League boys' basketball semifinal at Martz Hall. Hinchliffe's
start helped the Division I-champ Crimson Tide (21-3) get out to 17-9 lead after the first quarter, which grew to 23-12 early
in the second. Once the Crimson Tide had a double-digit advantage, they never lost it and finished the night holding the Division
II-champion Vikings (18-4) to 10-for-41 (24 percent) from the floor, while forcing 16 turnovers. "We
took them out of a lot of what they wanted to do and that was probably the difference," Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney
said. The victory gives Pottsville the opportunity to win its fifth consecutive league title.
The Crimson Tide will face Division III champion Mahanoy Area, a 49-35 winner over Blue Mountain in Tuesday's other semifinal,
at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Martz Hall. The contest is a rematch of last year's championship, which
Pottsville won 35-21. Hinchliffe played for the Crimson Tide last season, but this is his first
year as a starter. "It means a lot because coming into this year, I really wasn't expecting
to have that big of a role on the team," Hinchliffe said. "It feels nice to come in, have a big role on the team
and now the team is in the championship for the fifth straight time." Hinchliffe's night
was part of balanced offensive attack for the Crimson Tide. Eli Nabholz added 12 points and five
rebounds for Pottsville, while Travis Blankenhorn had 10 points, eight boards and five assists. It
was also a milestone night for Blankenhorn, who went over 1,000 points for his career on drive down the lane at the 6:48 mark
of the second quarter. Jordan Melochick also had nine points for the Tide and Ty Painter tallied
eight, all in the second half. "I thought overall it was a good team effort," Mullaney
said. "We didn't just rely on our 1-2-3 to score and everybody got involved. It was a good team win." Ben Rautzahn had 10 points and six rebounds for Williams Valley, which was missing starter Brendan Miller, who broke
his right hand last Thursday against Lourdes. With Jared Matter starting in Miller's place, Vikings' coach Denny Kasper came
out in a 3-2 zone instead of his usual 2-3, with Stephen Sedesse playing up top. "We thought
it might make us a little stronger top to bottom," Kasper said. "The last couple of practices, we had we felt it
gave us the best chance." The zone had the desired affect of slowing the game down and it
gave the Crimson Tide some trouble. But Pottsville's defense made it tough for Williams Valley to find any consistent rhythm
on offense. "The physicality ... that is the most physical team we've played all year,"
Kasper said. Although Pottsville didn't have a good night from beyond the 3-point line, hitting
3-of-16, the Crimson Tide still were 20-for-43 (47 percent) overall on the evening. Pottsville
opened the game on a 9-0 run, as Hinchliffe hit a 3-pointer on the Crimson Tide's first possession. Nabholz later scored on
a putback, then hit two foul shots, while Hinchliffe scored on a fast-break layup to finish off the run. "It gave me a lot of confidence," Hinchliffe said of hitting a 3-pointer right off the bat. "It you
have an open look, you should shoot it. The open the shots, you have to take them, and to hit a 3 in the beginning really
put in a good start in beginning." The Vikings battled back and cut the deficit to 11-9 after
a 3-pointer by Matter at 2:01. But Hinchliffe hit a jumper from the corner, then grabbed a long rebound and went in for a
layup with 56 seconds left. Melochick finished off the quarter on a steal and layup, making it
17-9. "They do a good job in their 2-3," Mullaney said. "They took away some of
the things we were trying to get and they made us more of a perimeter-shooting team. Sometimes when you are hitting those
shots, the offense looks great and when you are not, it doesn't look s good."
Crimson Tide Defeats Williams
Valley The Crimson Tide advances to it's Fifth straight
Schuylkill League Title game , tonight after a 56-30 victory over Williams Valley. The Tide led 28-14 at half
and 42-24 after the third period. The Tide had a well balanced scoring attack tonight with 7 players adding points.
Connor "The Hitman" Hinchliffe led the Tide with 13 points, followed by the "Big Easy" Eli Nabholz's 12
points. The Game was stopped early in the second quarter after Travis"Money" Blankenhorn scored his "1000"
point for his career. The Tide will face Mahanoy Area on Friday for the Schuylkill league Championship, which is a rematch
of last year's Final!
Pottsville (56) Hinchliffe 5 2-3 13, Jackson
0 0-0 0, Painter 2 3-4 8, Blankenhorn 4 2-2 10, Toomey 1 0-0 2, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Melochick 4 0-0 9, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Witman
0 0-0 0, Nabholz 4 4-4 12, Coyle 0 0-0 0, Hamford 1 0-0 2: Totals: 21 11-13 (56) Willaims Valley (30) Sedesse 1 0-0 3, Matter 2 0-0 5, Rautzahn 2 6-7 10, Radichok 2 1-2 5, Vega 0 0-0
0, Mini 0 0-0 0, Miller 3 1-1 7, Bordner 0 0-0 0, Sepulveda 0 0-0 0: Totals: 10 8-10 (30)
The Crimson Tide play Williams Valley on Tuesday Night at 7:30 at
Martz Hall in the Schuylkill League Semi-final Game. Come out and support the Tide!
By Mike Carnahan, Republican-Herald Sports
Writer
MINERSVILLE — The trademark man-to-man defense that Pottsville is known for got a little soft two weeks
ago.
It returned this week, and the timing couldn’t be better.
The Crimson Tide held Blue Mountain to two
field goals through the middle quarters, while a hot-shooting first half helped propel Pottsville to a 51-42 victory over
the Eagles in a Schuylkill League Division I tiebreaker contest at Thomas Fitzpatrick Gymnasium.
“We’ve really
had some hard practices with our guys over the last week and they responded well on the defensive end,” Pottsville coach
Dave Mullaney said. “We still have some work to do, but I feel we are a much better team than we were a week and a half
ago.”
Travis Blankenhorn scored a game-high 18 points to lead the Crimson Tide (19-3), who won their fifth consecutive
Division I championship with Saturday’s victory.
Pottsville slowly seized control of the game with 10-2 run over
the final 2:48 of the first half, giving the Crimson Tide a 28-22 halftime lead.
Pottsville led by 10 midway through
the third quarter before the Eagles (19-3) cut the deficit to five early in the fourth. But the Crimson Tide were able to
ice what was a physical game from the foul line, hitting 10-for-16 over the final 8 minutes.
Pottsville’s defensive
effort Saturday was a marked improvement from when the two teams met Jan. 27, a 51-33 Blue Mountain victory. That loss snapped
Pottsville’s 51-game regular-season division winning streak and forced the tiebreaker game when the Crimson Tide won
the first meeting of the season 53-36 on Jan. 4.
Saturday’s outcome sets the pairings for Tuesday’s Schuylkill
League semifinals at Martz Hall, with both games a rematch of last year’s semis. Division I wild-card Blue Mountain
faces Division III champ Mahanoy Area (20-2) at 6 p.m., while Division II champ Williams Valley (17-3) takes on Pottsville
at 7:30 p.m.
Pottsville
(51) Hinchliffe 4 2-4 12, Painter 2 0-0 5, Blankenhorn 5 5-9 18, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Melochick 4 2-5 11, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Nabholz
0 5-6 5: Totals: 7 14-24 (52) Blue
Mountain (42) Stramara 0 0-0 0, Bornstein 6 2-5 14, Harding 0 0-0 0, Slane 4 2-3 13, Grapsy 0 1-3 1, Chelius 2 0-0 6,
Donovan 0 0-0 0, Panchari 3 2-4 8: Totals: 15 7-15 (42) 3 Point FG's: Slane
3, Chelius 2, Hinchliffe 2, Painter 1, Blankenhorn 3, Melochick
Crimson Tide vs Blue Mountain The Crimson Tide plays Blue Mountain for the Division I Title on Saturday, Febraury 8 at 7:00 pm at Minersville High
School. Come out and support the Crimson Tide!
District XI AAA Standings 2/9/2014
| Rank | School | W | L | T | | 1 | Allentown
Central Catholic | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0.858011 | | 2 | Pottsville
Area | 19 | 3 | 0 | 0.744268 | | 3 | Blue Mountain | 19 | 3 | 0 | 0.713118 | | 4 | Salisbury Township | 15 | 7 | 0 | 0.667404 | | 5 | Bethlehem
Catholic | 11 | 11 | 0 | 0.628128 | | 6 | Southern Lehigh | 14 | 8 | 0 | 0.615207 | | 7 | Lehighton Area | 13 | 9 | 0 | 0.611946 | | 8 | Saucon
Valley | 13 | 9 | 0 | 0.600087 | | 9 | Northern Lehigh | 13 | 9 | 0 | 0.577590 | | 10 | Tamaqua Area | 13 | 9 | 0 | 0.537030 | | 11 | Wilson
Area | 9 | 13 | 0 | 0.467554 | | 12 | Panther Valley | 10 | 12 | 0 | 0.442788 | | 13 | Palisades
| 6 | 16 | 0 | 0.375153 | | 14 | Northwestern Lehigh | 5 | 17 | 0 | 0.352916 | | 15 | Palmerton
Area | 3 | 19 | 0 | 0.315539 | | 16 | Jim Thorpe Area | 2 | 20 | 0 | 0.273013 |
Crimson Tide Rolls To Easy Win Over
Jim Thorpe The Crimson Tide rolled to a 62-22 victory over
Jim Thorpe. The Tide was lead by The "Big Easy" Eli Nabholz's 21 points and Travis "Money" Blankenhorn's
17 points. The Tide jumped out to a 46-7 half time lead. The Tide then pushed it to a 57 - 18 score after three periods. The
Tide's Travis" Money" Blankenhorn needs 21 points to reach the 1000 points scored for his career. Hopely, he will
reach that in the one game playoff against Blue Mountain on Saturday For The Division I Title Game. Pottsville (62) Hinchliffe 2 0-1 4, Jackson 0 0-0 0, Painter 1 0-0
3, Blankenhorn 6 5-6 17, Toomey 2 0-0 4, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Melochick 3 0-2 6, Shuman 1 0-0 2, Witman 0 0-0 0, Nabholtz 8 5-5
21, Coyle 1 0-0 3, Hampford 1 0-0 2: Totals 25 10-14 (62) Jim Thorpe (22) Carroll 1 0-0 3, Miechiche 3 3-4 11, Micciche 2 0-0 6, McElmoyle 1 0-0 2: Totals 7 3-4 (22) Pottsville(19 -3, 11-1) 22 24 11
5 (62) Jim Thorpe (1-11)
2 5 11 4 (22) 3 Point FG's: Carroll, Miechiehe 2, Micciche 2, Painter, Coyle
By Mike Carnahan, Republican-Herald Sports Writer
It’s
the final night of the regular season for Schuylkill League boys’ basketball. Here are things to look for tonight: - The Division I title may or may not decided and comes down to two games, North
Schuylkill at Blue Mountain and Pottsville at Jim Thorpe. Both Blue Mountain and Pottsville enter tonight tied for first at
10-1, both have clinched league playoff berths and have split their two games this season. If Pottsville wins and Blue Mountain
loses, the Crimson Tide will win the division. It Blue Mountain wins and Pottsville loses, the Eagles will win the division.
If both Blue Mountain and Pottsville win, there will a tie-breaker game between the two Saturday at Minersville at 7 p.m.
Former Crimson Tide Player Hits 1000 Points For
Philadelphia University
Men's basketball defeats Wilmington (Del.) 75-64; Schlitzer, Christian join 1,000-point clubPHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia University men's basketball team's 1,000-point club welcomed two new
members as junior guard Nick Schlitzer (Pottsville, Pa./Pottsville) and senior guard Nick Christian (Bensalem, Pa./Bensalem) reached the milestone in the Rams' 75-64 victory over Wilmington (Del.) in a Central Atlantic Collegiate
Conference (CACC) game Wednesday night in the Gallagher Center. Philadelphia improves to 17-5 overall and 11-2 in conference
play. The Rams extend their winning streak to six and have won 10 of their last 11 games. Wilmington is now 9-14 overall,
5-9 against the CACC. Entering Wednesday night's game, Christian and Schlitzer needed nine and four points, respectively,
to reach 1,000 career points. After scoring two points in the first half, Schlitzer became the program's 50th
player to score 1,000 points by sinking two free throws with 15:05 left in the game. Christian made himself the 51st player to achieve the milestone in the game's final minute by hitting the first of two free throws
with 28.0 seconds remaining. It is the first time in Philadelphia University history that two players got to 1,000 career
points in the same game. Schlitzer finished the contest 13 points and three rebounds. Christian racked up 10 points
and a tied a career-high 15 rebounds for his first double-double of the year. Sophomore forward Peter Alexis (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Holy Redeemer) and Derek Johnson (Conshocken, Pa./Atlantic Christian) tied for the team lead in points with 18 each. Alexis also grabbed 10 rebounds to complete
his team-leading 10th double-double of the year. Sophomore guard Andre Gibbs (Smyrna, Del./Smyrna) added 16 points and five assists. The Rams, who led from start to finish, quickly took control
of the contest by scoring the game's first seven points. Wilmington trimmed the Philadelphia lead to three (9-6) on a Ta'Vaune
Griffin basket at the 15:23 mark. A pair of Christian free throws with 13:42 left in the half allowed Philadelphia to
take a 15-6 lead. Four minutes later, Gibbs drained a 3-pointer to start a 13-2 run that push the Rams' advantage to a game-high
17 points (32-15). Philadelphia held its double-digit lead until Shai Henry cleaned up his own miss with a rebound and
put back 3:26 into to the second half to make the score 37-28. The Rams pushed back with a 10-1 run, capped by an Alexis three-point
play at the 12:55 mark, to regain a 16-point lead (47-31). The Wildcats made it a close game late with eight straight
points to trim the Rams' lead from 11 to three (60-57) with 3:14 to play. Philadelphia ended the rally with six straight points
to move ahead by nine with 1:43 left. Tyaire Ponzo-Meek led Wilmington with 15 points. Griffin finished with 12 points
and 12 rebounds. Philadelphia shot 48.1 percent (26-of-54) from the field, while Wilmington connected on 34.3 percent
(24-of-70) of its attempts. The Wildcats owned a 42-39 rebounding advantage. Philadelphia heads to Post for a CACC contest
on Saturday, Feb. 8 at 3 p.m.
Crimson Tide Pounds The Panthers The Crimson Tide pounded Panther Valley by the score of 60-20 at Martz
Hall. The Tide's well rounded night was led by Travis "Money" Blankenhorn's 15 points, followed by the "Big
Easy" Eli Nabholz's 11 points. All of the team played tonight on Senior Night, The Tide's Two Seniors are John
Toomey and Damarr Jackson, who played their last Schuylkill League Regular Season game at Martz Hall. Ty Painter added two
3 pointers and scored a total of eight points in his best shooting night. The Tide at one point went on a 35 point scoring
streak to put the game away. The Tide will travel to Jim Thorpe on Thursday night to close out the regular season. Pottsville (60) Hinchliffe 3 0-0 6, Jackson 0 0-0 0, Painter 3 0-0
8, Blankenhorn 6 2-2 15, Toomey 2 0-0 4, Dunkel 1 0-0 2, Melochick 3 0-1 6, Shuman 2 1-2 6, Witman 0 0-0 0, Nabholz 3 5-6
11, Coyle 0 0-0 0, Hampford 1 0-0 2: Totals 24 8-11 (60) Panther Valley (20) Szcercina 2 3-3 8, Stano 0 1-2 1, Hudicka 1 0-0 2, Ferryman 1 2-2 4, Vermillion 1 0-0 2, Weng
1 0-0 3: Totals 6 6-7 (20) Pottsville (18-3, 10-1)
21 21 13 5 (60) Panther
Valley (10-11, 4-7) 7 0 6 7 (20) 3 Point FG's: Szczecina, Weng, Painter 2, Blankenhorn, Shuman
Plenty of intrigue on tap in final weekPublished:
February 3, 2014 Thanks
to one of my worst colds in recent memory, last week was one I would like to forget. But it was an exciting week of
boys' basketball in the Schuylkill League. Consider: - Blue Mountain beat Pottsville 51-33 on Monday, ending the
Crimson Tide's 51-game division winning streak, as well as snapping the Eagles' 11-game losing skid against Pottsville. Blue
Mountain finished the week with three more victories, giving it 12 straight. The Eagles are the hottest team in the league
right now; - Nativity junior Jeff Yordy reached 1,000 points for his career Monday after scoring 37 during a 79-49 victory
over Weatherly; - Lourdes earned its 1,000th win in program history after a 48-22 victory over Schuylkill Haven on Thursday; -
In front a playoff-type atmosphere, North Schuylkill downed Mahanoy Area 62-61 in a thriller Friday in Fountain Springs. It
was just the Golden Bears' second loss of the season and the most points they have allowed all season. The events of
the past week show what was perhaps expected at the beginning of the season - such as a Pottsville-Mahanoy Area rematch for
the league title - is no longer a sure thing. It's still possible the two could meet for the championship at Martz Hall, but
they could also meet in the semifinals. While all three champs have been crowned for the Schuylkill League girls - the
only spot to be decided is the Division I wild card - nothing has been decided on the boys' side. And what transpired last
week brings plenty of intrigue for the final week of the regular season. Let's start in Division I. After the
Eagles' win last Monday, the potential was there for three-way tie for first for the division title among Blue Mountain, Pottsville
and North Schuylkill. But the picture is much clearer now. Blue Mountain (18-2, 10-1 D-I) and Pottsville (17-3, 9-1)
have both qualified for the league playoffs. The Spartans (13-5, 7-3) were eliminated with their loss to Pottsville on Wednesday
and Blue Mountain's victory over Jim Thorpe on Thursday. The Spartans and Pottsville could finish with the same division record
but the Crimson Tide hold the tiebreaker with their season-series sweep. So the question is, how will Blue Mountain
and Pottsville finish? The Crimson Tide host Panther Valley today and travel to Jim Thorpe on Thursday, while the Eagles
host North Schuylkill in their league finale Thursday. If Pottsville wins both its games, and Blue Mountain downs the Spartans,
the two will finish tied for first and a tiebreaker playoff will be necessary after the Crimson Tide won the earlier-season
meeting Jan. 4. If a tiebreaker game is needed, it is scheduled for Saturday, with Minersville a likely, although not
certain, site. However, if Pottsville wins both its games, and the Eagles lose Thursday, the Crimson Tide will be the
division champs and Blue Mountain the wild card. The Division II and III races are much simpler. The division leaders
control their destinies and both need one more victory to clinch their spots in the league playoffs. Williams Valley
(15-2, 9-2) holds a half-game lead over Minersville (14-7, 9-3) and also won both of the regular-season meetings between the
two. If the Vikings beat either Schuylkill Haven tonight or Lourdes on Thursday, they will be the division champs. If Williams
Valley loses both, and Minersville beats Schuylkill Haven Thursday, the Miners will win the division. Mahanoy Area (18-2,
11-0) holds a 1.5-game lead over Nativity (15-4, 10-2) in Division III and won the first regular-season meeting Jan. 8. The
Golden Bears will win the division if they beat either Marian tonight or Nativity on Thursday. If Mahanoy Area loses both,
which means the Hilltoppers win Thursday, then the two will be tied for the first and tiebreaker game will be necessary. The
Schuylkill League boys' semifinals will be at Martz Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 11, at 6 and 7:30 p.m. The Division I champ will
play the division champ with the lesser league record, while the champion with the best record will play the wild card. The
championship game is Friday, Feb. 14, at 7:30 p.m. Lots to look forward to in districts, too This is, of course,
the final week for teams to qualify for the District 11, 4 and 3 playoffs. As of today, eight teams from the Schuylkill
League have clinched spots for the District 11 playoffs: Blue Mountain (Class AAA), Mahanoy Area (Class A), Minersville (Class
AA), Nativity (Class A), North Schuylkill (Class AA), Pottsville (Class AAA), Tamaqua (Class AAA) and Williams Valley (Class
AA). There are three teams still in the running for District 11 playoff spots: - Panther Valley (10-10) needs
to beat either Pottsville today or Tamaqua on Thursday to get into the Class AAA field; - Tri-Valley (8-11) needs to
win all three of its final three games to qualify in Class A. The Bulldogs finish at Lourdes today, host Halifax on Friday
and travel to Carson Long next Monday; - Marian (8-11, 6-5 D-III) needs to beat either Mahanoy Area today or Weatherly
on Thursday to finish above .500 in the division and qualify in Class A. In District 4, Lourdes (10-9) needs one win
in its final three games to get into the Class A field. After Tri-Valley today and Williams Valley on Thursday, the Red Raiders
host Gillingham Charter next Monday. In District 3, Upper Dauphin (10-10) is currently No. 8 in the Class AA power rankings.
The Trojans host Lancaster Country Day on Tuesday and travel to Juniata on Thursday. The top 10 teams qualify for the playoffs. Stats
return With my cold last week, I wasn't able to put together updated stats. But they are back this week on Page 16.
The most recent District 11 rankings are on Page 16, too. (Carnahan is the boys' basketball beat writer for the Republican-Herald.
Follow the season on his blog at blogs.republicanherald.com/ac.) Power poll Through Feb. 1 W-L Pv. 1.
Blue Mountain 18-2 3 2. Pottsville 17-3 2 3. North Schuylkill 14-5 4 4. Mahanoy Area 18-2 1 5.
Williams Valley 16-3 7 6. Nativity 15-4 6 7. Minersville 14-7 5 8. Tamaqua 11-8 8 9. Panther
Valley 10-10 9 10. Marian 8-11 10 - Complied by Mike Carnahan
By Mike Carnahan, Republican-Herald Sports Writer
It wasn’t exactly the type of bounce-back
game that Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney was expecting.
Still, a game-high 24 points from junior Travis Blankenhorn,
as well as a big second quarter, were enough to lift the Crimson Tide to a 55-39 victory over North Schuylkill in a Schuylkill
League Division I contest Wednesday at Martz Hall.
“We are happy that we won but we are not very good right now,”
Mullaney said. Pottsville (17-3, 9-1 D-I) was coming off a 51-33 loss to Blue Mountain on Monday, snapping its 51-game
division winning streak that dated to 2010. That loss makes every game a must win for the Crimson Tide in order to force a
potential one-game playoff for the division title with the Eagles and to get the opportunity to go for their fifth consecutive
league title.
That was a message Mullaney was trying to get across to the Crimson Tide in his talk between the first
and second quarters Wednesday. Pottsville responded and outscored the Spartans (12-5, 7-3) 14-5 in the quarter, turning a
17-14 lead into a 31-19 halftime advantage.
“We could have played a lot better than we did (in the first quarter),”
Blankenhorn said. “I just felt we came together as a team. We just played our hearts out.”
Blankenhorn grabbed 11 rebounds to complete a double-double. He also had four assists. Eli Nabholz added 12 points, five rebounds
and three blocks for Pottsville, which won the earlier season meeting against the Spartans 55-44 on Janaury 8, while Ty Painter
had four assists. Matt Manbeck had 10 points and seven rebounds to lead the Spartans, while Major Jordon
added nine points and five boards. The loss, all but ended North Schuylkill's hopes for for a chance at a three way tie for
the Division Title with Pottsville and Blue Mountain. The Spartans still have an outside shot at earning a tie for
the division wild card, but need to win thier final two league games against Pine Grove and Blue Mountain and get some help.
"Second quarter, we didn't get back a few times, didn't point out, didn't find our guys," Curt Ziegmont said. "They
hit some shots. Offensively, we didn't make it easy on ourselves. We missed some shots inside the paint, missed our foul shots
throughout the quarters. "I'm proud of our guys. We played our hearts out. We went after them for
32 minutes, 90 some feet, forced them into some turnovers and some spots that normal teams don't do against them." The
Spartans shot 2 for 13 from the floor in the second quarter, while Pottsville was 5 for 7. Connor Hinchliffe
who had nine points in the game, opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer for the Tide. After Boby Grigas scored on a baseline
jumper for North Schuylkill, Blankenhorn hit a 3 from the top of the circle off a pick, while Nabholz hit two foul shots to
make it 25-16 at 5:05. Manbeck knocked down a 3 on the Spartans' next possesion, their final field goal
of the half as Pottsville finished on a 6-0 run. Nabholz scored on a transition lay-up from Blankenhorn, Blankenhorn scored
on another fast break lay-up off a dish from Painter. Blankenhorn then scored on a drive with 1:10 remaining, making
it 31-19. "A lot of my points come from my teammates," he said. "That definitely gets me open. I owe a lot
of credit to them." The Spartans cut the deficit to none midway through the Third quarter, but Pottsville
was able to build its lead up to 47-31 after Blankenhorn hit two key 3's later in the quarter. His first came with 1:13 remaining,
and he hit a fall-awey trey just before the buzzer. "Blankenhorn is a stud," Ziegmont said. "He is a big time
player who hit some big time shots." After shooting 12 for 37 durning Monday's loss to Blue Mountain,
Pottsville hit 20 for 33 (61 percent) on Wednesday. However, the Crimson Tide also turned the ball over 18 times against the
full-court pressure North Schuylkill used most of the game.
NOTE: In an update to the story below, if a tiebreaker game is necessary, it would be Saturday,
Feb. 8, with Minersville a possible site. By Mike Carnahan, Republican-Herald Sports Writer
Outside of a collapse, Mahanoy Area (17-1, 10-0 D-III) is well on its way to clinching the Schuylkill League Division III
title, and could do so as early as Thursday if the Golden Bears beat Weatherly (3-11, 1-9) and second-place Nativity (13-4,
9-2) is upset by Shenandoah Valley (4-15, 3-8). If both win Thursday, Mahanoy Area will clinch the division with a victory
over Marian (7-10, 6-5) on Monday.
Williams Valley (15-2, 9-2 D-II) holds a one-game lead over Minersville (13-6, 8-3)
in Division II, but the Vikings control their own destiny. They swept the season series with the Miners and will clinch the
division with a win at Schuylkill Haven (0-18, 0-10) on Monday.
That leaves Division I, which has turned into a three-team
race between Blue Mountain (16-2, 9-1), Pottsville (16-3, 8-1) and North Schuylkill (12-4, 7-2). The Eagles’ 51-33 victory
over the Crimson Tide on Monday turned the division in one where a tiebreaker, either for the title or wild-card, is highly
likely, and a three-way tie for first is also possible.
First, lets look at the remaining league schedule for the three
contenders: Tonight
North Schuylkill at Pottsville
Thursday, Jan. 30
Blue Mountain at Jim Thorpe
Monday, Feb. 3
Pine Grove at North Schuylkill
Panther Valley
at Pottsville
Thursday, Feb. 6
North Schuylkill at Blue Mountain
Pottsville at Jim Thorpe To
review, Blue Mountain and Pottsville split their league games, while the Eagles and Crimson Tide have already beaten North
Schuylkill in league games this season.
What does this mean? If both Blue Mountain and Pottsville win out, their will
be one-game playoff for the division title. According to league by-laws, it would be Monday, Feb. 10 at a site agreed upon
by both schools.
However, if North Schuylkill beats Pottsville and Blue Mountain, as well as Pine Grove, while the Eagles
and Crimson Tide win their other league games, there would be a three-way tie for first since each team split their regular-season
meetings. If that’s the case, there will be two games to break the tie. League by-laws state that those games would
be Saturday, Feb. 8, and Monday, Feb. 10. A coin flip will determine who gets the bye.
There could also tie for the
division wild-card, too.
It is certain to be an exciting, and tense, stretch run.
Tide Rolls past North Schuylkill The Crimson Tide got back to it's winning ways with a 55-39 victory over
the North Schuylkill Spartans. The Tide improves it's record to 17-3 for the season. The Tide were lead by Travis "Money"
Blankenhorn's 24 points, followed by Eli "Big Easy" Nabholz 12 points and Connor "The Hitman" Hinchliffe
9 points with Jordon "Melo" Melochick added 8 points for a well balanced game. The Tide lead 31-19 at the half and
47-31 at the end of the third quarter. The Tide will take on Panther Valley on Monday night at Martz Hall and close out the
regular season against Jim Thorpe away. If the Tide wins those two games, there will be a one game playoff against Blue Mountain
for the Division 1 Title and then on to the Schuylkill League Playoffs. Pottsville (55) Hinchliffe 3 1-2 9, Painter 0 0-0 0, Blankenhorn 6 7-8 24, Toomey 1 0-0 2, Melochick
4 0-0 8, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Nabholtz 5 2-2 12. Totals 19 10-12 (55) North Schuylkill (39) Ennis 1 1-1 3, Marlow 0 0-0 0, Hillibish 0 2-2 2, Murray 1 6-10 8, Manbeck 4 1-2 10, Grigas
3 0-2 7, Damiler 0 0-0 0, Mazeika 0 0-0 0, Jordan 3 3-6 9. Totals: 12 13-23 (39) Pottsville (17-3, 9-1) 17 14 16
8 (55) North Schuylkill
(12-6, 7-3) 14 5 12 8 (39) 3-point FG's Manbeck, Grigas, Hinchliffe 2, Blankenhorn 3
Pottsville - Blue Mountain
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| Photo Coursey Of Pottsville Republican/Dave McKeown |
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| Photo Coursey Of Pottsville Republican/Dave McKeown |
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| Photo Coursey Of Pottsville Republican/Dave McKeown |
Blue Mountain knocks off Pottsville by mike carnahan (staff writer
mcarnahan@republicanherald.com)Published: January 27, 2014
ORWIGSBURG - For Blue Mountain boys' basketball senior starters
Will Bornstein, Skyer Panchari, Kyle Slane and Shane Grapsy, this was a long time coming.It's been more than five years since the Eagles had beaten their bitter
rivals. Monday, Blue Mountain not only did it, but did so in impressive fashion.Bornstein remained hot offensively, scoring 14 of his 20 points in the second half
as Eagles got the tempo up their liking and rolled by Pottsville 51-33 in a Schuylkill League Division I contest.After a first-half slugfest, Blue Mountain
(15-2, 9-1 D-I) was able to get out and run more in the second half. That, coupled with a solid defensive effort from the
start, turned a 21-18 Eagles halftime lead into a blowout, as Blue Mountain outscored the Crimson Tide 30-15 over the final
16 minutes.When the final buzzer
sounded, the Eagles' student section emptied and ran across the gymnasium floor to celebrate with the Eagles."It means a lot," said Bornstein,
who has reached double figures in scoring in his last nine games. "We wanted it really bad. That's a good team and we
wanted to go out there and win."The victory snapped Blue Mountain's 11-game losing streak against Pottsville (16-3, 8-1), the four-time defending division
and overall Schuylkill League champ. The Eagles' last win over Pottsville before Monday was a 54-36 victory on Dec. 12, 2008.The Tide won the first meeting of the season
53-36 on Jan. 4.Blue Mountain's
victory also snapped the Crimson Tide's 51-game division winning streak that dated to a loss to Jim Thorpe on Jan. 15, 2010.The victory put the Eagles into first place
in the division, and if they and Pottsville both win their remaining league games, the two will play a tie-breaker game for
the division title.Both still
have to face third-place North Schuylkill (12-4, 7-2), a 81-33 winner over Jim Thorpe on Monday. The Tide host the Spartans
on Wednesday, while Blue Mountain hosts North Schuylkill on Feb. 6."If feels great to do it in front of our home crowd," Panchari said. "That
was nuts, getting the win, bleachers clearing. What more can you ask for?"Slane added eight points, six rebounds and four assists for Blue Mountain, while
Grapsy contributed eight rebounds and six assists.Travis Blankenhorn led Pottsville with 20 points.Blue Mountain's win Monday started with defense. The Eagles came in allowing 39.6 points
per game and Blue Mountain coach Dustin Werdt thought the Crimson Tide's guards bullied the Eagles inside during the first
meeting of the season. This time around, the Eagles took that away, forcing Pottsville into more contested 3-pointers."We pressured the ball well and we contested
most shots," Werdt said. "They didn't have very many clean looks. Overall, defensively the kids just played a great
game."The Crimson Tide were
held to 12-for-37 (32 percent) from the floor Monday, including a 3-for-19 performance from 3-point land."We wanted to defend the 3-pointer," Bornstein said.
"We didn't want them to get a lot of open shots. Help defense, we wanted to help in the post because they like to post
our guys up and we did."Offensively,
Blue Mountain finished 17-for-27 (63 percent), including 10-for-15 (67 percent) in the second half as the Eagles got out in
transition more in the half.After
Blankenhorn hit two foul shots to make it 23-22 Blue Mountain at 5:57 of the third quarter, the Eagles went on a 13-4 run
to finish the third quarter.Bornstein
scored seven of his points in the run, hitting a short jumper, completing a three-point play on a cut inside and later grabbing
a defensive rebound and taking the ball to the other end of the court to score on a layup.Panchari finished off the quarter, scoring on a fast-break layup off
a pass from Grapsy, making it 36-26.The Eagles opened the fourth quarter on a 13-2 run to put the game away as Bornstein scored on a full-court, in-bounds
pass from Grapsy to make it 49-28 with 2:11 left in the game.
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| Photo Coursey Of Pottsville Republican/Dave McKeown |
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| Photo Coursey Of Pottsville Republican/Dave McKeown |
Blue Mountain Tops the Crimson Tide Blue Mountain defeat the Crimson Tide at Blue Mountain's home court
by the score of 51-33. It is the Crimson Tide first loss in the Schuylkill League in over four years. The loss stop's, the
Tide's streak at 68 concessive league games in a row. Travis BlankenHorn led the Tide with 20 points,
followed by Jordan Melochick's 8 points. The score was 21-18 Blue Mountain at the half, but Blue Mountain put together a 15-8
run in the Third quarter to pull away from the Tide. The Tide were off their game all night and a well played game by
Blue Mountain lead to the defeat. Pottsville and Blue Mountain are tied atop the Division I standings, if both teams,
win the rest of their games, there will be a playoff for the Division Title at a neutral site, to determined the Division
Chanps, with the loser gaining the wild card spot. Pottsville
(33) Hinchliffe 1 0-0 3, Painter 0 0-0 0, Blankenhorn 6 6-7 20, Toomey 0 0-0 0, Melochick 4 0-0 8, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Witman
0 0-0 0, Nabholz 1 0-0 2. Totals: 12 6-8 (33) Blue Mountain (51)
Bornstein 7 5-7 20, Harding 0 0-0 0, Slane 4 1-1 11, Grapsy 0 0-0 0, Chelius 1 2-3 4, Donvan 0 0-0 0, Panchari 5 6-6 16. Totals:
17 14-17 (51)
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| Photo Coursey Of Pottsville Republican/Dave McKeown |
"Tide runs over the Blue Raiders" The Crimson Tide scored a 43-24 victory over Tamaqua Blue Raiders. The
victory was the Crimson Tide's 68th victory in a row over Schuylkill League teams. The Tide was led by Travis "Money"
Blankenhorn's 23 points, followed by Eli "Big Easy" Nabholz 10 points and Jordan 'Melo"Melochick added 7 points.
The Tide jumped out to a 29-7 half time lead, and a 40-16 spread after 3 quarters. The Tide improved to 16 - 2 for the season.
The Tide will face it's biggest game of the season on Monday Night at Blue Mountain, this game is for the Division 1 lead
and top playoff spot for the Schuylkill League Championships. Pottsville (43) Hinchliffe 1 0-0 2, Jackson 0 0-0 0, Painter 0 0-0 0, Blankenhorn 9 1-3 23, Toomey 0 1-2 1, Dunkel
0 0-0 0, Melochick 3 0-0 7, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Witman 0 0-0 0, Adams 0 0-0 0, Nabholz 4 2-3 10, Coyle 0 0-0 0, Hampford 0 0-0
0. Totals: 17 4-8 (43) Tamaqua (24) Blaker 2 0-0
5, Rottet 4 0-0 8, Frantz 2 0-0 5, Macdonald 1 0-2 2, Marcin 1 0-0 2, Van Buskirk 1 0-0 2. Totals: 11 0-2 (24)
Crimson Tide Clips the Cardinals Wings The Crimson Tide breezed to an Easy Victory over Pine Grove with a 52 -17
win. The Tide was led by Eli "Big Easy" Nabholz with 9 points and Conor "The Hitman" Hinchliffe also with
9 points. The "Big Easy" returned after missing a couple of games for the Tide. The Tide came out quickly to a 27-7
half-time led and never looked back. Ten of Pottsville players add points to the totals. This was Pottsville 67th win in the
row against Schuylkill League teams. The Tide plays Tamaqua on Thursday and then to the Big Game against Blue Mountain.
Pottsville (52) Hinchliffe 4 0-0 9,
Jackson 1 0-0 2, Painter 2 0-0 4, Blankenhorn 2 0-0 4, Toomey 2 0-0 4, Dunkel 1 1-3 3, Melochick 2 0-0 4, Shuman 3 0-0 7,
Witman 3 0-0 6, Adams 0 0-0 0, Nabholz 2 5-8 9, Coyle 0 0-0 0, Hampford 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 6-11 (52) Pine Grove (17) Rossi 1 0-2 2, Blankenhorn 0 0-0 0, White 2 0-0 4,
D'Agostino 1 1-2 3, Snedden 1 0-0 2, Weinus 1 2-2 4, Fidler 1 0-0 2. Totals: 7 3-6 (17) 3-Point FG's: Hinchliffe, Shuman Pottsville
(15-2), (7-0) 15 12 14 11 (52) Pine Grove (3-14), (0-8) 2 5 2 8
(17)
Pottsville Defeats Muhlenberg Travis Blankenhorn had a game high 27 points, including eight of his team's 15 feild
goals, as The Crimson Tide claimed a non-league victory over the Muhls at Martz Hall. Pottsville grabbed a 26-14 halftime lead, but Muhlenberg trimmed the deficit to 34-29 at the end of the third quarter.
However, Pottsville held a 12-11 scoring edge in the fourth quarter to hold on for the win. Jordan"Melo" Melochick added 10 points for the Crimson Tide. Jalen Flynn led Muhlenberg with 20 points. Pottsville (46) Hinchliffe 2 0-0 4, Painter 1 0-0 3, Blankenhorn 8 7-9 27, Toomey
1 0-1 2, Melochick 3 4-6 10, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Witman 0 0-0 0, Hampford 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 11-16 (46) Muhlenberg (40) Brown 0 0-0 0, Flynn 9 0-0 20, Chantz 0 0-0 0, Benjamin 0 0-0 0,
Stinson 4 0-0 8, Fidler 0 0-0 0, Richard 3 0-0 7, Rangel 1 0-0 2, Hine 1 0-0 3. Totals: 18 0-0 (40) Pottsville (14-2) 17 9 8
12 (46) Muhlenberg (4-12)
7 7 15 11 (40) 3-Point
Fg's: Flynn 2, Richard, Hine, Blankenhorn 4, Painter
Pottsville Routs Jim Thorpe 73-25 Travis Blankenhorn
and Jordan Melochick had 16 points apiece as the Crimson Tide posted a dominating Division I win over the Olympians. Kevin Hampford added 12 points and Connor Hinchliffe
chipped in with 10 for Pottsville, which opened the game on a 21-8, first-quarter run. The Crimson Tide improves it's record
to 13-2 and the 65th straight victory against Schuylkill League teams.
Pottsville
(73) Hinchcliffe 4 2-3 10, Jackson 0 0-0, Painter 2 1-2 5, Blankenhorn 7 0-0 16, Toomey 1 1-2 3, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Melochick
7 2-3 16, Shuman 1 0-0 2, Witman 0 0-0 0, Adams 3 0-0 6, Coyle 1 0-0 3, Hampford 5 0-0 12. Totals: 31 6-10 73 Jim Thorpe (25) Carroll 1 0-2 3, Micciche 1
0-0 2, Carroll 1 0-0 2, Lawarence 0 0-0 0, Micciche 5 0-0 11, Green 0 0-2 0, Mcelmoyle 0 0-0 0, Sinsky 0 0-0 0,Jefferson 0
0-0 0. Totals 11 2-8 25 Jim
Thorpe (2-11), (1-5) 8 6 7 4 -- (25) Pottsvile (13-2) (6-0) 21 17 17
18 -- (73) 3 Point FG':
Micciche, Blankenhorn 2, Coyle, Hampford 2
Crimson Tide Clips
Shamokin
 charlie roth/times
- shamrock photo Pottsville's Jordan Melochick, right, pressures Shamokin's Ryan Sebasovich during Monday's non-league game.
The Crimson Tide downed the Indians 43-38. COAL TOWNSHIP - If Pottsville and Shamokin go on to win their
respective league and district titles, they'll both look back on the Crimson Tide's 43-38 win in a non-league matchup Monday
at Shamokin as a key game. The
road is likely to be a little tougher for the Indians, though. Shamokin (10-1), which lost for the first time, will likely have to spend several weeks, if not the
rest of the season, without its leading scorer and rebounder, Austin Stine, who went high for a rebound in the first two minutes
of the game and landed awkwardly. Stine was taken for X-rays and, according to Shamokin coach Chris Zimmerman, may have broken
bones in his wrist or wrists. Even
without Stine, the Indians and the Tide, who were playing without Eli Nabholz (concussion), battled each other tooth and nail
on every possession for 32 minutes. Shamokin, which made just 3-of-21 shots in the first half, managed to hang tough and trailed by just one point at 39-38
with 29.5 seconds left when Pottsville called timeout after a Shamokin basket. Jordan Melochick then sank four straight foul
shots on two possessions, making him 9-for-9, to clinch the win for Pottsville (11-2). Travis Blankenhorn, with 19 points and eight rebounds, was too much inside
for Shamokin without Stine. Blankenhorn scored 12 of the Tide's 24 points in the first half. Melochick finished with 15. "We've had to adapt our game a little
without Eli Nabholz," Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said. "He gives us another scorer, but we feel we have three
guys who can score, especially in the halfcourt. "I think both teams played extremely hard. This was probably our best overall defensive effort of the year,
and I can't say enough about how hard Shamokin played. They're coached really well. Playing here tonight was like us playing
at Blue Mountain. That's what it was like." Shamokin understandably took some time to get going after Stine's injury. The Indians shot 1-of-10 from the
field in the first quarter as Pottsville took a 12-5 lead, but Shamokin only trailed 24-17 at halftime and 31-24 after three
quarters. Pottsville went up by
nine, 35-26, early in the fourth quarter, but Shamokin quickly came back with a 3-pointer. That set up a battle of wits and
timeouts between the teams and coaches the rest of the way. Dan Delbaugh and Jakob Weaver scored 13 and 10 points, respectively, to lead the Indians. "Our kids played with a lot of heart and
so did theirs," Zimmerman said. "It wasn't the prettiest game to watch on both ends, but when you play as hard as
both teams did, that's what's going to happen sometimes. That's the name of the game. "Their defense is as good as anybody we play. If anybody we play plays
better half-court defense, I want to know where they are."
Pottsville (43) Hinchcliffe 1 1-3 3, Painter 1
2-3 4, Blankenhorn 7 4-4 19, Toomey 1 0-0 2, Melochick 3 9-9 15, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Witman 0 0-0 0, Hampford 0 0-1 0. Totals:
13 16-20 (43) Shamokin (38) Sebasovich 2 1-1
5, Weaver 3 2-2 10, Delbaugh 3 5-9 13, Stine 0 0-0 0, pappas 2 0-0 4, Dirienzo 0 0-0 0, Reiprich 1 0-0 2, Taylor 1 0-0 2,
Moyer 1 0-0 2, Donahue 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 8-12 (38) Pottsville
(11-2) 12 12 7 12 -- (43) Shamokin (10-1) 5 12 7 14 -- (38) 3Point FG's: Bankenhorn, Weaver 2, Delbaugh
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| Photo Courtsey f Pottsville Republican & Jackie Dormer |
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| Photo Courtsey f Pottsville Republican & Jackie Dormer |
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| Photo Courtsey f Pottsville Republican & Jackie Dormer |
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| Photo Courtsey f Pottsville Republican & Jackie Dormer |
Tide Loses To Salisbury Pottsville clinched a spot in the District 11 Class AAA playoffs Friday. Saturday, the Crimson Tide got a look at a potential district postseason opponent. That look showed Pottsville it has some work to do if the Crimson Tide want to make
a long playoff run. Austin Uhl had a double-double, while Salisbury's
quickness got the better of Pottsville in the Falcons' 56-46 non-league victory at Martz Hall. Uhl finished the game with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Eddie Sanchez added 11 points for Salisbury (9-3),
while Justin Aungst, the Falcons' leading scorer at 16.6 points per game, tallied 10. Pottsville (11-2), which had its 10-game winning streak snapped with the loss, clinched a district berth
with Friday's 66-34 rout of Panther Valley. Salisbury beat the
Crimson Tide 45-39 in last season's District 11 Class AAA consolation game. After Saturday's contest, Pottsville and Salisbury
are now ranked second and third, respectively, behind Allentown Central Catholic in the Class AAA power ratings. "I don't know if we are ready to beat a team that is that consistent, that well
coached and has that talent level," Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said. "We don't do things consistently to beat
a team like that. Hopefully in another month things will be different." Travis
Blankenhorn had a game-high 20 points and Jordan Melochick scored 17 for Pottsville, which played from behind most the game. The Falcons built an 11-point lead at the end of the first quarter at 16-5, but Pottsville
battled back to go up 26-25 at halftime. Salisbury then went up 41-31 at the end of the third quarter before the Crimson Tide
cut the deficit to 47-46 after a steal and layup by Blankenhorn with 3:39 left in the game. The Falcons, however, responded. On his team's
next possession, Brendan Reichenbach hit his second 3-pointer of the game on a kick-out pass from Sanchez, making it 50-46
at 3:14. Salisbury then iced the game from the foul line, going 6-for-9 over final 1:36. "I start five seniors and I have guys who are experienced," Salisbury coach Jason Weaver said.
"We've been in these situations before and I don't think they are intimated by anybody, which is a good thing. We respect
everybody, but we have seniors who are playing well together." The
Crimson Tide also learned they will likely be without center Eli Nabholz for a few games. Nabholz was knocked in the head
during a foul as made a move inside early in the second quarter. At
first, it was believed Nabholz had just a bloody nose, but after the game, Mullaney said Nabholz suffered a concussion and
wasn't sure how much time he'd miss. "We going to have to
find a way to play without him," Mullaney said. "That obviously had an effect on the game, too." Pottsville couldn't overcome the Falcons quickness, especially defensively, and it lead
to plenty of Salisbury baskets in the paint. The Falcons ended up shooting 20-for-35 (57 percent) from the floor, while the
56 points was just second time this season Pottsville had allowed more than 50 in a game. The other was 58 against Wilson
West Lawn on Dec. 11. "They have a lot of guys who are good
at penetrating off the dribble," Mullaney said. "We didn't do a good job of keeping people in front and our help
defense is nowhere where it needs to be. They opened our eyes tonight." Offensively,
the Crimson Tide shot 16-for-44 (36 percent) and turned the ball over 12 times, while the 46 points were a season low. Still, Pottsville had its chances to pull closer late in the game. With 1:36 to go,
Aungst missed the front end of a 1-and-1, but Pottsville couldn't control the rebound and the ball went of bounds. Sanchez
was eventually fouled and hit both ends of his 1-and-1, making it 52-46. Pottsville
then turned the ball over on its next possession. Naveed Hadian was fouled, hit the first of a double-bonus situation, but
the ball went off Pottsville on the miss after the second attempt. Hadian was fouled again and hit both ends of the double
bonus to put the game away. Weaver was glad to finally win a tight
contest after losing to Emmaus 53-49 on Jan. 4. The Falcons' other two losses this season were to Blue Mountain (62-51 on
Dec. 6) and Parkland (69-52 on Dec. 30). "We knew the physicality
of those guys," Weaver said. "We knew what to expect up here are far as physicality and I think my guys responded
to it."
Pottsville (46) Hinchcliffe 1 12 4, Painter 0
0-0 0, Blankenhorn 7 3-3 20, Toomey 0 0-0 0, Melochick 6 4-7 17, Witman 0 0-0 0, Nabholz 2
0-0 5. Totals 16 8-12 (46) Salisbury (56) Hadian 2 5-7
9, Sanchez 4 2-2 11, Reichenbach 3 1-2 9, Vangeli 0 2-2 2, Aungst 5 0-1 10, Uhl 6 1-3 13, Fairclaugh 1 0-0 2, Totals 21 11-17
(56) Pottsville (11-2) (5-0)
5 21 5 15 (46) Salisbury (9-3)
16 9 16 15 (56) 3-Points FG's: Sanchez, Reichebach, 2, Hinchcliffe, Blankenhorn 3, Melochick
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| Photo Courtsey f Pottsville Republican & Jackie Dormer |
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| Photo Courtsey f Pottsville Republican & Jackie Dormer |
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| Photo Courtsey f Pottsville Republican & Jackie Dormer |
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| Photo Courtsey f Pottsville Republican & Jackie Dormer |
Crimson Tide Rolls To "Easy"
Win over Panther Valley The Tide rolled
to a Easy 66-34 win over Panther Valley. The Tide was led by Eli "Big Easy" Nabholz with 18 points, followed by
Travis "Money" Blankehorn 13 points and Connor "The Hitman" Hinchcliffe 10 points. The Tide jumped out
to a first quarter lead of 19 to 8 and led at half time 38-12. The Tide poured it on in the third, outscoring the Panthers
15 to 6 to led 53-18 after three periods. The defense were once again led by Jordan "Melo" Melochick tough defense.
Jordan always draws the task of defending the best player on the other team. That task, he fulfilled by limiting the Panther's
star player to 4 points durning the first three quarters.The starters would play no more, leaving the fourth quarters to some
well earn playing time for the rest of the team. Christian Witman turned in his best game of the year by adding 8 points
for the Tide.
Pottsville (66) Hinchcliffe 4 0-0 10, Jackon
1 0-0 2, Painter 1 0-0 2, Blankenhorn 5 1-3 13, Toomey 0 1-2 1, Dunkel 2 0-0 4, Melochick 2 1-1 5, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Witman
4 0-0 8, Adams 1 0-0 2, Nabholz 7 3-3 18, Coyle 0 0-0 0, Hampford 1 0-0 3. Totals 27 6-9 (66) Panther Valley (34) Dubosky 2 1-2 5, Szczecina 5 0-2 14, Keo 1 0-0 2, Kusko 1
0-0 3, Stano 1 0-0 2, Owens 1 0-0 3, Ferryman 2 0-0 5, Nase 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 1-4 (34) Pottsville (11-1) (5-0) 19 19
15 13 (66) Panther Valley (7-4) (1-3)
8 4 6 16 (34)
Tide Improves it's Season to 10 -1
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| Photo Courtsey of Pottsville Republican & David McKeown |
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| Photo Courtsey of Pottsville Republican & David McKeown |
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| Photo Courtsey of Pottsville Republican & David McKeown |
Pottsville outlasts North Schuylkill in key division
battle Posted on January 9, 2014 by mcarnahan By Mike Carnahan, Republican-Herald Sports Writer
FOUNTAIN SPRINGS — North Schuylkill figured to be the last team to give Pottsville
a challenge during the first half of the Schuylkill League Division I schedule.
The Spartans did for a half. But then
the Crimson Tide took control of the game and now have control of the division.
Travis Blankenhorn led a another balanced
offensive attack with a game-high 16 points as Pottsville pulled away in the second half for a 54-44 victory over North Schuylkill
on Wednesday.
Coming off a 53-36 win over Blue Mountain on Saturday, the Crimson Tide (10-1, 4-0 D-I) entered the game
tied with the Spartans (6-3, 3-1) for the division lead. Leading 29-23 at halftime, Pottsville used a 19-9 scoring advantage
in the third quarter to put the game away.
The Tide extended their lead to 18 points early in the fourth quarter en
route to their ninth straight win and 47th consecutive Division I victory.
“I was really happy with the team effort,”
Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said.
It seemed like everybody contributed something for the Tide. Jordan Melochick added 13 points, while Eli Nabholz netted 12 for Pottsville. The Tide were crisp and efficient
on offense, working the ball around for high-percentage shots inside the paint. The
Crimson Tide finished the night 22 for 40 (55 percent) from the floor, with six players having at least two assists. John
Toomey,Nabholz,Melochick, and Blankenhorn dished out three assists apiece. Nabholz also grabbed six rebounds and four blocks,
while Blankenhorn collected five boards. “We have some
smart guys and they made some nice adjustments with what North Schuylkill was doing” Mullaney said. “They are
so intense defensively and so well coached, you have to do everthing 100 percent and do them the right way to have any chance
of scoring.” Tevin Murray had a double-double for the Spartans with
11 points and 11 rebounds, while Matt Manbeck and Jake Damiter added eight points apiece.
North Schuylkill led 17-16 early in the second quarter after Manbeck scored on a putback, was fouled and converted
the three point play. But, after a good offensive start, the Spartans finished the night 13-for-43 (30 percent) from the floor. “I was very happy with the first quarter,” North Schuylkill coach Curt Ziegmont
said “Everybody knows how smothering their defense can be at times, so I was pretty pleased with that.” Offensive rebounding also kept North Schuylkill in the game in the first half. The
Spartans grabbed seven offensive boards over the first 16 minutes, resulting in nine second-chance points. But North Schuylkill had just two offensive rebounds in the second half, both coming
with under 1:20 left in the game when the outcome was decided. “I just think we got
worn down a little bit,” Ziegmont said. “In a game like this, the atmosphere, we can’t go as deep as we
normally do every night, which I think started to wear our guys down.
“But give credit to Pottsville, when they make you earn everything offensively and then they work you defensively
by running their motion they do so well, they just wear you down.”
One player who
stood out for Mullaney was Melochick, who scored Pottsville’s first six points of the second half and tallied eight
in the third quarter. He got the inbounds pass from the side to start the half, drove to the hoop and scored. Melochick then
scored on a cut inside and put in another two when Ty Painter outhustled a North Schuylkill player for an offensive rebound
and dished to Melochick for a layup. Melochick finished
off the third quarter by knocking down a jumper just before the buzzer, putting Pottsville up 48-32. “He does so much for us,” Mullaney said. “With some of the things
they were doing switching on defense, I thought he made some nice reads. He’s just a smart player.” Pottsville (54) – Hinchcliffe 2 0-0 6, Painter 1 0-0
3, Blankenhorn 7 0-0 16, Toomey 2 0-0 4, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Melochick 6 1-2 13, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Witman 0 0-0 0, Adams 0 0-0 0,
Nabholz 5 1-2 12, Coyle 0 0-0 0, Hampford 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 2-4 54
North Schuylkill (44) – Carney 0 0-0 0, Marlow 0 0-0 0, Hillibish 1 0-0 3, Murray 4 3-3 11, Manbeck 3
2-3 8, McDonald 0 0-0 0, Damiter 2 3-6 8, Mazeika 2 3-3 7, Karlonis 0 0-0 0, Heaton 0 0-0 0, Jordan 3 0-0 7. Totals 15 11-15
44 Pottsville (10-1), (4-0) -- 16
13 19 6 -- (54) North
Schuylkill (6-3), (3-1) 14 9 9
12 -- (44) 3-point FG’s: Hinchlife 2, Painter, Blankenhorn
2, Nabholz, Hillibish, Damiter, Jordan
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| Photo Courtsey of Pottsville Republican & David McKeown |
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| Photo Courtsey of Pottsville Republican & David McKeown |
Crimson Tide Rolls Past North Schuylkill The Crimson Tide defeated North Schuylkill on their home floor 54-44. The Tide rolled to a 20 point,
3rd quarter lead and then coasted to it's 64th win in a row against Schuylkill League Teams. The Tide was led by Travis "Money"
Blankenhorn with 16 points, followed by Jordan "Melo" Melochick with 13 points and the "Big Easy" Eli
Nabholz 12 points. The Tide led 29-23 at the half. The Tide then applied it's usual tough Defense to start the second half
and pulled away from the Spartans. The Tide travels to Panther Valley, this Friday, in it's quest for its five straight league
championship.
Pottsville (54) Hincliffe 2 0-0 6, Painter 1 0-0 3, Blankenhorn 7 0-0 16, Toomey 2 0-0 4, Melochick
6 1-2 13, Nabholtz 5 1-2 12, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Witman 0 0-0 0, Adams 0 0-0 , Coyle 0 0-0 0, Hampford 0 0-0 0 Totals: 23 2-4
(54) North Schuykill (44) Hillbish 1 0-0 3, Murray 2 4-6
8, Mannbeck 3 2-3 8, Dainikes 3 - 3-4 10, Karlonis 2 3-3 7, Jordan 3 0-0 7 Totals 14 12-16 (44)
| Team - Offense | Games Played | PF | PPG | | Tamaqua | 10 | 588 | 58.8 | | Pottsville | 10 | 585 | 58.5 | | Blue Mountain | 8 | 461 | 57.6 | | Nativity | 7 | 400 | 57.1 | | Mahany Area | 9 | 505 | 56.1 | | North Schuylkill | 8 | 447 | 55.9 | | Upper Dauphin | 9 | 500 | 55.6 | | Williams Valley | 8 | 422 | 52.8 | | Minersville | 10 | 501 | 50.1 | | Panther Valley | 9 | 435 | 48.3 | | Weatherly | 7 | 319 | 45.6 | | Marian | 9 | 398 | 44.2 | | Hamburg | 10 | 432 | 43.2 | | Jim Thorpe | 10 | 421 | 42.1 | | Shenandoah Valley | 10 | 406 | 40.6 | | Lourdes | 9 | 358 | 39.8 | | Tri-Valley | 10 | 374 | 37.4 | | Pine Grove | 11 | 410 | 37.3 | | Schuylkill Haven | 8 | 248 | 31.0 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Team - Defense | Games Played | PA | PPG | | Mahanoy Area | 9 | 292 | 32.4 | | Williams Valley | 8 | 278 | 34.8 | | Pottsville | 10 | 375 | 37.5 | | Minersville | 10 | 386 | 38.6 | | Lourdes | 9 | 352 | 39.1 | | Tamaqua | 10 | 400 | 40 | | North Schuylkill | 8 | 329 | 41.1 | | Blue Mountain | 8 | 338 | 42.3 | | Tri-Valley | 10 | 426 | 42.6 | | Marian | 9 | 411 | 45.7 | | Nativity | 7 | 346 | 49.4 | | Schuylkill Haven | 8 | 428 | 53.5 | | Shenandoah Valley | 10 | 536 | 53.6 | | Panther Valley | 9 | 484 | 53.8 | | Upper Dauphin | 9 | 485 | 53.9 | | Jim Thorpe | 10 | 553 | 55.3 | | Pine Grove | 11 | 640 | 58.2 | | Weatherly | 7 | 409 | 58.4 | | Hamburg | 10 | 595 | 59.5 | | | | | | | | | | | | Team 3-PT. Shooting | Games Played | 3's | 3/GP | | Mahanoy Area | 9 | 64 | 7.1 | | Weatherly | 7 | 42 | 6 | | Pottsville | 10 | 58 | 5.8 | | Upper Dauphin | 9 | 49 | 5.4 | | Panther Valley | 9 | 47 | 5.2 | | Williams Valley | 8 | 40 | 5 | | Tamaqua | 10 | 45 | 4.5 | | Shenandoah Valley | 10 | 42 | 4.2 | | Jim Thorpe | 10 | 40 | 4 | | Blue Mountain | 8 | 30 | 3.8 | | North Schuylkill | 8 | 30 | 3.8 | | Hamburg | 10 | 36 | 3.6 | | Schuylkill Haven | 8 | 29 | 3.6 | | Marian | 9 | 30 | 3.3 | | Minersville | 10 | 32 | 3.2 | | Tri-Valley | 10 | 30 | 3 | | Lourdes | 9 | 25 | 2.8 | | Nativity | 7 | 19 | 2.7 | | Pine Grove | 11 | 16 | 1.5 | | | | | | | Team - Foul Shooting | FTM | FTA | PCT. | | Tamaqua | 85 | 108 | 0.787 | | Blue Mountain | 93 | 129 | 0.721 | | Panther Valley | 117 | 165 | 0.709 | | Pottsville | 95 | 135 | 0.704 | | Williams Valley | 86 | 137 | 0.628 | | Mahanoy Area | 63 | 101 | 0.624 | | Nativity | 73 | 123 | 0.593 | | Pine Grove | 114 | 195 | 0.585 | | North Schuylkill | 81 | 139 | 0.583 | | Upper Dauphin | 81 | 140 | 0.579 | | Hamburg | 70 | 122 | 0.574 | | Lourdes | 69 | 121 | 0.57 | | Marian | 84 | 150 | 0.56 | | Schuylkill Haven | 27 | 50 | 0.54 | | Minersville | 77 | 143 | 0.538 | | Shenandoah Valley | 60 | 112 | 0.536 | | Weatherly | 23 | 44 | 0.523 | | Jim Thorpe | 59 | 116 | 0.509 | | Tri-Valley | 48 | 97 | 0.495 | | | | | | | | | | | | Individual Scoring | GP | TP | PPG | | Yordy - Nativity | 7 | 177 | 25.3 | | Blankenhorn - Pottsville | 10 | 206 | 20.6 | | Kosciolek - Tamaqua | 10 | 203 | 20.3 | | Ney - Upper Dauphin | 9 | 162 | 18 | | D'Agostino - Pine Grove | 11 | 187 | 17 | | Szczecina - Panther Valley | 9 | 152 | 16.9 | | Manbeck - North Schuylkill | 8 | 126 | 15.8 | | Maskornick - Shenandoah | 10 | 140 | 14 | | Sedesse - Williams Valley | 7 | 94 | 13.4 | | Nabholz
- Pottsville | 10 | 130 | 13 | | McNeil - Mahanoy Area | 9 | 114 | 12.7 | | Reiner - Weatherly | 6 | 76 | 12.7 | | Rottet - Tamaqua | 10 | 126 | 12.6 | | Rautzhan - Williams Valley | 8 | 101 | 12.6 | | Kisha - Hamburg | 10 | 124 | 12.4 | | Barter - Hamburg | 10 | 115 | 11.5 | | Panchari - Blue Mountain | 8 | 91 | 11.4 | | Storm - Shenandoah | 10 | 108 | 10.8 | | Murray - North Schuylkill | 8 | 86 | 10.8 | | Melochick
- Pottsville | 10 | 106 | 10.6 | | Micciche - Jim Thorpe | 10 | 106 | 10.6 | | Chelius - Blue Mountain | 8 | 85 | 10.6 | | Ferryman - Panther Valley | 9 | 94 | 10.4 | | Agosti - Marian | 8 | 92 | 10.2 | | | | | | | | | | | | Individual Scoring
- 3 Points | GP | TOT | 3/PG | | Blankenhorn - Pottsville | 10 | 25 | 2.5 | | McNeil - Mahanoy Area | 9 | 20 | 2.2 | | Kelly - Weatherly | 6 | 13 | 2.2 | | Szczecina - Panther Valley | 9 | 19 | 2.1 | | Rottet - Tamaqua | 10 | 20 | 2.0 | | Reiner - Weatherly | 6 | 12 | 2.0 | | Micciche - Jim Thorpe | 10 | 19 | 1.9 | | Herb - Shenandoah | 8 | 14 | 1.8 | | Trently - Upper Dauphin | 9 | 14 | 1.6 | | Figas - Weatherly | 7 | 11 | 1.6 | | Kisha - Hamburg | 10 | 15 | 1.5 | | Blugis- Schuylkill Haven | 8 | 12 | 1.5 | | Ney - Upper Dauphin | 9 | 13 | 1.4 | | Richmond- Mahanoy Area | 9 | 13 | 1.4 | | Miller - Mahanoy Area | 9 | 13 | 1.4 | | Agosti - Marian | 9 | 12 | 1.3 | | Slane - Blue Mountain | 8 | 10 | 1.3 | | Sedesse - Williams Valley | 7 | 9 | 1.3 | | Miller - Williams Valley | 8 | 10 | 1.3 | | Stano - Panther Valley | 9 | 11 | 1.2 | | Ferryman - Panther Valley | 9 | 11 | 1.2 | | St. Hill - Jim Thorpe | 9 | 10 | 1.1 | | Yearsley - Tri-Valley | 10 | 11 | 1.1 | | Miller - Upper Dauphin | 9 | 10 | 1.1 |
Balanced
Tide upend Blue MountainBY MIKE CARNAHAN (STAFF WRITER mcarnahan@republicanherald.com) Published: January 4, 2014 Pottsville's
trademarks during its current four-year Schuylkill League championship run are its man-to-man defense and the play of superstar
players such as Nick Schlitzer and Brandon Bridy. That tough defense is still there, but this season's Crimson Tide
offense might be the most balanced they've had the past few years. Saturday was a perfect example, especially when Travis
Blankenhorn missed a good part of the second half with an injury. Junior Eli Nabholz paced three Pottsville players
in double figures with a game-high 19 points, including 14 in the second half, as the Crimson Tide pulled away for a 53-36
Division I victory over rival Blue Mountain at Martz Hall. Pottsville (9-1, 3-0 D-I) came into the game with three players
averaging double figures in scoring - Blankenhorn (21.6 points per game), Nabholz (12.3) and Jordan Melochick (11.2). Saturday
it was Nabholz's turn to shine as his 19 matched his career high that he scored in the season-opener against Danville. Connor
Hinchliffe, who entered averaging 6.0 ppg, added a career-high 13 points for Pottsville, with 10 coming in the first half,
while Blankenhorn had 12. The Crimson Tide also hit seven 3-pointers in game, as Blankenhorn and Nabholz had two apiece,
while Ty Painter, Melochick and Hinchliffe each had one. Painter had four assists, while Melochick grabbed six rebounds and
Blankenhorn five. "I think, as far as half-court offense, I think it is maybe the best team that we've had because
we have multiple guys who can do things," Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said. Saturday's victory was eighth straight
for the Crimson Tide, while their Division I winning streak extends at 46. Pottsville joins North Schuylkill (6-2, 3-0)
as the lone remaining unbeaten teams in the division following the Spartans' 69-31 victory over Jim Thorpe on Saturday. North
Schuylkill travels to Pottsville on Tuesday. Mark Chelius led the Eagles (6-2, 3-1) with 14 points and three assists.
Skyler Panchari also grabbed six rebounds for Blue Mountain, which lost its second straight after opening the season 6-0. "We
talked about defending the 3s," Eagles coach Dustin Werdt said. "They hit seven 3s and that's too many. And they
got contributions from some people who aren't their leading scorers, typically, and got some shots from other kids." Blankenhorn
went down to the court awkwardly at 6:26 of the third quarter when he collided with Panchari after dishing the ball to Nabholz
for a layup. Blankenhorn was helped across Martz Hall to the trainer's room. He came out of the room early in the fourth quarter
and returned with 5:19 left in the game. "Obviously we were a little worried," Nabholz said. "He's our
best player, but we got together as a group. We just said we have to keep playing hard and that just means we have to play
harder. We came out until he got back in there, we really busted it." Pottsville did, increasing its 25-18 halftime
lead to 43-30 at the end of the third quarter. Nabholz scored eight of his points in the third, hitting a 3-pointer,
scoring off Blankenhorn's assist and finish off his quarter by muscling his way inside for a layup. He was fouled on the bucket
and completed the three-point play. After shooting 10-for-25 (40 percent) in the first half, the Crimson Tide was 10-for-14
(71 percent) from the floor in the second half. "Those were critical moments of the game," Mullaney said.
"I know we have other guys who can play, but anytime a guy like that goes down, you worry. I thought our guys really
stepped up at that point. "I think Connor Hinchliffe had a great game for us, I think Ty Painter had a great game
for us, along with the guys who always play well for us. Different guys stepped up in this game when they needed to." The
Eagles cut the deficit to 44-36 early in the fourth after Kyle Slane and Shane Grapsy hit back-to-back 3s. But Pottsville
finished the game on a 9-0 run. "Pottsville's good at controlling runs," Werdt said. "You make a little
mini run and they find a way to stop what you were doing. They hit some shots. We turned the ball over too much (nine in the
game) and we gave up too many 3s."
Bad 2nd quarter starts Eagles’ downfall Posted on January 5, 2014 by mcarnahan By Mike Carnahan, Republican-Herald Sports Writer
Blue Mountain had
two long scoring droughts during its 53-36 Schuylkill League Division I loss to Pottsville on Saturday at Martz Mall.
Even through the longest drought came over the final 7 minutes of the game, the most costly was a drought during the second
quarter.
The Eagles, who average 57 points per game, certainly had a good start offensively over the first 9 minutes
Saturday as they built three-point leads twice in the first quarter. The first came on a layup by Mark Chelius, making it
10-7 at 3:04, and the second on a drive down the lane by Chelius with 45 second left, making it 12-9.
Chelius then gave
the Eagles their final lead of the game with 6:58 left in the second when he scored on a spin move in the lane, making it
16-15.
But then things unraveled.
Blue Mountain turned the ball over on its next three possessions, then missed
its next three shots from floor before Will Bornstein penetrated the lane and dished off to Skyler Panchari for a layup with
54 seconds left in the half. By then, the Crimson Tide had built a 25-18 lead, thanks to a steal and layup by Eli Nabholz,
a drive by Connor Hinchliffe, a putback by Hinchliffe and 3-pointer by Travis Blankenhorn. The deficit was only seven points
but the Eagles never recovered.
Blankenhorn gave Pottsville it first double-digit lead of the game, knocking down a
3-pointer from the wing early in the second half. The lead slowly grew from there.
The Eagles cut the deficit to 8 at
44-36 early in the fourth quarter after back-to-back 3s from Shane Grapsy and Kyle Slane, but Blue Mountain was held scoreless
the remaining 7 minutes of the game.
“I think we had a stretch were we turned the ball over on consecutive possessions
and they hit some 3s,” Blue Mountain coach Dustin Werdt said of the second quarter. “We talked about defending
the 3s and they hit 7 3s (in the game) and that’s too many.”
Pottsville was having a hard time stopping
the spin moves of Chelius, who finished with a team-high 16 points, and Slane in early in the game, especially those by Chelius.
But the Crimson Tide did a much better job defensively in the second quarter. They also made a defensive switch, matching-up
Blankenhorn on Chelius.
“They really tried to spread
us out and they were taking us off the dribble,” Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said. “I think we were beating
them to spots but they were spinning. They have some talented kids. I thought Chelius did a nice job and Slane. They did a
nice job getting into the lane. We just had to challenge our guys to stop dribble penetration and also our help wasn’t
great in the first quarter. I think that improved as the game went along.
The "Big Easy" leads the Crimson
Tide to a win over rival Blue Mountain" Eli "Big
Easy" Nabholz led the Crimson Tide to a victory of Blue Mountain at Martz Hall 53-36. Eli led the team with a game high
19 points, followed by Connor Hinchcliffe's 13 points and Travis Balnkenhorn's 12 points. The Tide were without Travis "Money"
Blankenhorn for almost a quarter, as Travis suffered a banged up knee. Travis later returned to play in the game. All members
of the team stepped up to fill the gap and increased the led over Blue Mountain. Jordan "Melo" Melochick clamped
down on one of Blue Mountain best players and held him to 4 points for the game. It was a great all around effort for
the Tide who extended it's Schuylkill league streak to 63 straight games against Schuylkill league teams. Pottsville (53) Hinchliffe 5 2-4 13, Painter 1 1-2 4, Blankenhorn5 0-0 12, Toomey 0 0-0 0, Melochick 2 0-0 5, Nabholtz
7 3-4 19 Totals: 20 6-10 (53) Blue Mountain (36) Stramara 0 0-0 0, Bornstein 1 1-4 4, Harding
0 0-0 0, Slane 3 0-0 8, Grapsy 2 0-0 6, Chelius 6 1-1 14, Panchari 2 0-0 4, Totals 14 2-5 (36)
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| Photo Courtsey of Pottsville Republican & David McKeown |
Pottsville - Nativity
Pottsville rolls past Nativity in Battle of the Hills
by mike carnahan (staff writer mcarnahan@republicanherald.com) Published:
December 30, 2013
Pottsville's Travis Blankenhorn never gauges how he is going to shoot in a game by the pre-game warm-up. Monday was no different. "It was OK," he said. "It wasn't my best but
it felt good in the game." Indeed it did. Blankenhorn continued
his hot start to the season, pouring in a game-high 27 as Pottsville turned it on in the second half and pulled away for a
59-25 victory over Nativity in the annual Battle of the Hills at Martz Hall. Blankenhorn came
in averaging 20.9 points per game and he rarely missed Monday. Blankenhorn finished the game 9-for-13
from the floor, including a 5-for-8 showing from 3-point land. Three of his 3-pointers came over the first 11 minutes of the
game as the Crimson Tide (8-1) slowly built an 18-11 lead early in the second quarter. Blankenhorn
was also 4-of-5 from the foul line in the game. The performance was Blankenhorn's second highest
of the season. His career, and season high, was 33 at Williamsport on Dec. 17. The outside shooting
helped carry Pottsville's offense in the first half as the Crimson Tide had trouble getting it inside against the Hilltoppers'
2-3 zone. "It was a team effort," Blankenhorn said. "They played a tough zone.
We were a little confused in the beginning. We knew what we were supposed to be doing but they played good defense. It was
a good team effort to make our shots." Jordan Melochick added nine points for Pottsville,
while Eli Nabholz had eight points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. The win was the seventh consecutive
for the Crimson Tide. Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney wasn't all that happy with how the Crimson
Tide played in the first half, especially when it came to attacking the zone. The second half
was a different story. After shooting 8-for-20 (40 percent) in the first half, the Crimson Tide
were 14-for-22 (64 percent) from the floor in the second as they were able to get more easy buckets inside the paint. As a
team, Pottsville had 12 assists over the final 16 minutes. "I think we were more aggressive,"
Mullaney said. "I think we moved the ball better. I think we had more guys attacking and not being passive. Once we started
to do that, things started to open up." Jeff Yordy led the Hilltoppers (5-2) with 15 points
but the rest of Nativity's offense couldn't get much going. Melochick guarded Yordy, who came in averaging 27 points per game,
and held the junior guard to 6-for-15 shooting. Nativity came in averaging 62.5 points per game
and its pervious season low was 51 in the season opener against Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg on Dec. 11. "I thought Jordan did a great job all night," Mullaney said. "He took a lot of shots and a lot of
tough shots. And he made a lot of tough shots but that is all you can do, force shots into bad ones." Still, the Hilltoppers, who had their five-game winning streak snapped, hung with Pottsville. They were down 11-7
after the first quarter and 24-13 at halftime. Nativity head coach Kevin Kennedy was looking for
a much better start to the second half but instead, Pottsville opened on a 12-4 run to make it 36-17 after Blankenhorn hit
a 3-pointer from the wing at 3:48. "I felt confident coming into halftime that if we could
have went on a little bit of a run, right off the get-go and scored six or eight points, I think Pottsville would have known
they were in for a game," Kennedy said. "The complete opposite happened. We came out cold and they hit a couple
of buckets and built that lead. That was tough. Pottsville
(59) Hinchliffe 3 0-0 7, Jackson 1 0-0 2, Painter 1 0-0 3, Blankenhorn 9 4-5 27, Toomey 0-0-0 0, Dunkel 1 0-0 2, Melochick
3 2-2 9, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Witman 0 0-0 0, Adams 0 0-0 0, Nabholz 4 0-0 8, Coyle 0 0-0 0, Hampford 0 1-2 1 Totals: 22
7-9 59 Nativity (25) Hoppel 0- 0-0 0,Hunyara 0 0-2 0, Yordy 6 2-2 15, Kaledas 1 1-2 3, Palamar
1 1-2 3, Sabol 1 0-0 2, Mickey 0 0-0 0, Greco 0 0-0 0, DiNicola 0 0-0 0, Piccioni 0 0-0 0, McGovern 0 0-0 0 Totals:
10 4-4-25 Pottsville (8-1) 11 13 16
19 -- 59 Nativity (5-2) 7 6 9
3 -- 25 3-point FG's: Yordy, Hinchliffe, Painter, Blankenhorn
5, Melochick
Battle of the guards at the Battle of HillsPosted on December 30, 2013 by mcarnahan 0 Comments By Mike Carnahan, Republican-Herald Sports Writer
The annual Battle of Hills boys’
basketball contest between Nativity and Pottsville hasn’t been all that competitive recently.
Perhaps tonight’s
game at Martz Hall, which tips off at 7:30 p.m. following the girls’ game, will be different.
For certain, the
Hilltoppers (5-1) bring the strongest team into the contest that they have had in the past few years.
After losing to
Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg 56-51 in its season opener Dec. 11, the Hilltoppers have won five consecutive games. Outside of
a 73-70 overtime victory over Weatherly in the first round of the Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech Tournament on Dec. 20, their wins
haven’t been that close, with the average margin of victory 18.6 points per game. That included a 75-45 rout of Weatherly
last Friday.
Of course, Pottsville (7-1) is playing well, too.
After a 58-34 loss to Wilson West Lawn on Dec. 11,
the Crimson Tide have won six in a row, and their games haven’t been all that close, either. Their average margin of
victory during the winning streak has been 25.8 points per game, including a 73-39 victory over Hamburg on Saturday.
Tonight’s
game also features two of the hottest offensive players in the Schuylkill League in Nativity’s Jeff Yordy and the Tide’s
Travis Blankenhorn.
Yordy, who won the individual scoring title last season at 17.5 points per game, has picked right
up where he left off in spring. The junior guard is averaging 27 points per game so far and has cracked 30 points twice this
year, scoring 31 during a 65-37 victory over Shenandoah Valley on Dec. 19 and a season- and career-high 34 last Friday in
the win over the Wreckers.
After averaging 13.4 points per game last season – good for seventh in the league –
Blankenhorn, also a junior guard, is averaging 20.9 points per game. His season high, which is also a career high, was 33
in a 53-37 victory over Williamsport on Dec. 17.
The Crimson Tide will be the favorite again tonight and if Nativity
has any chance of pulling off the upset, a strong start is a must.
"Crimson Tide Hammers Hamburg" This afternoon the Crimson Tide continued its winning ways with an
73-39 victory over the Hamburg Hawks. The Tide was led by Travis "Money" Blankenhorn's 21 points followed by the
"Big Easy" Eli Nabholz and "Jordan "Melo" Melochick, each with 12 points a piece. Ty Painter put
up his best numbers of the season with 8 points. The Crimson Tide coasted in the second half with the starters not seeing
any action in the fourth quarter. The next game for the Tide is the "Battle of the hills" versus cross town rival
Nativity on Monday night. Pottsville (73)
Hinchliffe 3 0-1 7, Jackson 0 0-0 0, Painter 1 6-6 8, Blankenhorn 8 3-4 21, Toomey 0 2-3 2, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Melochick
5 0-1 12, Witman 0 0-0 0, Adams 2 0-1 5, Nabolz 5 2-2 12, Coyle 0 0-0 0, Hampford 2 0-0 6, Totals 24 13-18 73 Hamburg (39) Fink 0 0-0 0, Barter 4 2-2 10, Siedel 1 0-0 2, Schlottman
2 2-2 7, Warner 2 0-0 4, Kisha 6 1-2 16, Lesher 0 0-0 0, Totals 15 5-6 39 Pottsville (7-1) 26 19 20 8 -- 73 Hamburg (1-8) 7 10 8 14 -- 39 3 point FG's: Blankenhorn 2, Melochick 2, Hampford 2, Adams, Hinchliffe, Kisha 3, Schlottman
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| Photo Courtsey of Pottsville Republican |
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| Photo Courtsey of Pottsville Republican |
Defense lead Crimson Tide
past Tamaqua by mike carnahan (staff writer mcarnahan @republicanherald.com) Published: December 23, 2013
TAMAQUA - It's a story line that's been written plenty of times in the past,
and will be written plenty of more times in the future.
The Pottsville boys' basketball program under coach Dave Mullaney is all about man-to-man defense. "Coach Mullaney just appears to be a defensive guru,"
Tamaqua coach Caszy Kosciolek said. Monday
was no different. And the Crimson Tide may have found themselves two new defensive stoppers, too. Travis Blankenhorn (17 points), Jordan Melochick (16) and Eli Nabholz
(15) all hit double figures for Pottsville, but it was its defensive effort that led the way again in a 50-41 victory over
Tamaqua in Schuylkill League Division I contest at the Tamaqua Athletic Complex.
The victory was the 45th consecutive in the division for the Crimson Tide (6-1, 2-0
D-I). And despite four new starters, they have picked right up where they left off last year when they allowed 36.3 points
per game. In its first seven games this season, Pottsville
is giving up 39.2 points per game. The most it allowed in a game this year came during a 58-43 loss to Wilson West Lawn on
Dec. 11. "Great defensive effort, a great team
effort," the Crimson Tide's Ty Painter said. "Help on defense, we contested all their shots. They had to work for
everything they got. They are a good team. It was a good win for us."
Painter, a junior, and Melochick, a sophomore, are two of the new starters for Pottsville
this season. And both were the main defensive heros for the Crimson Tide on Monday, although everybody had a part. For most of the game, Melochick was responsible for guarding
the Raiders' 6-foot-7 forward, Brett Kosciolek, while Painter drew the assignment of Tamaqua point guard Bo Rottet. Rottet finished the night with 17 points, including eight
in the fourth quarter, while Kosciolek added 14. But it turned out to be a rough night for both. Almost every time Kosciolek got the ball, Melochick was right on
him and got help for a double- and sometimes triple-team on Kosciolek, who finished the night 4-for-17 from the floor. "I just really had to crowd him and make sure he had
to put the ball on the floor," Melochick said. "I didn't want him to put any 3s up so he had to put the ball on
the floor. I got help from my teammates." The Raiders were 14-for-41 (34
percent) from the floor Monday and a focus of the Crimson Tide's defense was shutting down the 3-pointer. The Raiders came
in averaging 6.2 3s per game but were 2-for-12 from beyond the arc Monday, Rottet, who knocked down seven 3s in Saturday's
69-43 rout of Hamburg, hit both. "Pottsville
does that to a lot of teams," Caszy Kosciolek said. "We didn't shoot it particularly well. They take you out of
what you want to do. They contest passes, they contest shots, and you got one shot and done." Offensively, Pottsville was 21-for-37 (57 percent) shooting Monday,
taking advantage of several opportunities inside off cuts to the basket and low-post moves. The key quarter turned out to be the third. The Crimson Tide led
24-19 at 7:36 after the Raiders' Zach Wargula scored on a cut inside. But Pottsville went on a 15-6 run from there, hitting
7-for-10 from the floor. Blankenhorn
started the run, scoring on a move inside. Melochick then put in layup off a back-side cut, Nabholz hit a jumper from the
top of the circle and Melochick put in his own miss to make it 33-23 Crimson Tide at 4:06 of the third. "We always stress that, coming out, first 4 minutes of the
third quarter," Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said. "We thought that if we could win the first four minutes, we
could win the game. And our guys came out really aggressive and we went back to turning our motion a little bit more and trying
to work inside out and get the ball in the post and getting a couple of easy ones like that got us going." Game Summary: Pottsville (50) Hinchliffe 1 0-0 2, Painter 0 0-1 0, Blankenhorn 5 5-6 17, Toomey 0
0-0 0, Melochick 7 1-2 16, Nabholz 6 2-2 15, Hampford 0 0-0 0 Totals 19 8-11 50
Tamaqua (41) Blaker 0 0-0 0, Wargula 1 2-2 4, Rottet 6 3-5 17, Frantz 1 0-2 2, Tr. Skripko 0 0-0 0, MacDonald 0 0-0
0, Marcin 1 0-0 2, Ty Skripko 0 0-0 0, Kosciolek 4 6-6 14, Ch Hartung 0-00 0 Totals:14 11-13 41 Pottsville (6-1, 2-0) 11 13 15 11 -- 50 Tamaqua (5-2,
0-2) 6 11 8 16 -- 41 3-point FG's:
Blankenhorn 2, Melochick, Nabholz, Rottet 2
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| Photo Courtsey of Pottsville Republican |
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| Photo Courtsey of Pottsville Republican |
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| Photo Courtsey of Pottsville Republican |
| Rank | School | W | L | T | | 1 | Allentown Central Catholic
| 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.836000 | | 2 | Blue Mountain | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0.774379 | | 3 | Pottsville
Area | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0.729768 | | 4 | Salisbury Township | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0.712794 | | 5 | Northern
Lehigh | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0.693461 | | 6 | Tamaqua Area | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0.616618 | | 7 | Lehighton
Area | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0.586186 | | 8 | Southern Lehigh | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0.567851 | | 9 | Panther
Valley | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0.565662 | | 10 | Wilson Area | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0.481733 | | 11 | Bethlehem
Catholic | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0.469221 | | 12 | Northwestern Lehigh | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0.399245 | | 13 | Saucon
Valley | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0.396667 | | 14 | Jim Thorpe Area | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0.339153 | | 15 | Palisades
| 1 | 5 | 0 | 0.327394 | | 16 | Palmerton Area | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0.262305 |
OTHERS
TO WATCH: Archbishop Wood (12)2-2, Central Valley (7) 5-1, Crestwood (2) 5-1, Farrell (10) 6-0, General McLane (10)
4-1, Girard (10) 4-1, Glen Mills (1) 4-2, Honesdale (2) 6-0, Indiana (7) 6-1, Knoch (7) 6-0, Mars (7) 4-2, Montour (7) 4-0,
Pottsville (11) 6-1, Scranton Prep (2) 5-0, Sharon (10) 4-1, Steel Valley (7) 5-1, Susquehanna Twp (3) 4-2,
Thomas Jefferson (7) 7-1, West York (3) 6-0.
Pottsville Rolls past Berwick The Crimson Tide rolls past Berwick Bulldogs 71-29 at Martz Hall. The Tide
improved their record to 5 - 1, With a well balanced attack, the Tide had four players in double digits with Kevin Hampford
scoring a career high of 16 points, followed By Travis"Money" Blankenhorn and The "Big Easy" Eli Nabholz,
each had 15 points and Connor Hincliffe also scoring a career high of 12 points. The Tide open up with a 15-11, first quarter
lead and pushed it to 37-14 half time led, with a 22-3 run. The Tide closed the second half with every player getting some
playing time to close out the game at 71-29. The Tide takes it's show on the road, Monday night to battle at Tamaqua,
the first big test in this young season. Pottsville
(71) Coyle 1 0-0 3, Toomey 0 0-0 0, Blankenhorn 7 1-1 15, Nabholz 4 7-8 15, Painter 0 0-0 0, Hinchcliffe 3 3-5 12, Jackson
1 0-0 2, Melochick 2 0-0 4, Witman 1 0-0 2, Adams 1 0-0 2, Hampford 4 2-2 16 Berwick (29) Edwards 1 0-0 3, Melito 1 3-4 5, Reigel 1 2-4 4, Evans 1 6-7 8, Dalio 0 4-6 4, Roberts
2 0-0 4, Goddard 0 1-2 1, Pierce 0 0-0 0, Woodeschnk 0-0-0 0, Balliet 0 0-0 0, Divalero 0-0-0 0 Totals 6 16-23 29 Pottsville (5-1) 15 22 21 13 -- (71) Berwick ( ) 11 3 11 4 -- (29) 3 Point FG's- Hampford 2, Blankenhorn, Coyle
Crimson Tide Clips the Cardinals Wings The Pottsville Crimson Tide clipped the Pine Grove Cardinals wings
to the tune of 72-32 for the 60th straight Schuylkill league win. Travis "Money" Blankenhorn led all scorers with
23 points,including three 3-pointers, followed by Jordan "Melo" Melochick with 17 points and the "Big
Easy" Eli Nabholz scored 16 points. All the Tide players contribute to the win in one way or
another. Pottsville jumped out to a 16-7 lead after the first quarter, and extended that lead to 37-16 lead at the half. The Tide improved it's record to 4-1 on the season. Pottsville (72) Hinchliffe 1 2-3 5, Jackson 1 0-1 2, Painter 0 0-0 0, Blankenhorn 10 0-0 23, Dunkel 3 0-0 6, Toomey
0 0-0 0, Melochick 6 4-5 17, Witman 1 0-0 2, Adams 0 0-1 0, Nabholz 6 3-3 16, Coyle 0 0-0 0, Hampford 0 1-2 1, Totals: 28
10-15 72 Pine Grove (32) Rossi 0 0-0 0, Blankenhorn 1 2-2 4, A. White 1 0-0 2, Cataldo 0 0-0 0, T. White 0 1-3 1, J. White
0 0-0 0, D'Agostino 6 2-4 16, Weinus 1 4-5 6, Keefer 0 3-6 3, Mars 0 0-0 0 Totals: 9 12-20 32 Pottsville(4-1, 1-0) 16 21 14
21 -- (72) Pine Grove(1-5, 0-3) 7 9 9 7 -- (32) 3-Point FG's: Blankenhorn 3, Hincliffe, Melochick, Nabholz, D'Agostino 2 JV Score Pottsville 57-10
"Crimson Tide cashes in on Williamsport
Millionaires"
Travis "Money" Blankenhorn leds the Crimson Tide over Williamsport
53-37 Travis Blankenhorn had a monster night
with a career-high 33 points as Pottsville pulled off it's biggest win so far this season with a 53-37 victory over AAAA Williamsport
on Tuesday in a non-league basketball contest. Travis"Money" Blankenhorn was 6 for 6 from 3 point land in the game,
and added seven rebounds and three assists. His previous career high in points was 24 against Pine Grove last season. Eli
"Big Easy" Nabholz added nine points and four blocks for the Crimson Tide, while Jordan "Melo" Melochick
had six points and seven rebounds. Pottsville led 11-8 after the first quarter and 31-19 at the half. Isaiah Washington had 15 points for the Millionaires as Melochick kept
one of Williamsport's best players (and Penn State bound)under control. Pottsville
(53): Blankenhorn 11 5-7 33, Nabholz 4 0-0 9, Melochick 3 0-0 6, Painter 0 0-0 0, Hampford 0 0-0 0, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Hinchliffe
2 0-2 5, Witman 0 0-0 0 Totals 20 5-9 53 Williamsport (37): Washington
4 5-11 15, Benjamin 1 0-0 2, Gardner 3 0-1 6, Gosley 3 0-0 6, Boone 2 2-2 6, Simmons 0 0-0 0, Harman 0 0-0 0, Manzitti 0 0-0
0, Smith 0 0-0 0, Johnson 1 0-0 2 Totals 14 7-14 37 Pottsville (3-1) 11
20 16 6 -- (53) Williamsport
(1-3) 8 11 11 7 -- (37) 3-point FG's:
Blankenhorn 6, Nabholz, Hinchliffe, Washington
Nick Schiltzer player of the game. Click on the link below to get a story on
former Pottsville player!
Nick Schlitzer - Philadelphia University
Crimson Tide Rolls over Governor Mifflin Travis Blankenhorn poured in a game high 20 points to pace four Crimson
Tide players in double figures in their non-league victory over the Mustangs. Joradn Melochick added 14 points for Pottsville, while Eli Nabholz had 12 and Connor Hinchliffe had
10. The Tide got out to a 16-6 laed after the first quarter and led 26-19 t half. Pottsville (58) Blankenhorn 7 3-6 20 Hampford 0 0-0 0, Hinchliffe 3 3-5 10, Melochick 2 9-10 14, Nabholz
5 1-3 12, Painter 0 2-2 2 Whitman 0 0-0 0, Totals: 17 18-26 58 Governor Mifflin (44) Holf 3 6-10 12, Mckinight 0 0-0 0, Ovid 2 1-2 6, Peters 0 0-0 0, Pollack 0 0-0 0, Quigley
0 1-2 1, B. Rodriguez 3 1-2 7, S. Rodriguez 7 2-5 16, Willet 1 0-0 2, Totals 16 11-21 44 Pottsville:
16 - 10 - 16 - 16 - (58) Governor Mifflin 6 - 13
- 11 - 14- (44) 3 point FG's: Blankenhorn (3), Hinchliffe,
Melochick, Nabholz,
Can Bears unseat Tide?by mike carnahan
(staff writer mcarnahan@ republicanherald.com) Published: December 12, 2013 MAHANOY CITY -
Four days before the start of the regular season, Mahanoy Area coach Mickey Holland was quite concerned. Due to a scheduling
quirk, the Golden Bears had scrimmages on back-to-back days - Shamokin, Crestwood and Loyalsock on Nov. 29 and Blue Mountain
and Annville-Cleona on Nov. 30 - and Holland wasn't pleased with what he saw in either of them. The intensity and hustle
that was there last season, and this summer, wasn't there. "Right now, we are not really a very good team,"
Holland said. "Last year's team would kill this team right now." The 2012-13 Golden Bears were better than
a good team. Mahanoy Area (22-6) won its second consecutive Division III title and reached the Schuylkill League championship
game for the first time since 2007, losing to Pottsville 35-21. The Golden Bears also won their first District 11 Class
A title since 2001 - avenging title losses the previous two seasons - by beating Pius X 57-55. They followed that by reaching
the second round of the PIAA playoffs and were leading heading into the fourth quarter against School at Church Farm before
losing 42-36. With four regular starters back in seniors Tyler Cavenas (12.4 points per game in 2012-13), Larry McNeil
(11.7), Dylan Mahmod (10.5) and Andy Kuzma (5.7), a part-time starter in junior Brian Miller (5.0) and junior Jason Richmond
(1.9), Mahanoy Area has the potential to equal or exceed last year's success. That also includes doing what no small
school Schuylkill League team has done since Mahanoy Area accomplished the feat in 2006 - win the overall Schuylkill League
championship. That's perhaps why Holland (33rd season, 588-251 career record) is so worried. He's had plenty of excellent
teams in the past, but also a few that have flopped. Holland certainly doesn't want to see what should be a great season go
to waste. "Last year is last year and it has absolutely nothing to do with this year," he said. "If
we don't refocus and rededicate ourselves here, it is going to be a disappointment." The players know it, too. "We
feel like, coming off of last year and winning districts, we can't slow down and be content," Cavenas said. "We
have to be humble and we have to go back to work." Added Mahmod: "I think coach explains it the best when
he says nothing is guaranteed. "I think there is more pressure coming back from a district championship, league
runner-ups and going into the second round of states. I think that is going to make us better and make us want to achieve
more." Offensively, Mahanoy Area has the ability to score inside with Cavenas, as well as the outside with McNeil
(51 3-pointers last year), Mahmod (41 3s) and Miller (19 3s). But it all starts with defense. The Golden Bears finished second
overall in the league to Pottsville last season, allowing 38.5 points per game. The Crimson Tide gave up 36.3. Perhaps
the scrimmages served as a wake-up call. Without Mahamod, Mahanoy Area opened the season by winning the Panther Valley Tip-Off
Tournament, outscoring Jim Thorpe and Panther Valley a combined 117-53 over the two games. That included a 62-23 rout of the
Panthers in the championship game as the Golden Bears held Panther Valley to four field goals. To get Mahanoy Area refocused,
Holland pulled out some tapes from last season to reminded the Golden Bears of what they were. "It showed us you
can't just rely on what happed last year," Holland said last Saturday night. "This weekend looked much more like
last year's team. Hopefully we take if from there." Anything less than last season's performance from the Golden
Bears would surely be a major disappointment. Speaking of potential, six of last year's top 10 scorers from the league
return, including Nativity junior Jeff Yordy (17.5 ppg), the overall league scoring champ, Tamaqua junior Brett Kosciolek
(16.3), Blue Mountain senior Will Bornstein (13.7), Pottsville junior Travis Blankenhorn (13.4), Cavenas and Panther Valley
senior Jake Szczecina (13.0). There are also three new coaches - Frank D'Agostino at Pine Grove, Grant Whary at Jim
Thorpe and Ryan McGinley at Hamburg. Here's a breakdown of the divisions: Division I All talk about Division
I, and the Schuylkill League for that matter, starts with Pottsville. The Crimson Tide won their fourth consecutive
Schuylkill League title last February, and have won 43 consecutive Division I games. On the downside, the Tide lost
four starters to graduation, including 2012-13 Republican-Herald Player of the Year Brandon Bridy (15.9 ppg), who is currently
at Kutztown University, along with Ryan Coyle, Bobby Witman and Zach Wile. Pottsville finds itself in a similar position
to the one it was entering 2011-12 when Nick Schlitzer graduated and Bridy became the main scoring threat. Now it is
Blankenhorn's turn to become the leader. The 6-foot-2 junior guard was mostly a 3-point shooter as a freshman. Last
year he became more of a threat in transition and slashing to the basket. This season, he's added low-post moves. What
will give Pottsville a major boost inside is a healthy Eli Nabholz (5.0 ppg in 8 games). The 6-5 junior showed plenty of potential
as a freshman but due to two separate injuries, last year was pretty much a loss. Sophomore Jordan Melochick (4.0) also
saw plenty of time as a freshman and, along with Nabholz, should give Pottsville a solid inside game. Still, the Crimson
Tide don't have a lot of overall varsity experience, and that is the biggest concern for coach Dave Mullaney. "We've
had a great offseason, we really have," he said. "I am hoping with all that effort in the offseason that the learning
curve isn't too steep for us." Blue Mountain was the division runner-up and league wild-card a year ago and returns
three starters in Bornstein, Kyle Slane (12.0) and Shane Grapsy (6.2). Quick, athletic guards allowed the Eagles to play an
aggressive style last season on both ends of the floor and the plan is for more of the same. The Eagles did lose their
top 3-point shooter in Peter Harding (53 3s), but Slane (34 3s) and Grapsy (24 3s) both showed they can hit from the perimeter
last year. One new face who could play a major role is sophomore Mark Chelius, who transferred from Wyomissing. Chelius
was projected to be the Spartans' starting point guard this season before his move to Blue Mountain. One team that should
make a major move upward is Tamaqua, which last season reached the District 11 playoffs for the first time since 2004 and
won its first district playoff game since 2001. The Raiders have four starters back. In addition to Kosciolek, who is
developing into one of the league's better all-around offensive players, junior Bo Rottet (10.3 ppg) returns to run the point,
while junior Zach Wargula (8.6) and senior Adam Frantz (6.2) are also back. This is one of the more anticipated seasons
for the Raiders in recent memory. In order for Tamaqua to contend for a division title, the defense needs to improve after
it allowed 50.2 points per game last year. That is also the case at Panther Valley, which gave up 56.8 points per game
in 2012-13. But there is experience back in addition to Szczecina, as seniors Luke Stano (5.1 ppg), Kyle Ferryman (5.1 ppg)
and Jake Kusko (2.3 ppg) return. North Schuylkill took a big graduation hit, with senior Jake Damiter (10.7 ppg) the
Spartans' lone returning starter. Damiter is 6-foot-4 and, along with 6-5 Matt Manbeck and 6-5 sophomore Tevin Murray, gives
the Spartans some size inside. Junior Kobe D'Agostino (11.4 ppg), last season's Republican-Herald Rookie of the Year,
returns for Pine Grove, while David Everitt (5.2) and Bryce Micciche (4.3) are the only two players that have any significant
varsity experience for Jim Thorpe. Please enable JavaScript to view the <a
href="http://disqus.com/?ref_noscript=republicanherald">comments powered by Disqus.</a>
Wilson defeats the Tide Wilson used the 3-pointer to outgun the Crimson Tide, as the Bulldogs scored
eight times from beyond the 3 point arc to send Pottsville to it's first loss. Sam Smith led the way for Wilson with 19 points,
including three 3-pointers. Matt Timochenko posted 11 points. The Tide was led by Travis Blankenhorn who scored 22 points for the Tide, Jordan"Melo" Melochick added
8 points for the Tide. Pottsville: (43) - Hinchliffe 3 0-0 6, Painter 1 0-0 2, Blankenhorn 8 5-5
22, Toomey 0 0-0 0, Melochick 2 3-6 8, Witman 0 0-0 0, Nabholz 2 1-1 5 Totals 16 9-12 43 Wilson: (58) - Templin
1 0-0 3, Smith 8 0-0 19, Connolly 0 0-0 0, Gaynor 0 0-0 0, Coad 5 2-2 13, Calloway 4 0-0 10, Rivera 0 0-0 0, Lubas 1 0-0 2,
Timochenko 2 6-8 11, Totals 21 8-10 58
"Tide Opens up with a 53-34 Win over
Danville Ironmen"
Travis "Money" Blankenhorn slams
home two"
Eli "Big Easy" Nabholz scores two
Jordan "Melo" Melochick lays one in
Crimson Tide open with rout of DanvilleBY MIKE CARNAHAN (STAFF WRITER mcarnahan@republicanherald.com) Published:
December 6, 2013 Pottsville's Eli Nabholz battled a variety of injuries last winter
and missed most of the Crimson Tide's basketball season. If Friday
is any indication, the now-healthy junior forward could on the verge of a big year. Nabholz had a career-high 19 points,
while Travis Blankenhorn and Jordan Melochick also hit in double figures, as Pottsville opened its season with a 53-34 rout
of Danville at Martz Hall. Nabholz played in only eight games last season, missing the first 15 with a back injury.
In his third game back against Blue Mountain on Jan. 29, he injured his ankle and missed the next four contests. He then returned
for Pottsville's final five games. "It is amazing coming out, especially with the group of guys we have here,"
Nabholz said. "It is just so much fun to be back out and just play hard for a full game. It is a phenomenal feeling,
especially in Martz." Nabholz scored the Tide's first points of the game on a kick-out 3-pointer from John Toomey,
but had his best quarter in the second with eight points. He hit his second 3-pointer of the game, and then muscled his way
inside to score and complete the three-point play after he was fouled. Nabholz's final points of the quarter came on
a spin move in the lane. He added 12 rebounds and also had two blocks. "The key tonight was just my teammates getting
me the ball when I was open," Nabholz said. "I am not a guy who is going to create plays for myself or create plays
for other people. But I just try to be in the right spot and my teammates found me." Blankenhorn added 16 points
and three steals, while Melochick had 15 points, three assists and four steals as the Tide opened the game on an 8-0 run,
led 19-6 after the first quarter and 29-16 at the half. The Ironmen, who finished 19-5 last season and lost to Shikellamy
in the District 4 Class AAA semifinals, returned just one starter from last season in senior Zack Kozick. The Tide wasted
no time in jumping on Danville, forcing seven turnovers in the first quarter, with five on steals, and converting them into
transition points at the other end. It was a perfect start for Pottsville, which had four new starters in its lineup
following last year's fourth consecutive Schuylkill League championship. "We played good coming out and overall
we played solid defensively," Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said. "We have a lot of inexperienced guys and there
are things we are going to get better at. To start off first quarter, we were pretty solid." After Nabholz hit
his 3-pointer and Toomey hit 1-of-2 from the foul line, the Tide's defense took over. Melochick had three steals in the first
five minutes of the game as Pottsville converted all three into points. Melochick set up Blankenhorn after a steal
for a fast-break layup and then, after another steal, Blankenhorn set Melochick up for layup. After Phil Stemm scored the
first points of the game for the Ironmen, Melochick went in for a layup after a steal to give Pottsville a 10-2 lead. Later
in the first, Melochick scored off a baseline drive and competed a three-point play after he was fouled. Blankenhorn added
a layup and scored off an alley-oop from Melochick, while Nabholz scored another fast-break layup. "That was the
deciding factor, getting out ahead," Nabholz said. The Tide finished the game shooting 21-for-45 (47 percent) from
the floor and held Danville to 10-for-39 (26 percent) shooting. But Pottsville did commit 16 turnovers. "We were
good at times and I was happy," Mullaney said. "But we have so many things to clean up. We had so many unforced
turnovers and we are not going to beat too many good teams doing that."
Watch the Crimson Tide Boys Basketball " LIVE" at highschoolcube.com " The Tide games will soon be streamed live, check out
the team on highschoolcube.com.
HIGH SCHOOL CUBE- Crimson Tide
2013-2014 Pottsville Crimson Tide
" Coming Soon The 2013-2014 Season" The Drive For Five!!!
The "Mecca" Martz Hall
HIGH SCHOOL CUBE- Crimson Tide
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W - L
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Danville Ironmen
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W
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12/10/2013
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@Wilson Bulldogs
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12/13/2013
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@Governor Mifflin Mustangs
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12/17/2013
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@Williamsport Millionaires
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W
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12/19/2013
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@Pine Grove Cardinals
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W
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12/20/2013
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Berwick Bulldogs
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W
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12/23/2013
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@Tamauqa Blue Raiders
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12/28/2013
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@Hamburg Hawks
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W
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12/30/2013
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@ Nativity Green Wave
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W
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1/4/2014
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Blue Mountain Eagles
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1/8/2014
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@North Schuylkill Spartans
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W
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1/10/2014
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@Panther Valley Panthers
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W
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1/11/2014
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Salisbury
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L
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1/13/2014
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@ Shamokin Indians
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W
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1/14/2014
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Jim Thorpe Olympians
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W
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1/18/2014
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Muhlenburg Mules
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W
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1/20/2014
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Pine Grove Cardinals
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W
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1/23/2014
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Tamaqua Blue Raiders
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W
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1/27/2014
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@ Blue Mountain Eagles
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L
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1/29/2014
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North Schuylkill Spartans
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W
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2/3/2014
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Panther Valley Panthers
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W
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2/6/2014
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@ Jim Thorpe Oylmpians
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W
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2/8/2014
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Blue Mountain Eagles
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W
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2/10/2014
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Williams Valley Vikings Schuylkill League - Semi-Finals
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2/14/2014
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Mahanoy Area Bears Schuylkill League - Championship
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2/21/2014
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Lehighton District XI - AAA - Quarter-Finals
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2/25/2014
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Blue Mountain Eagles District XI - AAA - Semi-Finals
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2/28/2014
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Allentown Central Catholic District XI - AAA - Finals
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3/7/2014
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Lower Moreland State - AAA - First Round
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3/11/2014
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Susquehanna Township State - AAA - Second Round
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Susquehanna Township eliminates Pottsville by kevin keating (CORRESPONDENT kkeating@republicanherald.com) Published:
March 11, 2014 READING - Trailing by 10 early in the third quarter and with its
season beginning to slip away, Pottsville stuck with its game plan. In just
two minutes, the Crimson Tide nearly completely erased Susquehanna Township's lead. The go-ahead score never came for Pottsville. Susquehanna Township's
sibling duo of Gabe and Bud Mack helped the Indians close out a 52-45 victory over the Tide in the second round of the PIAA
Class AAA boys' basketball state tournament Tuesday night at the Geigle Complex, ending Pottsville's successful postseason
run. The District 3 champion Tribe (21-7) advance to face Lancaster Mennonite,
a 68-64 winner over Chartiers Valley, in Friday's state quarterfinals. Pottsville
(24-6) refused to fade quietly into the warming March air even after falling behind by 10 to start the second half. The Tide played their hallmark stingy man-to-man defense, containing the Tribe throughout.
Offensively, shots weren't finding their way through the twine in the early going as Pottsville hit just 4-of-22 from the
field in the first half. Something clicked early in the third quarter, though,
as the Tide used an 11-2 run to pull within a point at 26-25. "I was
really proud of the way we just continued to believe in our game plan the entire time," Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney
said. "First half, we had some open looks that didn't fall. We knew if we just stuck with the game plan and defensive
rebounding. That was so crucial to us, and our kids did an absolutely great job. We knew some shots would fall late." Pottsville had several open looks draw iron in the fourth quarter and harmlessly bounce
into the hands of Susquehanna Township rebounders to stifle the Tide's late runs. "I
knew Pottsville was solid," Hanna coach Vince Rogers said. "Their record speaks for itself. I knew they were going
to be ready. "They were physical and strong. They battled. They battled
with us. Those kids don't have anything to hang their heads down on." Eli
Nabholz delivered another huge performance for the Tide, finishing with a team-high 21 points and six rebounds. Nabholz had
some success in the post, then moved outside and drained four 3-pointers to help Pottsville's comeback bid. Defensively, Nabholz had to contend with 6-foot-6 center Quintin Ward, while the Tide's guards were busy trying to
deal with both Macks on the perimeter and driving to the rim. "Eli …
he's played so big for us down the stretch," Mullaney said. "His ability to score inside and out is such a difficult
guard for people. We probably don't give him enough credit on the defensive end. He does a great job on that end. He's grown
so much in that regard. Obviously, his rebounding has been tremendous all year." The Macks proved to be the difference, especially down the stretch. Bud
Mack finished with a game-high 22 points, knocking down 6-of-8 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter. Gabe Mack added
11 points, with all 11 coming in the final stanza. "I really believe
that it was (numbers) 3 and 4 (Bud and Gabe Mack)," Mullaney said. "They're great players and their ability to make
tough shots. I was really proud of our defensive effort. We forced them to take shots, but they're that good. They made them." Travis Blankenhorn added 15 points for Pottsville, which loses just one senior - reserve
forward John Toomey - to graduation. "John symbolizes everything that
we want from a Pottsville basketball player," Mullaney said. "I think the best compliment that I can give him is
he's just as good a teammate as I've ever been around. We will miss him a lot." The Crimson Tide return all five starters next season. The first victory in states since 1974 are certainly steps
to build on for 2014-15. "I think tonight, obviously we're disappointed
with the loss, but we definitely showed that we belong with the top teams in the state," Mullaney said. "I think
our guys, with some of the teams that we played down the stretch, it's really going to carry over to the next year." Pottsville (45) Hinchliffe 2 0-0 6, Painter 0 0-0 0, Blankenhorn 7 0-0 15,
Toomey 0 0-0 0, Melochick 1 1-1 3, Nabholz 5 7-8 21. Totals 15 8-9 (45) Susquehanna Township (52) Blair 1 0-0 2, Milberry 1 0-0 2, Mack 5 9-12 22, Mack 3 5-6 11, Turner 0 0-0 0, Marshall
3 0-2 6, Ward 4 1-2 9, Letterlough 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 15-22 (52) Pottsville (24-6)
8 6 14 17 --- (45) Susquehanna (21-7) 13 7 14 18 -- (52) 3-point FG's: Hincliffe 2, Blankenhorn, Nabholz 4, B. Mack 3
Pottsville tames Lions to advance to 2nd round of state playoffs by kevin keating (correspondent kkeating@republicanherald.com) Published: March 7, 2014 ORWIGSBURG - Eli Nabholz doesn't really concern himself
with making matchups in the post "personal." Sure, Pottsville's 6-foot-5
big man embraces the challenge of playing better around the rim than his opposing defender. Nabholz just tries to let his opportunities come to him within the Crimson Tide's offensive sets. That's usually a good thing, since Pottsville does its best to work the ball inside-out on the offensive end. In Friday's PIAA Class AAA first-round playoff game, Nabholz received plenty of chances to flourish in the paint
and capitalized on most of them. Nabholz tallied a game-high 25 points, helping
Pottsville to a 58-38 rout of Lower Moreland at Blue Mountain High School to advance in the state playoffs for the first time
in 40 years. "I don't know if it was any different. It's something that
we stress every game, working inside-out," Nabholz said. "Today instead of passing the ball out of the post, I just
had opportunities to score today. "I try to not get personal," he
continued. "I try to focus on the things we work on as a team - working inside-out, getting the ball in the post. If
I have a chance to make a move, I make a move. If not, I find somebody. I wouldn't say it's personal, but I definitely take
it as a challenge to be better than my opponent." The victory puts the
District 11 runner-up Crimson Tide (24-5) into Tuesday's second round against District 3 champion Susquehanna Township, a 65-47
winner over Imhotep Charter, at a site and time to be determined. Nabholz was
a major reason for Pottsville's success against District 1 runner-up Lower Moreland (16-10). The junior connected on 9-of-13 shots from the field, scoring 14 points in the first half to give Pottsville a 33-17
lead at intermission. "Definitely with Eli, we wanted to get him the ball
as much as possible," Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said. "But also I thought we were driving the ball, too, and
that was creating open looks for us." It certainly was. Travis Blankenhorn amped up the scoring for Pottsville in the second quarter, knocking down a jumper and a driving
layup before hitting two 3-pointers to help extend the Tide's lead from 10-8 after a quarter to double digits by the 2:44
mark of the second period. "They didn't really have anything to answer Eli,"
Blankenhorn said. "He did a great job, so we kept on giving it to him. "They
were doubling down on Eli then. He was kicking it back out." Defensively,
the Tide locked down on the Lions. Jordan Melochick and Ty Painter kept Lower
Moreland point guard Danny Duffy in check, holding the 5-9 sophomore point guard to just four points. "Overall, I was pretty happy with our defensive effort," Mullaney said. "In particular I thought Jordan
Melochick did a good job on (Duffy). Their point guard is very good, averaging about 14 points and over eight assists a game.
I thought Jordan really did a great job on him along with Ty Painter." Pottsville
also kept 6-5 center Phil Madden and 6-4 forward Nick Cerruti in check as well. "I
think our defense in the first half, we played fairly well," Nabholz said. "I think that got us going more offensively.
It definitely helped out with the pace of the game and that kind of stuff." The
Crimson Tide used a 14-0 run that started with a free throw by Nabholz at the 1:21 mark of the second and finished with a
Melochick 3-pointer with 4:43 left in the third to bury the Lions. From there,
the Tide controlled the clock to secure the program's first state playoff win since 1974. "It's taking that next step as a program," Mullaney said. "We'd love to be recognized on a state level,
and this is definitely a step in the right direction. "This has been a great
group to be around," Mullaney added. "They're all close friends, which makes it that much better. We're excited
for the next challenge. We know Tuesday's going to be difficult whether it's Susquehanna Township or Imhotep - they're both
very talented teams. We're going to approach it the same way and hopefully get a win on Tuesday."
Pottsville (58) Hinchliffe 1 0-0 2, 3 0-0 8, Blankenhorn
7 2-2 18, Toomey 0 0-0 0, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Melochick 2 0-0 5, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Witman 0 0-0 0, Nabholz 9 6-8 25, Coyle 0 0-0
0, Hampford 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 8-10 (58) Lower Moreland (38) Cerutti 3 2-2 9, Titus 1 0-0 2, Turelsky 0 0-0 0, Zaubroulis 5 4-4 14, Madden 2
0-0 4, Duffy 2 0-0 4, Fazio 0 0-0 0, Millian 0 0-0 0, Rhoades 0 0-0 0, Cerutti 2 1-2 5, Smelda 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 7-8 (38) 3 Point FG's: Cerutti, Painter 2, Blankenhorn 2, Melochick, Nabholz
ACC rolls past Tide in AAA final by kevin keating (correspondent kkeating@republicanherald.com) Published: February 28, 2014 Abdur-Rahkman played every bit like the Division I basketball player that he has the offers and potential to become. The 6-foot-4 senior knocked down a pair of 3-pointers from the top of the key to kick start the unbeaten Vikings,
who dominated the Crimson Tide on their way to a fourth straight district title with a 64-34 victory at Bethlehem Freedom's
Joseph McIntyre Gym. Abdur-Rahkman finished with a game-high 34 points, increasing
his career total to 2,052 points to pass Billy McCaffrey as the Vikings' all-time leading scorer. Both teams advance to the PIAA Class AAA state playoffs, which begin March 7. ACC (27-0) meets District 3 sixth-place
West York, while Pottsville (23-5) will await the loser of today's District 1 final between Holy Ghost Prep and Lower Moreland. Pottsville, one of the top defensive teams in the Schuylkill League, had no answer for Abdur-Rahkman, who scored
from beyond the arc, inside the paint and added a two-handed flush on a breakaway following a steal in the second quarter
that brought the crowd to its feet. It wasn't a case of the Tide giving up what
they could to Abdur-Rahkman and trying to lock down the rest of the Vikes. "I
wish that was the case," Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said. "We were actually trying to ... we actually sunk and
were supposed to be helping every time he caught the ball. I don't think we did a great job of that. But at times, he's that
good that it doesn't matter if you're helping or not. He can play. He can score." In reality, Abdur-Rahkman had plenty of help from his mates, especially from the perimeter, as ACC bagged 10-of-20
3-point attempts. Zay Jennings hit three triples, Brian McCarthy added two, Ben
Pratt drilled one and Abdur-Rahkman knocked down four. Pottsville was able to
limit 6-8 center Brendan Wagner to just 10 points, and 6-5 forward Jean Lee Baez left the game with an injury in the first
half. However, Wagner contributed 14 rebounds as the Vikings outrebounded the Tide 35-16. "I always think playing a team like that is going to help you moving forward," Mullaney said. "I can't
think of too many positives. "I think as far as us defending in the post,
we did what we wanted to do," he continued. "You're always going to give up something against a team of that caliber.
We though we'd give up some outside shooting. Unfortunately, they made everything." Travis Blankenhorn led Pottsville offensively with 16 points, while Eli Nabholz added 10. Nabholz had the Tide's
only two 3-pointers as Pottsville went 2-of-13 from beyond the arc and finished 13-of-43 from the field. Fortunately, it's not the end of the road for Pottsville. Mullaney and his staff rallied their troops in the locker
room with the intention of refocusing the Tide for next week's game, which could land at Blue Mountain's gym. "We were just talking about that with our guys. We'll get a game at Blue Mountain next Friday," Mullaney
said. "A game that, if we play our game, we could get a victory. We've just got to come back, refocus and get ready for
next week." Pottsville
(34) Hinchliffe 0 0-2 0, Painter 1 0-0 2, Blankenhorn 7 2-2 16, Toomey 1 0-0 2, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Melochick 1 2-4 4, Shuman
0 0-0 0, Witman 0 0-0 0, Nabholz 3 2-4 10, Hampford 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 6-10 (34) Allentown Central Catholic (64) Baez 0 0-0 0, Maley 0 0-0 0, Vaughan 0 0-0 0, Abdul-Rahkaman 14 2-3 34, Pratt 1 0-0
3, McCarthy 2 0-0 6, Kohli 1 0-0 2, Guensch 0 0-0 0, Shephard 0 0-0 0, McKee 0 0-0 0, Stevens 0 0-0 0, Nosovitch 0 0-0 0,
Wagner 5 0-0 10, Jennings 3 0-0 9. Totals 26 2-3 (64) Pottsville (23-5) 7 8 10
9 --- (34) Allentown CC (27-0) 15 16 17
16 --- (64) 3-point Fg's:
Nabholz 2, Abdul-Rahkman 4, Pratt, McCarthy 2, Jennings 3
District XI - CLASS AAA
First round
Tuesday,
Feb. 18
Saucon Valley 72, Northern Lehigh 39
Wednesday, Feb. 19
Lehighton 85, Tamaqua 59
Quarterfinals
Friday, Feb. 21
Allentown C.C. 80, Saucon Valley 52
Bethlehem Catholic
73, Salisbury 66
Blue Mountain 67, Southern Lehigh 51
Pottsville 69, Lehighton 33
Tuesday’s scores
Semifinals
ACC
81, Bethlehem Catholic 68
Pottsville 56, Blue Mountain 42
Friday, Feb. 28
Championship
No. 2 Pottsville (23-4) vs. No. 1 Allentown Central
Catholic (26-0), Freedom High School, 7 p.m.
Consolation
No. 3 Blue Mountain (20-6) vs. No. 5 Bethlehem Catholic (12-13), Martz Hall, 4:30 p.m.
By Mike
Carnahan Herald Sports Writer Following
Pottsville’s 56-42 victory over Blue Mountain in the District 11 Class AAA semifinal Tuesday, coach Dave Mullaney talked
a little bit about the Crimson Tide getting to their first championship game since 2010.
“We had some inexperienced
guys (at the start of the season) but we knew we had some pretty good athletes,” he said. “At the beginning of
the year we talked about having three (Travis Blankenhorn, Eli Nabholz, Jordan Melochick) we thought who would be consistent
scorers and to find some other guys and those other guys are stepping up.”
One has been Connor Hinchliffe. The
other has been Ty Painter.
Painter might never be the offensive
threat Blankenhorn, Nabholz, Melochick, all of whom are averaging in double figures, and, to a lesser extent, Hinchliffe have
become. But Painter has certainly improved as the season has gone on.
For starters, he appears to be gaining more confidence
offensively and is taking more shots than he did earlier in the year.
He scored six points Tuesday. He drove to the
hoop twice early in the game, missing his first shot inside but scoring on the second. He was fouled in the process and hit
the free throw for a three-point play, giving the Crimson Tide the lead for good at 4-3 5 minutes into the game. Painter added
a 3-pointer early in the third quarter, one of the seven 3s Pottsville hit in the game, on a kick-out pass from underneath
by Nabholz. The Crimson Tide led at that point 35-23.
“Ty can shoot the ball, we all know that,” Nabholz
said. “We all have confidence in him and now he has confidence in himself that he can step up and shoot. It opens up
a lot of other things for other people.”
Painter added three assists and also came up with two other key plays.
Pottsville turned the ball on its first possession on a steal by the Eagles’ Kyle Slane, who appeared to be headed
in for a layup. But Painter got back on defense and blocked the attempt.
Then in the fourth quarter with Blue Mountain
attempting to get back in the game with full-court pressure, Painter looked to be trapped in a double team near the half-court
line. But he somehow got the ball to the other side of the court to Blankenhorn, who then drove to the hoop on scored. It
gave Pottsville a 53-40 advantage with 2:34 left in the game.
Balance attack, early 3-pointers lift Crimson Tide past Blue Mountainby mike carnahan (staff writer mcarnahan@republicanherald.com) Published: February 25, 2014 MINERSVILLE - The ability to knock down 3-pointers has been a big part of Pottsville's offense this season. That certainly has been the case when the Crimson Tide have faced rival Blue Mountain. Tuesday was no different. Four first-half 3-pointers helped
No. 2-seeded Pottsville build an early lead it never lost in a 56-42 victory over the No. 3 Eagles in a District 11 Class
AAA semifinal at Thomas Fitzpatrick Gymnasium. Eli Nabholz paced a balanced offensive
attack with a game-high 16 points for Pottsville (23-4), which advances to the district game for the first time since 2010.
The Crimson Tide face undefeated Allentown Central Catholic in Friday's title game at 7 p.m. at Bethlehem Freedom The top-seeded Vikings (26-0), who are currently No. 3 in the state in Class AAA in the most recent PennLive.com
rankings, beat No. 5 Bethlehem Catholic 81-68 in Tuesday's other semifinal. The
victory also means Pottsville is headed to the PIAA Tournament for the first time since 2011, when the Tide qualified in Class
AAAA after beating Pocono Mountain West in the consolation game. "It is
absolutely an amazing feeling, especially after the last two years not being able to," Nabholz said. "We're in the
running to obtain two of our goals this year, which is win a district championship and make a run in the state playoffs. We
are on course." Will Bornstein had 14 points to lead the Eagles (20-6),
who will take on Bethlehem Catholic (12-13) in Friday's consolation game at 4:30 p.m. at Martz Hall, with the winner heading
to states. Tuesday was the fourth meeting between the Crimson Tide and Blue
Mountain this season, with Pottsville winning two of the three, including a 51-42 victory in the Schuylkill League Division
I tiebreaker Feb. 8. In its previous two wins over Blue Mountain, Pottsville
hit a combined 14 3-pointers. In its lone loss to the Eagles, 51-33 on Jan. 27, it had three. The Crimson Tide finished the night 7-for-12 (58 percent) from beyond the arc Tuesday. The 3s opened up the
right of the Crimson Tide's offense as they ended up shooting 19-for-32 (59 percent) from the floor on the night, including
an 11-for-13 (85 percent) performance in the second half. What made Pottsville
even more dangerous was that all five starters hit at least one 3. Connor Hinchliffe and Travis Blankenhorn had two apiece,
while Ty Painter, Jordan Melochick and Nabholz each had one. Blankenhorn and
Melochick each finished with 13 points. "I think just having five guys on
the court that are comfortable shooting the ball, it just fits into our offense," Nabholz said. "If that is how
the game ends up starting and gets us off and running, it is a good thing for us." Pottsville
knocked down three 3s in the first quarter, while Painter added a three-point play, to build a 13-8 lead after eight minutes.
A bucket inside and a 3-pointer from Nabholz, followed by a foul-line jumper from Hinchliffe after he pumped-faked a defender
into the air and moved for a more open shot, got the Crimson Tide out to a 20-10 advantage with 4:59 left in the first half. "We don't really talk about that, but obviously we just keep preaching the same thing: We want to try
and get as many inside outs as we can," Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said of the first-half 3s. "We want to get
the ball, post touches on drives and if that resulted in a 3, then that's great." Nabholz
scored all of his points during the second and third quarters, including a buzzer-beating tip-in off a missed shot at the
first-half buzzer to make it 24-19. Pottsville then opened the second half on
an 18-4 run to go up 42-23 with 2:03 left in the third quarter. Blue Mountain
tied to crawl back in the game in the fourth, getting to within nine points twice, the final at 49-40 after two foul shots
by Skyler Panchari at 3:40. But that was as close as the Eagles got. Pottsville pushed the lead back to double digits on spin
move by Melochick and layup from Blankenhorn. The Crimson Tide's defense played
a big role in Tuesday's win, too. Pottsville controlled the tempo and took away the Eagles' transition game. Blue Mountain's
only transition points came from Kyle Slane in the fourth quarter. "The
tempo of the game was in our favor absolutely," Mullaney said. "That is all we preach. If we can hold them down
in transition, we have a good chance to win." Pottsville (56)
Hinchliffe 3 0-1 8, Painter 2 1-1 6, Blankenhorn 5 1-3 13, Toomey 0 0-0 0, Melochick 3 6-7 13, Nabholz 6 3-3 16. Totals 19
11-16 (56) Blue Mountain (42) Stramara 0 0-0 0, Bornstein 5 3-4 14, Kerstetter
0 0-0 0, Harding 0 0-0 0, Slane 2 0-0 5, Grapsy 3 0-0 8, Chelius 3 0-2 6, Panchari 3 3-4 9. Totals 16 6-10 (42) Pottsville (23-4) 13
11 20 12 (56) Blue Mountain (20-6)
8 11 9 14 (42) 3-Point
FG's: Borstein, Slane, Grapsy 2, Painter, Blankenhorn 2, Melochick, Nabholz
-----------------------------Class
AAA---------------------------- | Tues Feb 18 | Fri Feb 21 | Tues Feb 25 | Fri Feb 28 |
| | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
1 Allentown Central Catholic | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | @Allen 7:30 |
1 Allentown Central Catholic 80 - 52
| | | | 8 Saucon Valley | | | | | | | 8 Saucon Valley 72 - 39 | | | | | @7:00 | | | | | | 9 Northern Lehigh | | | | | | | | @Allen 7:30 | 1
Allentown Central Catholic 81- 68 | | | | | | | | | | 4 Salisbury | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | @Allen 6:00 | 5 Bethlehem Catholic 73-66 | | | | | | | | | | | 5 Bethlehem Catholic | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | @ Freedom 7:00 | | | | | | | | | | 2 Pottsville | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | @ Blue Mt 7:30 | 2 Pottsville 69 - 33 | | | | 7 Lehighton | | | | | | Wed Feb 19 | 7 Lehighton 85 - 59 | | | | | @7:00 | | | | | | 10 Tamaqua | | | | | | | | @ Minersville 7:00 | 2 Pottsville 56 - 42
| | | | | | | | | |
3 Blue Mt | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | @ Martz Hall 7:30 | 3 Blue Mt 67 - 51 | | | | | | | | | | | 6 Southern Lehigh | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 5 Bethlehem Catholic | | | |
| | @ Martz Hall 4:30 | 3rd place | | 3 Blue Mt | |
Crimson Tide throttle Lehighton by
kevin keating (correspondent kkeating@republicanherald.com) Published: February 21, 2014 ORWIGSBURG - Pottsville has earned a reputation as one of the best defensive teams in
the Schuylkill League during head coach Dave Mullaney's seven-year tenure. As usual, the Crimson
Tide defense was clicking on all cylinders against Lehighton during Friday's District 11 Class AAA boys' basketball quarterfinal
at Blue Mountain High School. However, rhythm with which Pottsville executed its offense may have
overshadowed even the best of defensive nights. Hitting backdoor cuts, working inside-out and
knocking down open jumpers, the Crimson Tide buried Lehighton 69-33 to advance to Tuesday night's semifinals. In the semis, second-seeded Pottsville (22-4) will meet archrival Blue Mountain for the fourth time this season after
the No. 3 Eagles defeated Southern Lehigh 67-51 in another quarterfinal. How effective was the
Tide's offense? Pottsville recorded assists on 19 of its 26 field goals in the contest, shot 26-of-43
(.605) from the floor and knocked down 9-of-16 3-pointers (.563). "That's great to hear,"
Mullaney said of the assists. "We've really been trying to focus on working inside-out, whether that's with a post entry
or a dribble drive. I think our guys responded pretty well tonight." Every Pottsville starter
found the scoring column, with Travis Blankenhorn leading the way with a game-high 20 points. Jordan
Melochick added a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, and 6-foot-5 center Eli Nabholz tallied 16 points, seven boards
and four assists. "Offensively, I felt like we were in a great groove," Blankenhorn
said. "We were making our shots and it was just going well." There was no rest on the
defensive end for the Tide. Lehighton (14-11) scored 85 points in its first-round victory over
Tamaqua on Wednesday, with Jordan Knappenberger dropping 39 points and hitting nine triples. Blankenhorn
and Melochick locked down on Knappenberger and Tyler Crum, limiting the duo to just eight total points on 3-of-17 shooting.
The Indians went just 13-of-43 from the floor and 4-of-16 from beyond the arc. "(Knappenberger
is) a great shooter. Crum is a great shooter, too," Mullaney said. "Melochick and Blankenhorn just did an outstanding
job on them all night. They didn't get many breaks, either. They had a great defensive game, as well as the rest of our team
as a whole." Added Blankenhorn: "Defensive part, we were definitely prepared for everything
they were going to do. The coaches had us well prepared and the plays that we needed to stop." Pottsville
was aided by a strong start on both ends of the floor. The Tide got their entire starting lineup
in on the action in the first quarter with Melochick, Blankenhorn and Connor Hinchliffe knocking down 3s, Nabholz scoring
in the paint and Painter running the show and assisting on two buckets. A 19-5 first-quarter lead set the tone for the rest
of the night. "I think it's important against them because they'll play so many different
defenses," Mullaney said. "They'll try to play different zones. I think by getting up, even when they were sagging
off some of our guys, we were comfortable the entire game. I think we handled it well. I think that was due to the good early
start." Pottsville added to its lead in the second, taking a 33-17 edge into halftime, and
continued to build with a few putbacks by Nabholz near the end of the third for a 52-27 lead. Next
up for the Tide is another matchup with Division I rival Blue Mountain. "They're a very good
team, very talented, well coached," Mullaney said. "We know each other so well that we take away each other's strengths.
At times when it's between us, it's an ugly game. I think it'll be another tight one Tuesday."
Mahanoy Area captures Schuylkill League boys' crown
by mike carnahan
(staff writer mcarnahan@republicanherald.com) Published: February 14, 2014 Dylan Mahmod turned in one of his best offensive games of the season to help Mahanoy Area build a big
lead. Then Mahmod and teammate Larry McNeil made two of the biggest defense plays of night with under 10 seconds to
go. After walking off the Martz Hall floor disappointed last year, the Golden Bears didn't want to leave it Friday night. Mahmod
poured in a game-high 21 points, and Mahanoy Area's defense came up big late to lift the Golden Bears to a thrilling 45-44
victory over Pottsville in the Schuylkill League boys' basketball championship game. After the Crimson Tide won last
year's title game over Mahanoy Area 35-21, Friday's victory by the Golden Bears (22-2) denied Pottsville (21-4) its fifth
consecutive league championship. The league title was the first for Mahanoy Area since 2006, and the program's seventh
overall. "Honestly, there is no better feeling than this," Mahmod said as he clutched the championship trophy.
"Coming in here, knowing that they are four-time, back-to-back-to-back-to-back champs, it just feels amazing. We felt
that everybody was against us. That's how we like it, I guess, that why we like it. We like being the underdogs." McNeil
added 11 points and three steals for Mahanoy Area, which built a 27-12 advantage midway through the third quarter, led 29-17
at the end of the third and had a 40-25 cushion with 2:26 remaining. But Pottsville turned up the pressure defensively,
started hitting shots and turned the rout into a thriller. The Crimson Tide tied the game at 44 with 11 seconds left when
John Toomey spotted Eli Nabholz open underneath for a layup. Mahmod gave the Golden Bears the lead for good, hitting
the second of two foul shots in a double-bonus situation with 8.9 seconds left. Mahanoy Area was 6-for-13 from the
foul line in the fourth quarter, but finally sealed the victory with its defense. Trailing by one point, Pottsville
had a chance for victory. Blankenhorn dribbled up the court and drove to the basket, but Mahmod swatted his shot out of bounds
with 3.7 seconds to go. After a Mahanoy Area timeout, Pottsville attempted to get the ball into Blankenhorn underneath.
But McNeil got his hands up to steal the ball, and then was fouled with 1.5 seconds remaining. He missed both ends of
the double bonus, but all Pottsville could get was a heave down court by Nabholz that fell short as the Bears' celebration
began. "I knew the ball was going to Blankenhorn," said McNeil, who gave credit to assistant coaches Robert
Killian and Scott Hudson for scouting what was coming. "He's a great scorer and a great player. I knew the ball was going
to him. I was like 'Just play defense, play my butt off for these last seconds and get this win.' They lobbed it and I was
in the right spot at the right time." After the Golden Bears were awarded their medals, the student section sang
the alma mater to them. Then the players went up into stands to celebrate with the fans. "To come out of this with
a 'W,' I am on cloud nine," Mahanoy Area coach Mickey Holland said. Mahmod scored 15 of his points over the first
three quarters, including seven in a 10-0 Golden Bears' run to open the third quarter. Mahmod opened the third with
a 3-pointer from the wing, then used a pump fake to get his defender up in the air and drive in for a layup. After McNeil
hit a 3 on a cross-court pass from Jason Richmond, Mahmod scored on a hard drive down the lane. He missed the foul shot to
complete the three-point play, but the Golden Bears had their biggest lead of the night up to that point at 27-12 with 3:23
left in the third. "Basically, I didn't think about it," Mahmod said. "The main thing coming in here,
we weren't even thinking about offense, we just knew we had the confidence to score. We just had to play good solid defense." Travis
Blankenhorn led Pottsville with 15 points, while Jordan Melochick and Nabholz added 13 apiece. Nabholz scored 10 of his points
in the fourth quarter and Melochick nine as Pottsville hit 10-of-17 from floor in the fourth after going 7-for-30 over the
first three. The win was extra special for McNeil, who missed last year's championship game with a broken wrist. He
returned for the Golden Bears' District 11 Class A championship run. "It is greatest feeling," McNeil said.
"To come back and play this year, playing through this and help us win this, it is just amazing." Game Summary Pottsville
(44) Hinchliffe 0 0-0 0, Painter 1 0-0 3, Blankenhorn 6 2-2 15, Toomey 0 0-0 0, Melochick 5 2-3 13, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Nabholz
5 0-0 13: Totals 17 4-5 (44) Mahanoy Area (45) Richmond, McNeil 3 4-9 11, Mahmod 7 4-8 21, Miller 1 0-0 2, Cavenas 0
1-2 1, Kuzma 3 0-0 6: Totals 16 9-19 (45) Mahanoy (22-2) 9 8 12 16
(45) Pottsville (21-4) 7 5 5 27 (44) 3
Point FG's: McNeil, Mahmod 3, Painter, Blankenhorn, Melochick, Nabholz 3 Pottsville shoots for 5th straight title in rematch vs. Golden Bearsby mike carnahan (staff writer mcarnahan@republicanherald.com) Published:
February 14, 2014
andy matsko/staff photo Pottsville's Travis Blankenhorn leads his team
in scoring at 18.7 points per game. As a result, he will be a focal point of the Mahanoy Area defense during tonight's Schuylkill
League title game.
Here we go again. For the second time in the
past five years, and just the third time since 1985, there is a rematch for the Schuylkill League boys' basketball championship. This
time, Division I champ Pottsville (21-3) is taking on Division III champ Mahanoy Area (21-2) again in tonight's title game
at 7:30 at Martz Hall. The Crimson Tide are going for their fifth consecutive league championship, winning last year
over the Golden Bears 35-21. Pottsville also beat Pine Grove in both 2011 and 2012. The other rematch championship
game was in 1997, with Shamokin beating Schuylkill Haven after winning the year before. Pottsville downed Williams Valley
56-30 in Tuesday's semifinal, while Mahanoy Area beat Blue Mountain 49-35. The Golden Bears haven't won a league title since
2006, beating Schuylkill Haven, and are the last "small school" team in the league to win a championship. There
are plenty of similarities between the teams: - Both have played plenty of basketball during the offseason, no doubt
helping both get to this point; - Both have averaged around the same amount of points per game, with the Golden Bears
at 58.2 points per game and the Crimson Tide at 55.2; - To that end, both are balanced offensively, too, as each has
three players averaging double figures in scoring; - Both are also known for their defense. Mahanoy Area has allowed
32.7 points per game and Pottsville 35.7, ranking them first and second in the league. For Mickey Holland, who currently
has 610 career wins in his 33 years as Golden Bears' coach, he believes containing Pottsville means containing junior guard
Travis Blankenhorn, who has emerged as the Crimson Tide's leading scorer. He finished the regular season second in the league
in scoring behind Nativity's Jeff Yordy and enters tonight averaging 18.7 points per game, including 52 3-pointers. "Blankenhorn
is a major concern," Holland said. "He is probably overall the best player in the league. But then you have to take
into consideration the other weapons they have and balance everything up." Junior center Eli Nabholz is averaging
11.8 points per game for Pottsville, while sophomore forward Jordan Melochick is at 10.0. Senior guard Dylan Mahmod
leads the Golden Bears at 13.1 points per game, followed by senior guard Larry McNeil (11.8) and senior center Tyler Cavenas
(11.0). Mahanoy Area has also hit 160 3-pointers as a team this season, with McNeil (42), Mahmod and junior point guard Jason
Richmond (31) leading the way. "I think the way they position themselves on the offensive end," Pottsville
coach Dave Mullaney said on what concerns him the most. "They really spread you out. They obviously have Cavenas in the
middle, which we have to give a lot of attention to. At the same time, while you are providing your attention in there, they
have very capable 3-point shooters and that makes it really difficult." Holland believes winning tonight is going
to come down to the basics and isn't making any changes to what the Golden Bears have done all season. "All the
tweaks and stuff that you make, it makes a difference and they make a huge difference, but not as big a difference as the
fundamentals you go over with your guys year in and year out," he said. "They are going to run some stuff that is
going make that harder and harder to do. But if you stay solid, stay solid, stay solid, you are going to stay true to yourself
and not try and go and make huge wholesale changes all over the place." Mullaney isn't expecting a repeat of last
year's title game when the Crimson Tide jumped out to a 23-9 halftime lead, forcing 14 first-half turnovers. "It
is going to be a tight game," he said. "I really believe it is going to be a close game and it might come down to
more things like turnovers and rebounding. "They are too talented. They are not going to have 21 points, I can
tell you that." A victory tonight would benefit Pottsville much more than Mahanoy Area in seeding for the District
11 playoffs. The Crimson Tide are currently No. 2 in the Class AAA behind Allentown Central Catholic (23-0) and if the Crimson
Tide win tonight and the Vikings lose to Parkland in Saturday's Lehigh Valley Conference title game, Pottsville would move
up to No. 1. The Golden Bears have locked up the No. 1 seed in the Class A playoffs.
Crimson Tide Rolls To Easy Win Over Jim Thorpe The Crimson Tide rolled to a 62-22 victory over Jim Thorpe. The Tide was lead by The "Big Easy"
Eli Nabholz's 21 points and Travis "Money" Blankenhorn's 17 points. The Tide jumped out to a 46-7 half time lead.
The Tide then pushed it to a 57 - 18 score after three periods. The Tide's Travis" Money" Blankenhorn needs 21 points
to reach the 1000 points scored for his career. Hopely, he will reach that in the one game playoff against Blue Mountain on
Saturday For The Division I Title Game. Pottsville
(62) Hinchliffe 2 0-1 4, Jackson 0 0-0 0, Painter 1 0-0 3, Blankenhorn 6 5-6 17, Toomey 2 0-0 4, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Melochick
3 0-2 6, Shuman 1 0-0 2, Witman 0 0-0 0, Nabholtz 8 5-5 21, Coyle 1 0-0 3, Hampford 1 0-0 2: Totals 25 10-14 (62) Jim Thorpe (22) Carroll 1 0-0 3, Miechiche 3 3-4 11, Micciche 2 0-0
6, McElmoyle 1 0-0 2: Totals 7 3-4 (22) Pottsville(19
-3, 11-1) 22 24 11 5 (62) Jim Thorpe (1-11) 2 5
11 4 (22) 3 Point FG's:
Carroll, Miechiehe 2, Micciche 2, Painter, Coyle
Crimson Tide Pounds The Panthers The Crimson Tide pounded Panther Valley by the score of 60-20 at Martz
Hall. The Tide's well rounded night was led by Travis "Money" Blankenhorn's 15 points, followed by the "Big
Easy" Eli Nabholz's 11 points. All of the team played tonight on Senior Night, The Tide's Two Seniors are John
Toomey and Damarr Jackson, who played their last Schuylkill League Regular Season game at Martz Hall. Ty Painter added two
3 pointers and scored a total of eight points in his best shooting night. The Tide at one point went on a 35 point scoring
streak to put the game away. The Tide will travel to Jim Thorpe on Thursday night to close out the regular season. Pottsville (60) Hinchliffe 3 0-0 6, Jackson 0 0-0 0, Painter 3 0-0
8, Blankenhorn 6 2-2 15, Toomey 2 0-0 4, Dunkel 1 0-0 2, Melochick 3 0-1 6, Shuman 2 1-2 6, Witman 0 0-0 0, Nabholz 3 5-6
11, Coyle 0 0-0 0, Hampford 1 0-0 2: Totals 24 8-11 (60) Panther Valley (20) Szcercina 2 3-3 8,Stano 0 1-2 1,Hudicka 1 0-0 2, Ferryman 1 2-2 4, Vermillion 1 0-0 2, Weng 1
0-0 3: Totals 6 6-7 (20) Pottsville (18-3, 10-1)
21 21 13 5 (60) Panther
Valley (10-11, 4-7) 7 0 6 7 (20) 3 Point Fg's: Szczecina, Weng, Painter 2, Blankenhorn, Shuman
| Rank | School | W | L | T | | 1 | Allentown
Central Catholic | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0.857447 | | 2 | Pottsville
Area | 18 | 3 | 0 | 0.753737 | | 3 | Blue Mountain | 18 | 2 | 0 | 0.725839 | | 4 | Salisbury Township | 15 | 6 | 0 | 0.683412 | | 5 | Bethlehem
Catholic | 10 | 9 | 0 | 0.643898 | | 6 | Southern Lehigh | 13 | 8 | 0 | 0.603588 | | 7 | Saucon Valley | 12 | 9 | 0 | 0.593595 | | 8 | Lehighton
Area | 11 | 9 | 0 | 0.589456 | | 9 | Northern Lehigh | 12 | 9 | 0 | 0.572446 | | 10 | Tamaqua Area | 11 | 8 | 0 | 0.542849 | | 11 | Wilson
Area | 9 | 12 | 0 | 0.479102 | | 12 | Panther Valley | 10 | 11 | 0 | 0.453320 | | 13 | Palisades
| 6 | 14 | 0 | 0.395339 | | 14 | Northwestern Lehigh | 5 | 15 | 0 | 0.352732 | | 15 | Palmerton
Area | 2 | 18 | 0 | 0.288563 | | 16 | Jim Thorpe Area | 2 | 18 | 0 | 0.269075 |
Plenty of intrigue on tap in final weekPublished: February 3, 2014 Thanks to one of my worst colds in recent memory,
last week was one I would like to forget. But it was an exciting week of boys' basketball in the Schuylkill League. Consider: -
Blue Mountain beat Pottsville 51-33 on Monday, ending the Crimson Tide's 51-game division winning streak, as well as snapping
the Eagles' 11-game losing skid against Pottsville. Blue Mountain finished the week with three more victories, giving it 12
straight. The Eagles are the hottest team in the league right now; - Nativity junior Jeff Yordy reached 1,000 points
for his career Monday after scoring 37 during a 79-49 victory over Weatherly; - Lourdes earned its 1,000th win in program
history after a 48-22 victory over Schuylkill Haven on Thursday; - In front a playoff-type atmosphere, North Schuylkill
downed Mahanoy Area 62-61 in a thriller Friday in Fountain Springs. It was just the Golden Bears' second loss of the season
and the most points they have allowed all season. The events of the past week show what was perhaps expected at the
beginning of the season - such as a Pottsville-Mahanoy Area rematch for the league title - is no longer a sure thing. It's
still possible the two could meet for the championship at Martz Hall, but they could also meet in the semifinals. While
all three champs have been crowned for the Schuylkill League girls - the only spot to be decided is the Division I wild card
- nothing has been decided on the boys' side. And what transpired last week brings plenty of intrigue for the final week of
the regular season. Let's start in Division I. After the Eagles' win last Monday, the potential was there for
three-way tie for first for the division title among Blue Mountain, Pottsville and North Schuylkill. But the picture is much
clearer now. Blue Mountain (18-2, 10-1 D-I) and Pottsville (17-3, 9-1) have both qualified for the league playoffs.
The Spartans (13-5, 7-3) were eliminated with their loss to Pottsville on Wednesday and Blue Mountain's victory over Jim Thorpe
on Thursday. The Spartans and Pottsville could finish with the same division record but the Crimson Tide hold the tiebreaker
with their season-series sweep. So the question is, how will Blue Mountain and Pottsville finish? The Crimson
Tide host Panther Valley today and travel to Jim Thorpe on Thursday, while the Eagles host North Schuylkill in their league
finale Thursday. If Pottsville wins both its games, and Blue Mountain downs the Spartans, the two will finish tied for first
and a tiebreaker playoff will be necessary after the Crimson Tide won the earlier-season meeting Jan. 4. If a tiebreaker
game is needed, it is scheduled for Saturday, with Minersville a likely, although not certain, site. However, if Pottsville
wins both its games, and the Eagles lose Thursday, the Crimson Tide will be the division champs and Blue Mountain the wild
card. The Division II and III races are much simpler. The division leaders control their destinies and both need one
more victory to clinch their spots in the league playoffs. Williams Valley (15-2, 9-2) holds a half-game lead over Minersville
(14-7, 9-3) and also won both of the regular-season meetings between the two. If the Vikings beat either Schuylkill Haven
tonight or Lourdes on Thursday, they will be the division champs. If Williams Valley loses both, and Minersville beats Schuylkill
Haven Thursday, the Miners will win the division. Mahanoy Area (18-2, 11-0) holds a 1.5-game lead over Nativity (15-4,
10-2) in Division III and won the first regular-season meeting Jan. 8. The Golden Bears will win the division if they beat
either Marian tonight or Nativity on Thursday. If Mahanoy Area loses both, which means the Hilltoppers win Thursday, then
the two will be tied for the first and tiebreaker game will be necessary. The Schuylkill League boys' semifinals will
be at Martz Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 11, at 6 and 7:30 p.m. The Division I champ will play the division champ with the lesser
league record, while the champion with the best record will play the wild card. The championship game is Friday, Feb.
14, at 7:30 p.m. Lots to look forward to in districts, too This is, of course, the final week for teams to qualify
for the District 11, 4 and 3 playoffs. As of today, eight teams from the Schuylkill League have clinched spots for the
District 11 playoffs: Blue Mountain (Class AAA), Mahanoy Area (Class A), Minersville (Class AA), Nativity (Class A), North
Schuylkill (Class AA), Pottsville (Class AAA), Tamaqua (Class AAA) and Williams Valley (Class AA). There are three
teams still in the running for District 11 playoff spots: - Panther Valley (10-10) needs to beat either Pottsville today
or Tamaqua on Thursday to get into the Class AAA field; - Tri-Valley (8-11) needs to win all three of its final three
games to qualify in Class A. The Bulldogs finish at Lourdes today, host Halifax on Friday and travel to Carson Long next Monday; -
Marian (8-11, 6-5 D-III) needs to beat either Mahanoy Area today or Weatherly on Thursday to finish above .500 in the division
and qualify in Class A. In District 4, Lourdes (10-9) needs one win in its final three games to get into the Class A
field. After Tri-Valley today and Williams Valley on Thursday, the Red Raiders host Gillingham Charter next Monday. In
District 3, Upper Dauphin (10-10) is currently No. 8 in the Class AA power rankings. The Trojans host Lancaster Country Day
on Tuesday and travel to Juniata on Thursday. The top 10 teams qualify for the playoffs. Stats return With my
cold last week, I wasn't able to put together updated stats. But they are back this week on Page 16. The most recent District
11 rankings are on Page 16, too. (Carnahan is the boys' basketball beat writer for the Republican-Herald. Follow the
season on his blog at blogs.republicanherald.com/ac.) Power poll Through Feb. 1 W-L Pv. 1. Blue Mountain
18-2 3 2. Pottsville 17-3 2 3. North Schuylkill 14-5 4 4. Mahanoy Area 18-2 1 5. Williams
Valley 16-3 7 6. Nativity 15-4 6 7. Minersville 14-7 5 8. Tamaqua 11-8 8 9. Panther Valley
10-10 9 10. Marian 8-11 10 - Complied by Mike Carnahan
By Mike Carnahan, Republican-Herald Sports Writer
It wasn’t exactly the type of bounce-back
game that Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney was expecting.
Still, a game-high 24 points from junior Travis Blankenhorn,
as well as a big second quarter, were enough to lift the Crimson Tide to a 55-39 victory over North Schuylkill in a Schuylkill
League Division I contest Wednesday at Martz Hall.
“We are happy that we won but we are not very good right now,”
Mullaney said.  Pottsville's Travis Blankenhorn drives to the basket as North Schuylkill's Bobby Grigas (15) and
Matt Manbeck (12) defend during Wednesday's Schuylkill League Division I contest at Martz Hall. (Jacqueline Dormer/Republican-Herald
Photo) Pottsville (17-3, 9-1 D-I) was coming off a 51-33 loss to Blue Mountain on Monday, snapping its 51-game
division winning streak that dated to 2010. That loss makes every game a must win for the Crimson Tide in order to force a
potential one-game playoff for the division title with the Eagles and to get the opportunity to go for their fifth consecutive
league title.
That was a message Mullaney was trying to get across to the Crimson Tide in his talk between the first
and second quarters Wednesday. Pottsville responded and outscored the Spartans (12-5, 7-3) 14-5 in the quarter, turning a
17-14 lead into a 31-19 halftime advantage.
“We could have played a lot better than we did (in the first quarter),”
Blankenhorn said. “I just felt we came together as a team. We just played our hearts out.”
Blankenhorn grabbed 11 rebounds to complete a double-double. He also had four assists. Eli Nabholz added 12 points, five rebounds
and three blocks for Pottsville, which won the earlier season meeting against the Spartans 55-44 on Janaury 8, while Ty Painter
had four assists. Matt Manbeck had 10 points and seven rebounds to lead the Spartans, while Major Jordon
added nine points and five boards. The loss, all but ended North Schuylkill's hopes for for a chance at a three way tie for
the Division Title with Pottsville and Blue Mountain. The Spartans still have an outside shot at earning a tie for
the division wild card, but need to win thier final two league games against Pine Grove and Blue Mountain and get some help.
"Second quarter, we didn't get back a few times, didn't point out, didn't find our guys," Curt Ziegmont said. "They
hit some shots. Offensively, we didn't make it easy on ourselves. We missed some shots inside the paint, missed our foul shots
throughout the quarters. "I'm proud of our guys. We played our hearts out. We went after them for
32 minutes, 90 some feet, forced them into some turnovers and some spots that normal teams don't do against them." The
Spartans shot 2 for 13 from the floor in the second quarter, while Pottsville was 5 for 7. Connor Hinchliffe
who had nine points in the game, opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer for the Tide. After Boby Grigas scored on a baseline
jumper for North Schuylkill, Blankenhorn hit a 3 from the top of the circle off a pick, while Nabholz hit two foul shots to
make it 25-16 at 5:05. Manbeck knocked down a 3 on the Spartans' next possesion, their final field goal
of the half as Pottsville finished on a 6-0 run. Nabholz scored on a transition lay-up from Blankenhorn, Blankenhorn scored
on another fast break lay-up off a dish from Painter. Blankenhorn then scored on a drive with 1:10 remaining, making
it 31-19. "A lot of my points come from my teammates," he said. "That definitely gets me open. I owe a lot
of credit to them." The Spartans cut the deficit to none midway through the Third quarter, but Pottsville
was able to build its lead up to 47-31 after Blankenhorn hit two key 3's later in the quarter. His first came with 1:13 remaining,
and he hit a fall-awey trey just before the buzzer. "Blankenhorn is a stud," Ziegmont said. "He is a big time
player who hit some big time shots." After shooting 12 for 37 durning Monday's loss to Blue Mountain,
Pottsville hit 20 for 33 (61 percent) on Wednesday. However, the Crimson Tide also turned the ball over 18 times against the
full-court pressure North Schuylkill used most of the game.
NOTE: In an update to the story below, if a tiebreaker game is necessary, it would be Saturday,
Feb. 8, with Minersville a possible site. By Mike Carnahan, Republican-Herald Sports Writer
Outside of a collapse, Mahanoy Area (17-1, 10-0 D-III) is well on its way to clinching the Schuylkill League Division III
title, and could do so as early as Thursday if the Golden Bears beat Weatherly (3-11, 1-9) and second-place Nativity (13-4,
9-2) is upset by Shenandoah Valley (4-15, 3-8). If both win Thursday, Mahanoy Area will clinch the division with a victory
over Marian (7-10, 6-5) on Monday.
Williams Valley (15-2, 9-2 D-II) holds a one-game lead over Minersville (13-6, 8-3)
in Division II, but the Vikings control their own destiny. They swept the season series with the Miners and will clinch the
division with a win at Schuylkill Haven (0-18, 0-10) on Monday.
That leaves Division I, which has turned into a three-team
race between Blue Mountain (16-2, 9-1), Pottsville (16-3, 8-1) and North Schuylkill (12-4, 7-2). The Eagles’ 51-33 victory
over the Crimson Tide on Monday turned the division in one where a tiebreaker, either for the title or wild-card, is highly
likely, and a three-way tie for first is also possible.
First, lets look at the remaining league schedule for the three
contenders: Tonight
North Schuylkill at Pottsville
Thursday, Jan. 30
Blue Mountain at Jim Thorpe
Monday, Feb. 3
Pine Grove at North Schuylkill
Panther Valley
at Pottsville
Thursday, Feb. 6
North Schuylkill at Blue Mountain
Pottsville at Jim Thorpe To
review, Blue Mountain and Pottsville split their league games, while the Eagles and Crimson Tide have already beaten North
Schuylkill in league games this season.
What does this mean? If both Blue Mountain and Pottsville win out, their will
be one-game playoff for the division title. According to league by-laws, it would be Monday, Feb. 10 at a site agreed upon
by both schools.
However, if North Schuylkill beats Pottsville and Blue Mountain, as well as Pine Grove, while the Eagles
and Crimson Tide win their other league games, there would be a three-way tie for first since each team split their regular-season
meetings. If that’s the case, there will be two games to break the tie. League by-laws state that those games would
be Saturday, Feb. 8, and Monday, Feb. 10. A coin flip will determine who gets the bye.
There could also tie for the
division wild-card, too.
It is certain to be an exciting, and tense, stretch run.
Tide Rolls past North Schuylkill The Crimson Tide got back to it's winning ways with a 55-39 victory over
the North Schuylkill Spartans. The Tide improves it's record to 17-3 for the season. The Tide were lead by Travis "Money"
Blankenhorn's 24 points, followed by Eli "Big Easy" Nabholz 12 points and Connor "The Hitman" Hinchliffe
9 points with Jordon "Melo" Melochick added 8 points for a well balanced game. The Tide lead 31-19 at the half and
47-31 at the end of the third quarter. The Tide will take on Panther Valley on Monday night at Martz Hall and close out the
regular season against Jim Thorpe away. If the Tide wins those two games, there will be a one game playoff against Blue Mountain
for the Division 1 Title and then on to the Schuylkill League Playoffs. Pottsville (55) Hinchliffe 3 1-2 9, Painter 0 0-0 0, Blankenhorn 6 7-8 24, Toomey 1 0-0 2, Melochick
4 0-0 8, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Nabholtz 5 2-2 12. Totals 19 10-12 (55) North Schuylkill (39) Ennis 1 1-1 3, Marlow 0 0-0 0, Hillibish 0 2-2 2, Murray 1 6-10 8, Manbeck 4 1-2 10, Grigas
3 0-2 7, Damiler 0 0-0 0, Mazeika 0 0-0 0, Jordan 3 3-6 9. Totals: 12 13-23 (39)
| Rank | School | W | L | T | | 1 | Allentown
Central Catholic | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0.858028 | | 2 | Pottsville
Area | 17 | 3 | 0 | 0.751165 | | 3 | Blue Mountain | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0.730933 | | 4 | Salisbury Township | 14 | 5 | 0 | 0.701886 | | 5 | Southern
Lehigh | 12 | 6 | 0 | 0.618623 | | 6 | Bethlehem Catholic | 8 | 9 | 0 | 0.610382 | | 7 | Lehighton
Area | 10 | 7 | 0 | 0.597211 | | 8 | Northern Lehigh | 11 | 8 | 0 | 0.580524 | | 9 | Saucon Valley | 10 | 9 | 0 | 0.565350 | | 10 | Tamaqua
Area | 10 | 8 | 0 | 0.524809 | | 11 | Wilson Area | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0.515903 | | 12 | Panther
Valley | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0.468067 | | 13 | Palisades | 5 | 12 | 0 | 0.390348 | | 14 | Northwestern
Lehigh | 4 | 14 | 0 | 0.351640 | | 15 | Palmerton Area | 1 | 16 | 0 | 0.276250 | | 16 | Jim
Thorpe Area | 2 | 16 | 0 | 0.273764 |
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| Photo Coursey Of Pottsville Republican/Dave McKeown |
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| Photo Coursey Of Pottsville Republican/Dave McKeown |
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| Photo Coursey Of Pottsville Republican/Dave McKeown |
Blue Mountain knocks off Pottsville by mike carnahan (staff writer
mcarnahan@republicanherald.com)Published: January 27, 2014
ORWIGSBURG - For Blue Mountain boys' basketball senior starters
Will Bornstein, Skyer Panchari, Kyle Slane and Shane Grapsy, this was a long time coming.It's been more than five years since the Eagles had beaten their bitter
rivals. Monday, Blue Mountain not only did it, but did so in impressive fashion.Bornstein remained hot offensively, scoring 14 of his 20 points in the second half
as Eagles got the tempo up their liking and rolled by Pottsville 51-33 in a Schuylkill League Division I contest.After a first-half slugfest, Blue Mountain
(15-2, 9-1 D-I) was able to get out and run more in the second half. That, coupled with a solid defensive effort from the
start, turned a 21-18 Eagles halftime lead into a blowout, as Blue Mountain outscored the Crimson Tide 30-15 over the final
16 minutes.When the final buzzer
sounded, the Eagles' student section emptied and ran across the gymnasium floor to celebrate with the Eagles."It means a lot," said Bornstein,
who has reached double figures in scoring in his last nine games. "We wanted it really bad. That's a good team and we
wanted to go out there and win."The victory snapped Blue Mountain's 11-game losing streak against Pottsville (16-3, 8-1), the four-time defending division
and overall Schuylkill League champ. The Eagles' last win over Pottsville before Monday was a 54-36 victory on Dec. 12, 2008.The Tide won the first meeting of the season
53-36 on Jan. 4.Blue Mountain's
victory also snapped the Crimson Tide's 51-game division winning streak that dated to a loss to Jim Thorpe on Jan. 15, 2010.The victory put the Eagles into first place
in the division, and if they and Pottsville both win their remaining league games, the two will play a tie-breaker game for
the division title.Both still
have to face third-place North Schuylkill (12-4, 7-2), a 81-33 winner over Jim Thorpe on Monday. The Tide host the Spartans
on Wednesday, while Blue Mountain hosts North Schuylkill on Feb. 6."If feels great to do it in front of our home crowd," Panchari said. "That
was nuts, getting the win, bleachers clearing. What more can you ask for?"Slane added eight points, six rebounds and four assists for Blue Mountain, while
Grapsy contributed eight rebounds and six assists.Travis Blankenhorn led Pottsville with 20 points.Blue Mountain's win Monday started with defense. The Eagles came in allowing 39.6 points
per game and Blue Mountain coach Dustin Werdt thought the Crimson Tide's guards bullied the Eagles inside during the first
meeting of the season. This time around, the Eagles took that away, forcing Pottsville into more contested 3-pointers."We pressured the ball well and we contested
most shots," Werdt said. "They didn't have very many clean looks. Overall, defensively the kids just played a great
game."The Crimson Tide were
held to 12-for-37 (32 percent) from the floor Monday, including a 3-for-19 performance from 3-point land."We wanted to defend the 3-pointer," Bornstein said.
"We didn't want them to get a lot of open shots. Help defense, we wanted to help in the post because they like to post
our guys up and we did."Offensively,
Blue Mountain finished 17-for-27 (63 percent), including 10-for-15 (67 percent) in the second half as the Eagles got out in
transition more in the half.After
Blankenhorn hit two foul shots to make it 23-22 Blue Mountain at 5:57 of the third quarter, the Eagles went on a 13-4 run
to finish the third quarter.Bornstein
scored seven of his points in the run, hitting a short jumper, completing a three-point play on a cut inside and later grabbing
a defensive rebound and taking the ball to the other end of the court to score on a layup.Panchari finished off the quarter, scoring on a fast-break layup off
a pass from Grapsy, making it 36-26.The Eagles opened the fourth quarter on a 13-2 run to put the game away as Bornstein scored on a full-court, in-bounds
pass from Grapsy to make it 49-28 with 2:11 left in the game.
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| Photo Coursey Of Pottsville Republican/Dave McKeown |
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| Photo Coursey Of Pottsville Republican/Dave McKeown |
Blue Mountain Tops the Crimson Tide Blue Mountain defeat the Crimson Tide at Blue Mountain's home court
by the score of 51-33. It is the Crimson Tide, first loss in the Schuylkill League in over four years. The loss stop's the
Tide's streak at 68 concessive league games in a row. Travis Blankenhorn led the Tide with 20 points,
followed by Jordan Melochick's 8 points. The score was 21-18 Blue Mountain at the half, but Blue Mountain put together a 15-8
run in the Third quarter to pull away from the Tide. The Tide were off their game all night and a well played game by
Blue Mountain lead to the defeat. Pottsville and Blue Mountain are tied atop the Division I standings, if both teams,
win the rest of their games, there will be a playoff for the Division Title at a neutral site, to determined the Division
Chanps, with the loser gaining the wild card spot. Pottsville
(33) Hinchliffe 1 0-0 3, Painter 0 0-0 0, Blankenhorn 6 6-7 20, Toomey 0 0-0 0, Melochick 4 0-0 8, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Witman
0 0-0 0, Nabholz 1 0-0 2. Totals: 12 6-8 (33) Blue Mountain (51)
Bornstein 7 5-7 20, Harding 0 0-0 0, Slane 4 1-1 11, Grapsy 0 0-0 0, Chelius 1 2-3 4, Donvan 0 0-0 0, Panchari 5 6-6 16. Totals:
17 14-17 (51)
"Tide runs over the Blue Raiders" The Crimson Tide scored a 43-24 victory over Tamaqua Blue Raiders. The
victory was the Crimson Tide's 68th victory in a row over Schuylkill League teams. The Tide was led by Travis "Money"
Blankenhorn's 23 points, followed by Eli "Big Easy" Nabholz 10 points and Jordan "Melo" Melochick
added 7 points. The Tide jumped out to a 29-7 half time lead, and a 40-16 spread after 3 quarters. The Tide improved to 16
- 2 for the season. The Tide will face it's biggest game of the season on Monday Night at Blue Mountain, this game is for
the Division 1 lead and top playoff spot for the Schuylkill League Championships. Pottsville (43) Hinchliffe 1 0-0 2, Jackson 0 0-0 0, Painter 0 0-0 0, Blankenhorn 9 1-3 23, Toomey 0
1-2 1, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Melochick 3 0-0 7, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Witman 0 0-0 0, Adams 0 0-0 0, Nabholz 4 2-3 10, Coyle 0 0-0 0,
Hampford 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 4-8 (43) Tamaqua (24)
Blaker 2 0-0 5, Rottet 4 0-0 8, Frantz 2 0-0 5, Macdonald 1 0-2 2, Marcin 1 0-0 2, Van Buskirk 1 0-0 2. Totals: 11 0-2 (24)
District XI AAA Standings 1/23/2014
| Rank | School | W | L | T | | 1 | Allentown
Central Catholic | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0.854542 | | 2 | Pottsville
Area | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0.757358 | | 3 | Blue Mountain | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0.720194 | | 4 | Salisbury Township | 11 | 5 | 0 | 0.685468 | | 5 | Bethlehem
Catholic | 8 | 6 | 0 | 0.657117 | | 6 | Southern Lehigh | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0.622161 | | 7 | Northern
Lehigh | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0.611473 | | 8 | Lehighton Area | 9 | 5 | 0 | 0.601541 | | 9 | Saucon
Valley | 10 | 7 | 0 | 0.600638 | | 10 | Wilson Area | 8 | 7 | 0 | 0.549318 | | 11 | Tamaqua
Area | 9 | 7 | 0 | 0.526798 | | 12 | Panther Valley | 9 | 8 | 0 | 0.491494 | | 13 | Northwestern
Lehigh | 5 | 11 | 0 | 0.412254 | | 14 | Palisades | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0.381249 | | 15 | Jim
Thorpe Area | 2 | 13 | 0 | 0.302578 | | 16 | Palmerton Area | 1 | 13 | 0 | 0.289596 |
Crimson Tide Clips the Cardinals Wings The Crimson Tide breezed to an Easy Victory over Pine Grove with a 52 -17
win. The Tide was led by Eli "Big Easy" Nabholz with 9 points and Conor "The Hitman" Hinchliffe also with
9 points. The "Big Easy" returned after missing a couple of games for the Tide. The Tide came out quickly to a 27-7
half-time led and never looked back. Ten of Pottsville players add points to the totals. This was Pottsville 67th win in the
row against Schuylkill League teams. The Tide plays Tamaqua on Thursday and then to the Big Game against Blue Mountain.
Pottsville (52) Hinchliffe 4 0-0 9,
Jackson 1 0-0 2, Painter 2 0-0 4, Blankenhorn 2 0-0 4, Toomey 2 0-0 4, Dunkel 1 1-3 3, Melochick 2 0-0 4, Shuman 3 0-0 7,
Witman 3 0-0 6, Adams 0 0-0 0, Nabholz 2 5-8 9, Coyle 0 0-0 0, Hampford 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 6-11 (52) Pine Grove (17) Rossi 1 0-2 2, Blankenhorn 0 0-0 0, White 2 0-0 4,
D'Agostino 1 1-2 3, Snedden 1 0-0 2, Weinus 1 2-2 4, Fidler 1 0-0 2. Totals: 7 3-6 (17) 3-Point FG's: Hinchliffe, Shuman
Pottsville Defeats Muhlenberg Travis Blankenhorn had a game high 27 points, including eight of his team's 15 feild
goals, as The Crimson Tide claimed a non-league victory over the Muhls at Martz Hall. Pottsville grabbed a 26-14 halftime lead, but Muhlenberg trimmed the deficit to 34-29 at the end of the third quarter.
However, Pottsville held a 12-11 scoring edge in the fourth quarter to hold on for the win. Jordan"Melo" Melochick added 10 points for the Crimson Tide. Jalen Flynn led Muhlenberg with 20 points. Pottsville (46) Hinchliffe 2 0-0 4, Painter 1 0-0 3, Blankenhorn 8 7-9 27, Toomey
1 0-1 2, Melochick 3 4-6 10, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Witman 0 0-0 0, Hampford 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 11-16 (46) Muhlenberg (40) Brown 0 0-0 0, Flynn 9 0-0 20, Chantz 0 0-0 0, Benjamin 0 0-0 0,
Stinson 4 0-0 8, Fidler 0 0-0 0, Richard 3 0-0 7, Rangel 1 0-0 2, Hine 1 0-0 3. Totals: 18 0-0 (40) Pottsville (14-2) 17 9 8
12 (46) Muhlenberg (4-12)
7 7 15 11 (40) 3-Point
Fg's: Flynn 2, Richard, Hine, Blankenhorn 4, Painter
Pottsville Routs Jim Thorpe 73-25 Travis Blankenhorn and
Jordan Melochick had 16 points apiece as the Crimson Tide posted a dominating Division I win over the Olympians. Kevin Hampford added 12 points and Connor Hinchliffe chipped
in with 10 for Pottsville, which opened the game on a 21-8, first-quarter run. The Crimson Tide improves it's record to 13-2
and the 65th straight victory against Schuylkill League teams.
Pottsville
(73) Hinchcliffe 4 2-3 10, Jackson 0 0-0, Painter 2 1-2 5, Blankenhorn 7 0-0 16, Toomey 1 1-2 3, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Melochick
7 2-3 16, Shuman 1 0-0 2, Witman 0 0-0 0, Adams 3 0-0 6, Coyle 1 0-0 3, Hampford 5 0-0 12. Totals: 31 6-10 73 Jim Thorpe (25) Carroll 1 0-2 3, Micciche 1 0-0 2,
Carroll 1 0-0 2, Lawarence 0 0-0 0, Micciche 5 0-0 11, Green 0 0-2 0, Mcelmoyle 0 0-0 0, Sinsky 0 0-0 0,Jefferson 0 0-0 0.
Totals 11 2-8 25 Jim Thorpe (2-11), (1-5)
8 6 7 4 -- (25) Pottsvile (13-2) (6-0) 21 17 17 18 -- (73) 3 Point FG': Micciche, Blankenhorn 2, Coyle, Hampford 2
District XI AAA Standings 1/15/2014
| Rank | School | W | L | T | | 1 | Allentown Central Catholic | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0.871671 | | 2 | Pottsville Area | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0.764132 | | 3 | Blue Mountain | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0.710311 | | 4 | Salisbury Township | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0.695545 | | 5 | Bethlehem Catholic | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0.622578 | | 6 | Northern Lehigh | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0.617649 | | 7 | Lehighton Area | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0.615765 | | 8 | Tamaqua Area | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0.582708 | | 9 | Southern Lehigh | 8 | 5 | 0 | 0.580393 | | 10 | Saucon Valley | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0.564251 | | 11 | Panther Valley | 7 | 6 | 0 | 0.536327 | | 12 | Wilson Area | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0.520166 | | 13 | Palisades | 4 | 8 | 0 | 0.426659 | | 14 | Northwestern Lehigh | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0.399534 | | 15 | Jim Thorpe Area | 2 | 11 | 0 | 0.313811 | | 16 | Palmerton Area | 1 | 11 | 0 | 0.287858 |
BY CHUCK SOUDERS (STAFF WRITER CHUCK_S@NEWSITEM.COM) Published: January 13, 2014 Pottsville outlast Shamokin
charlie roth/times
- shamrock photo Pottsville's Jordan Melochick, right, pressures Shamokin's Ryan Sebasovich during Monday's non-league game.
The Crimson Tide downed the Indians 43-38. COAL TOWNSHIP - If Pottsville and Shamokin go on to win their
respective league and district titles, they'll both look back on the Crimson Tide's 43-38 win in a non-league matchup Monday
at Shamokin as a key game. The
road is likely to be a little tougher for the Indians, though. Shamokin (10-1), which lost for the first time, will likely have to spend several weeks, if not the
rest of the season, without its leading scorer and rebounder, Austin Stine, who went high for a rebound in the first two minutes
of the game and landed awkwardly. Stine was taken for X-rays and, according to Shamokin coach Chris Zimmerman, may have broken
bones in his wrist or wrists. Even
without Stine, the Indians and the Tide, who were playing without Eli Nabholz (concussion), battled each other tooth and nail
on every possession for 32 minutes. Shamokin, which made just 3-of-21 shots in the first half, managed to hang tough and trailed by just one point at 39-38
with 29.5 seconds left when Pottsville called timeout after a Shamokin basket. Jordan Melochick then sank four straight foul
shots on two possessions, making him 9-for-9, to clinch the win for Pottsville (11-2). Travis Blankenhorn, with 19 points and eight rebounds, was too much inside
for Shamokin without Stine. Blankenhorn scored 12 of the Tide's 24 points in the first half. Melochick finished with 15. "We've had to adapt our game a little
without Eli Nabholz," Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said. "He gives us another scorer, but we feel we have three
guys who can score, especially in the halfcourt. "I think both teams played extremely hard. This was probably our best overall defensive effort of the year,
and I can't say enough about how hard Shamokin played. They're coached really well. Playing here tonight was like us playing
at Blue Mountain. That's what it was like." Shamokin understandably took some time to get going after Stine's injury. The Indians shot 1-of-10 from the
field in the first quarter as Pottsville took a 12-5 lead, but Shamokin only trailed 24-17 at halftime and 31-24 after three
quarters. Pottsville went up by
nine, 35-26, early in the fourth quarter, but Shamokin quickly came back with a 3-pointer. That set up a battle of wits and
timeouts between the teams and coaches the rest of the way. Dan Delbaugh and Jakob Weaver scored 13 and 10 points, respectively, to lead the Indians. "Our kids played with a lot of heart and
so did theirs," Zimmerman said. "It wasn't the prettiest game to watch on both ends, but when you play as hard as
both teams did, that's what's going to happen sometimes. That's the name of the game. "Their defense is as good as anybody we play. If anybody we play plays
better half-court defense, I want to know where they are."
Pottsville (43) Hinchcliffe 1 1-3 3, Painter 1
2-3 4, Blankenhorn 7 4-4 19, Toomey 1 0-0 2, Melochick 3 9-9 15, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Witman 0 0-0 0, Hampford 0 0-1 0. Totals:
13 16-20 (43) Shamokin (38) Sebasovich 2 1-1
5, Weaver 3 2-2 10, Delbaugh 3 5-9 13, Stine 0 0-0 0, pappas 2 0-0 4, Dirienzo 0 0-0 0, Reiprich 1 0-0 2, Taylor 1 0-0 2,
Moyer 1 0-0 2, Donahue 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 8-12 (38) Pottsville
(11-2) 12 12 7 12 -- (43) Shamokin (10-1) 5 12 7 14 -- (38) 3Point FG's: Bankenhorn, Weaver 2, Delbaugh
Tide Losses To Salisbury Pottsville clinched a spot in the District 11 Class AAA playoffs Friday. Saturday, the Crimson Tide got a look at a potential district postseason opponent. That look showed Pottsville it has some work to do if the Crimson Tide want to make a long playoff run. Austin Uhl had a double-double, while Salisbury's quickness got the better of Pottsville in
the Falcons' 56-46 non-league victory at Martz Hall. Uhl finished the game with
13 points and 13 rebounds. Eddie Sanchez added 11 points for Salisbury (9-3), while Justin Aungst, the Falcons' leading scorer
at 16.6 points per game, tallied 10. Pottsville (11-2), which had its 10-game winning
streak snapped with the loss, clinched a district berth with Friday's 66-34 rout of Panther Valley. Salisbury beat the Crimson Tide 45-39 in last season's District 11 Class AAA consolation game. After Saturday's
contest, Pottsville and Salisbury are now ranked second and third, respectively, behind Allentown Central Catholic in the
Class AAA power ratings. "I don't know if we are ready to beat a team that
is that consistent, that well coached and has that talent level," Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said. "We don't
do things consistently to beat a team like that. Hopefully in another month things will be different." Travis Blankenhorn had a game-high 20 points and Jordan Melochick scored 17 for Pottsville, which played from behind
most the game. The Falcons built an 11-point lead at the end of the first quarter
at 16-5, but Pottsville battled back to go up 26-25 at halftime. Salisbury then went up 41-31 at the end of the third quarter
before the Crimson Tide cut the deficit to 47-46 after a steal and layup by Blankenhorn with 3:39 left in the game. The Falcons, however, responded. On his team's next
possession, Brendan Reichenbach hit his second 3-pointer of the game on a kick-out pass from Sanchez, making it 50-46 at 3:14.
Salisbury then iced the game from the foul line, going 6-for-9 over final 1:36. "I
start five seniors and I have guys who are experienced," Salisbury coach Jason Weaver said. "We've been in these
situations before and I don't think they are intimated by anybody, which is a good thing. We respect everybody, but we have
seniors who are playing well together." The Crimson Tide also learned they
will likely be without center Eli Nabholz for a few games. Nabholz was knocked in the head during a foul as made a move inside
early in the second quarter. At first, it was believed Nabholz had just a bloody
nose, but after the game, Mullaney said Nabholz suffered a concussion and wasn't sure how much time he'd miss. "We going to have to find a way to play without him," Mullaney said. "That obviously
had an effect on the game, too." Pottsville couldn't overcome the Falcons
quickness, especially defensively, and it lead to plenty of Salisbury baskets in the paint. The Falcons ended up shooting
20-for-35 (57 percent) from the floor, while the 56 points was just second time this season Pottsville had allowed more than
50 in a game. The other was 58 against Wilson West Lawn on Dec. 11. "They
have a lot of guys who are good at penetrating off the dribble," Mullaney said. "We didn't do a good job of keeping
people in front and our help defense is nowhere where it needs to be. They opened our eyes tonight." Offensively, the Crimson Tide shot 16-for-44 (36 percent) and turned the ball over 12 times, while the 46 points
were a season low. Still, Pottsville had its chances to pull closer late in the
game. With 1:36 to go, Aungst missed the front end of a 1-and-1, but Pottsville couldn't control the rebound and the ball
went of bounds. Sanchez was eventually fouled and hit both ends of his 1-and-1, making it 52-46. Pottsville then turned the ball over on its next possession. Naveed Hadian was fouled, hit the first of a double-bonus
situation, but the ball went off Pottsville on the miss after the second attempt. Hadian was fouled again and hit both ends
of the double bonus to put the game away. Weaver was glad to finally win a tight
contest after losing to Emmaus 53-49 on Jan. 4. The Falcons' other two losses this season were to Blue Mountain (62-51 on
Dec. 6) and Parkland (69-52 on Dec. 30). "We knew the physicality of those
guys," Weaver said. "We knew what to expect up here are far as physicality and I think my guys responded to it."
Pottsville (46) Hinchcliffe 1 12 4, Painter 0
0-0 0, Blankenhorn 7 3-3 20, Toomey 0 0-0 0, Melochick 6 4-7 17, Witman 0 0-0 0, Nabholz 2
0-0 5. Totals 16 8-12 (46) Salisbury (56) Hadian 2 5-7
9, Sanchez 4 2-2 11, Reichenbach 3 1-2 9, Vangeli 0 2-2 2, Aungst 5 0-1 10, Uhl 6 1-3 13, Fairclaugh 1 0-0 2, Totals 21 11-17
(56) Pottsville (11-2) (5-0)
5 21 5 15 (46) Salisbury (9-3)
16 9 16 15 (56) 3-Points FG's: Sanchez, Reichebach, 2, Hinchcliffe, Blankenhorn 3, Melochick
Crimson Tide Rolls To "Easy"
Win over Panther Valley The Tide rolled
to a Easy 66-34 win over Panther Valley. The Tide was led by Eli "Big Easy" Nabholz with 18 points, followed by
Travis "Money" Blankehorn 13 points and Connor "The Hitman" Hinchcliffe 10 points. The Tide jumped out
to a first quarter lead of 19 to 8 and led at half time 38-12. The Tide poured it on in the third, outscoring the Panthers
15 to 6 to lead 53-18 after three periods. The defense were once again led by Jordan "Melo" Melochick tough defense.
Jordan always draws the task of defending the best player on the other team. That task, he fulfilled by limiting the Panther's
star player to 4 points durning the first three quarters.The starters would play no more, leaving the fourth quarters to some
well earn playing time for the rest of the team. Christian Witman turned in his best game of the year by adding 8 points
for the Tide.
Pottsville (66) Hinchcliffe 4 0-0 10, Jackon
1 0-0 2, Painter 1 0-0 2, Blankenhorn 5 1-3 13, Toomey 0 1-2 1, Dunkel 2 0-0 4, Melochick 2 1-1 5, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Witman
4 0-0 8, Adams 1 0-0 2, Nabholz 7 3-3 18, Coyle 0 0-0 0, Hampford 1 0-0 3. Totals 27 6-9 (66) Panther Valley (34) Dubosky 2 1-2 5, Szczecina 5 0-2 14, Keo 1 0-0 2, Kusko 1
0-0 3, Stano 1 0-0 2, Owens 1 0-0 3, Ferryman 2 0-0 5, Nase 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 1-4 (34) Pottsville (11-1) (5-0) 19 19
15 13 (66) Panther Valley (7-4) (1-3)
8 4 6 16 (34)
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| Photo Courtsey of Pottsville Republican & David McKeown |
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| Photo Courtsey of Pottsville Republican & David McKeown |
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| Photo Courtsey of Pottsville Republican & David McKeown |
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Pottsville outlasts North Schuylkill in key division
battle Posted on January 9, 2014 by mcarnahan By Mike Carnahan, Republican-Herald Sports Writer
FOUNTAIN SPRINGS — North Schuylkill figured to be the last team to give Pottsville
a challenge during the first half of the Schuylkill League Division I schedule.
The Spartans did for a half. But then
the Crimson Tide took control of the game and now have control of the division.
Travis Blankenhorn led a another balanced
offensive attack with a game-high 16 points as Pottsville pulled away in the second half for a 54-44 victory over North Schuylkill
on Wednesday.
Coming off a 53-36 win over Blue Mountain on Saturday, the Crimson Tide (10-1, 4-0 D-I) entered the game
tied with the Spartans (6-3, 3-1) for the division lead. Leading 29-23 at halftime, Pottsville used a 19-9 scoring advantage
in the third quarter to put the game away.
The Tide extended their lead to 18 points early in the fourth quarter en
route to their ninth straight win and 47th consecutive Division I victory.
“I was really happy with the team effort,”
Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said.
It seemed like everybody contributed something for the Tide. Jordan Melochick added 13 points, while Eli Nabholz netted 12 for Pottsville. The Tide were crisp and efficient
on offense, working the ball around for high-percentage shots inside the paint. The
Crimson Tide finished the night 22 for 40 (55 percent) from the floor, with six players having at least two assists. John
Toomey,Nabholz,Melochick, and Blankenhorn dished out three assists apiece. Nabholz also grabbed six rebounds and four blocks,
while Blankenhorn collected five boards. “We have some
smart guys and they made some nice adjustments with what North Schuylkill was doing” Mullaney said. “They are
so intense defensively and so well coached, you have to do everthing 100 percent and do them the right way to have any chance
of scoring.” Tevin Murray had a double-double for the Spartans with
11 points and 11 rebounds, while Matt Manbeck and Jake Damiter added eight points apiece.
North Schuylkill led 17-16 early in the second quarter after Manbeck scored on a putback, was fouled and converted
the three point play. But, after a good offensive start, the Spartans finished the night 13-for-43 (30 percent) from the floor. “I was very happy with the first quarter,” North Schuylkill coach Curt Ziegmont
said “Everybody knows how smothering their defense can be at times, so I was pretty pleased with that.” Offensive rebounding also kept North Schuylkill in the game in the first half. The
Spartans grabbed seven offensive boards over the first 16 minutes, resulting in nine second-chance points. But North Schuylkill had just two offensive rebounds in the second half, both coming
with under 1:20 left in the game when the outcome was decided. “I just think we got
worn down a little bit,” Ziegmont said. “In a game like this, the atmosphere, we can’t go as deep as we
normally do every night, which I think started to wear our guys down.
“But give credit to Pottsville, when they make you earn everything offensively and then they work you defensively
by running their motion they do so well, they just wear you down.”
One player who
stood out for Mullaney was Melochick, who scored Pottsville’s first six points of the second half and tallied eight
in the third quarter. He got the inbounds pass from the side to start the half, drove to the hoop and scored. Melochick then
scored on a cut inside and put in another two when Ty Painter outhustled a North Schuylkill player for an offensive rebound
and dished to Melochick for a layup. Melochick finished
off the third quarter by knocking down a jumper just before the buzzer, putting Pottsville up 48-32. “He does so much for us,” Mullaney said. “With some of the things
they were doing switching on defense, I thought he made some nice reads. He’s just a smart player.” Pottsville (54) – Hinchcliffe 2 0-0 6, Painter 1 0-0
3, Blankenhorn 7 0-0 16, Toomey 2 0-0 4, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Melochick 6 1-2 13, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Witman 0 0-0 0, Adams 0 0-0 0,
Nabholz 5 1-2 12, Coyle 0 0-0 0, Hampford 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 2-4 54
North Schuylkill (44) – Carney 0 0-0 0, Marlow 0 0-0 0, Hillibish 1 0-0 3, Murray 4 3-3 11, Manbeck 3
2-3 8, McDonald 0 0-0 0, Damiter 2 3-6 8, Mazeika 2 3-3 7, Karlonis 0 0-0 0, Heaton 0 0-0 0, Jordan 3 0-0 7. Totals 15 11-15
44 Pottsville (10-1), (4-0) -- 16
13 19 6 -- (54) North
Schuylkill (6-3), (3-1) 14 9 9
12 -- (44) 3-point FG’s: Hinchlife 2, Painter, Blankenhorn
2, Nabholz, Hillibish, Damiter, Jordan
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| Photo Courtsey of Pottsville Republican & David McKeown |
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Crimson Tide Rolls Past North Schuylkill The Crimson Tide defeated North Schuylkill on their home floor 54-44. The Tide rolled to a 20 point,
3rd quarter lead and then coasted to it's 64th win in a row against Schuylkill League Teams. The Tide were led by Travis "Money"
Blankenhorn with 16 points, followed by Jordan "Melo" Melochick with 13 points and the "Big Easy" Eli
Nabholz 12 points. The Tide led 29-23 at the half. The Tide then applied it's usual tough Defense to start the second half
and pulled away from the Spartans. The Tide travels to Panther Valley, this Friday, in it's quest for its five straight league
championship.
Pottsville (54) Hincliffe 2 0-0 6, Painter 1 0-0 3, Blankenhorn 7 0-0 16, Toomey 2 0-0 4, Melochick
6 1-2 13, Nabholtz 5 1-2 12, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Witman 0 0-0 0, Adams 0 0-0 , Coyle 0 0-0 0, Hampford 0 0-0 0 Totals: 23 2-4
(54) North Schuykill (44) Hillbish 1 0-0 3, Murray 2 4-6
8, Mannbeck 3 2-3 8, Dainikes 3 - 3-4 10, Karlonis 2 3-3 7, Jordan 3 0-0 7 Totals 14 12-16 (44)
| Rank | School | W | L | T | | 1 | Allentown Central Catholic
| 8 | 0 | 0 | 0.872997 | | 2 | Pottsville Area | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0.763817 | | 3 | Blue
Mountain | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0.695156 | | 4 | Salisbury Township | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0.688600 | | 5 | Lehighton
Area | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0.652665 | | 6 | Northern Lehigh | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0.651777 | | 7 | Southern
Lehigh | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0.600342 | | 8 | Panther Valley | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0.598804 | | 9 | Bethlehem
Catholic | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0.579917 | | 10 | Tamaqua Area | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0.565190 | | 11 | Saucon
Valley | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0.529089 | | 12 | Palisades | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0.446503 | | 13 | Wilson
Area | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0.439577 | | 14 | Northwestern Lehigh | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0.433776 | | 15 | Palmerton
Area | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0.327578 | | 16 | Jim Thorpe Area | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0.322482 |
Balanced
Tide upend Blue MountainBY MIKE CARNAHAN (STAFF WRITER mcarnahan@republicanherald.com) Published: January 4, 2014 Pottsville's
trademarks during its current four-year Schuylkill League championship run are its man-to-man defense and the play of superstar
players such as Nick Schlitzer and Brandon Bridy. That tough defense is still there, but this season's Crimson Tide
offense might be the most balanced they've had the past few years. Saturday was a perfect example, especially when Travis
Blankenhorn missed a good part of the second half with an injury. Junior Eli Nabholz paced three Pottsville players
in double figures with a game-high 19 points, including 14 in the second half, as the Crimson Tide pulled away for a 53-36
Division I victory over rival Blue Mountain at Martz Hall. Pottsville (9-1, 3-0 D-I) came into the game with three players
averaging double figures in scoring - Blankenhorn (21.6 points per game), Nabholz (12.3) and Jordan Melochick (11.2). Saturday
it was Nabholz's turn to shine as his 19 matched his career high that he scored in the season-opener against Danville. Connor
Hinchliffe, who entered averaging 6.0 ppg, added a career-high 13 points for Pottsville, with 10 coming in the first half,
while Blankenhorn had 12. The Crimson Tide also hit seven 3-pointers in game, as Blankenhorn and Nabholz had two apiece,
while Ty Painter, Melochick and Hinchliffe each had one. Painter had four assists, while Melochick grabbed six rebounds and
Blankenhorn five. "I think, as far as half-court offense, I think it is maybe the best team that we've had because
we have multiple guys who can do things," Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said. Saturday's victory was eighth straight
for the Crimson Tide, while their Division I winning streak extends at 46. Pottsville joins North Schuylkill (6-2, 3-0)
as the lone remaining unbeaten teams in the division following the Spartans' 69-31 victory over Jim Thorpe on Saturday. North
Schuylkill travels to Pottsville on Tuesday. Mark Chelius led the Eagles (6-2, 3-1) with 14 points and three assists.
Skyler Panchari also grabbed six rebounds for Blue Mountain, which lost its second straight after opening the season 6-0. "We
talked about defending the 3s," Eagles coach Dustin Werdt said. "They hit seven 3s and that's too many. And they
got contributions from some people who aren't their leading scorers, typically, and got some shots from other kids." Blankenhorn
went down to the court awkwardly at 6:26 of the third quarter when he collided with Panchari after dishing the ball to Nabholz
for a layup. Blankenhorn was helped across Martz Hall to the trainer's room. He came out of the room early in the fourth quarter
and returned with 5:19 left in the game. "Obviously we were a little worried," Nabholz said. "He's our
best player, but we got together as a group. We just said we have to keep playing hard and that just means we have to play
harder. We came out until he got back in there, we really busted it." Pottsville did, increasing its 25-18 halftime
lead to 43-30 at the end of the third quarter. Nabholz scored eight of his points in the third, hitting a 3-pointer,
scoring off Blankenhorn's assist and finish off his quarter by muscling his way inside for a layup. He was fouled on the bucket
and completed the three-point play. After shooting 10-for-25 (40 percent) in the first half, the Crimson Tide was 10-for-14
(71 percent) from the floor in the second half. "Those were critical moments of the game," Mullaney said.
"I know we have other guys who can play, but anytime a guy like that goes down, you worry. I thought our guys really
stepped up at that point. "I think Connor Hinchliffe had a great game for us, I think Ty Painter had a great game
for us, along with the guys who always play well for us. Different guys stepped up in this game when they needed to." The
Eagles cut the deficit to 44-36 early in the fourth after Kyle Slane and Shane Grapsy hit back-to-back 3s. But Pottsville
finished the game on a 9-0 run. "Pottsville's good at controlling runs," Werdt said. "You make a little
mini run and they find a way to stop what you were doing. They hit some shots. We turned the ball over too much (nine in the
game) and we gave up too many 3s."
The "Big Easy" leads the Crimson
Tide to a win over rival Blue Mountain" Eli "Big
Easy" Nabholz led the Crimson Tide to a victory of Blue Mountain at Martz Hall 53-36. Eli led the team with a game high
19 points, followed by Connor Hinchcliffe's 13 points and Travis Balnkenhorn's 12 points. The Tide were without Travis "Money"
Blankenhorn for almost a quarter, as Travis suffered a banged up knee. Travis later returned to play in the game. All members
of the team stepped up to fill the gap and increased the led over Blue Mountain. Jordan "Melo" Melochick clamped
down on one of Blue Mountain best players and held him to 4 points for the game. It was a great all around effort for
the Tide who extended it's Schuylkill league streak to 63 straight games against Schuylkill league teams. Pottsville (53) Hinchliffe 5 2-4 13, Painter 1 1-2 4, Blankenhorn5 0-0 12, Toomey 0 0-0 0, Melochick 2 0-0 5, Nabholtz
7 3-4 19 Totals: 20 6-10 (53) Blue Mountain (36) Stramara 0 0-0 0, Bornstein 1 1-4 4, Harding
0 0-0 0, Slane 3 0-0 8, Grapsy 2 0-0 6, Chelius 6 1-1 14, Panchari 2 0-0 4, Totals 14 2-5 (36)
Pottsville rolls past Nativity in Battle of the Hills
by mike carnahan (staff writer mcarnahan@republicanherald.com) Published:
December 30, 2013
Pottsville's Travis Blankenhorn never gauges how he is going to shoot in a game by the pre-game warm-up. Monday was no different. "It was OK," he said. "It wasn't my best but
it felt good in the game." Indeed it did. Blankenhorn continued
his hot start to the season, pouring in a game-high 27 as Pottsville turned it on in the second half and pulled away for a
59-25 victory over Nativity in the annual Battle of the Hills at Martz Hall. Blankenhorn came
in averaging 20.9 points per game and he rarely missed Monday. Blankenhorn finished the game 9-for-13
from the floor, including a 5-for-8 showing from 3-point land. Three of his 3-pointers came over the first 11 minutes of the
game as the Crimson Tide (8-1) slowly built an 18-11 lead early in the second quarter. Blankenhorn
was also 4-of-5 from the foul line in the game. The performance was Blankenhorn's second highest
of the season. His career, and season high, was 33 at Williamsport on Dec. 17. The outside shooting
helped carry Pottsville's offense in the first half as the Crimson Tide had trouble getting it inside against the Hilltoppers'
2-3 zone. "It was a team effort," Blankenhorn said. "They played a tough zone.
We were a little confused in the beginning. We knew what we were supposed to be doing but they played good defense. It was
a good team effort to make our shots." Jordan Melochick added nine points for Pottsville,
while Eli Nabholz had eight points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. The win was the seventh consecutive
for the Crimson Tide. Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney wasn't all that happy with how the Crimson
Tide played in the first half, especially when it came to attacking the zone. The second half
was a different story. After shooting 8-for-20 (40 percent) in the first half, the Crimson Tide
were 14-for-22 (64 percent) from the floor in the second as they were able to get more easy buckets inside the paint. As a
team, Pottsville had 12 assists over the final 16 minutes. "I think we were more aggressive,"
Mullaney said. "I think we moved the ball better. I think we had more guys attacking and not being passive. Once we started
to do that, things started to open up." Jeff Yordy led the Hilltoppers (5-2) with 15 points
but the rest of Nativity's offense couldn't get much going. Melochick guarded Yordy, who came in averaging 27 points per game,
and held the junior guard to 6-for-15 shooting. Nativity came in averaging 62.5 points per game
and its pervious season low was 51 in the season opener against Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg on Dec. 11. "I thought Jordan did a great job all night," Mullaney said. "He took a lot of shots and a lot of
tough shots. And he made a lot of tough shots but that is all you can do, force shots into bad ones." Still, the Hilltoppers, who had their five-game winning streak snapped, hung with Pottsville. They were down 11-7
after the first quarter and 24-13 at halftime. Nativity head coach Kevin Kennedy was looking for
a much better start to the second half but instead, Pottsville opened on a 12-4 run to make it 36-17 after Blankenhorn hit
a 3-pointer from the wing at 3:48. "I felt confident coming into halftime that if we could
have went on a little bit of a run, right off the get-go and scored six or eight points, I think Pottsville would have known
they were in for a game," Kennedy said. "The complete opposite happened. We came out cold and they hit a couple
of buckets and built that lead. That was tough. Pottsville
(59) Hinchliffe 3 0-0 7, Jackson 1 0-0 2, Painter 1 0-0 3, Blankenhorn 9 4-5 27, Toomey 0-0-0 0, Dunkel 1 0-0 2, Melochick
3 2-2 9, Shuman 0 0-0 0, Witman 0 0-0 0, Adams 0 0-0 0, Nabholz 4 0-0 8, Coyle 0 0-0 0, Hampford 0 1-2 1 Totals: 22
7-9 59 Nativity (25) Hoppel 0- 0-0 0,Hunyara 0 0-2 0, Yordy 6 2-2 15, Kaledas 1 1-2 3, Palamar
1 1-2 3, Sabol 1 0-0 2, Mickey 0 0-0 0, Greco 0 0-0 0, DiNicola 0 0-0 0, Piccioni 0 0-0 0, McGovern 0 0-0 0 Totals:
10 4-4-25 Pottsville (8-1) 11 13 16
19 -- 59 Nativity (5-2) 7 6 9
3 -- 25 3-point FG's: Yordy, Hinchliffe, Painter, Blankenhorn
5, Melochick Battle of the guards at the Battle of HillsPosted on December 30, 2013 by mcarnahan 0 Comments By Mike Carnahan, Republican-Herald Sports Writer
The annual Battle of Hills boys’
basketball contest between Nativity and Pottsville hasn’t been all that competitive recently.
Perhaps tonight’s
game at Martz Hall, which tips off at 7:30 p.m. following the girls’ game, will be different.
For certain, the
Hilltoppers (5-1) bring the strongest team into the contest that they have had in the past few years.
After losing to
Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg 56-51 in its season opener Dec. 11, the Hilltoppers have won five consecutive games. Outside of
a 73-70 overtime victory over Weatherly in the first round of the Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech Tournament on Dec. 20, their wins
haven’t been that close, with the average margin of victory 18.6 points per game. That included a 75-45 rout of Weatherly
last Friday.
Of course, Pottsville (7-1) is playing well, too.
After a 58-34 loss to Wilson West Lawn on Dec. 11,
the Crimson Tide have won six in a row, and their games haven’t been all that close, either. Their average margin of
victory during the winning streak has been 25.8 points per game, including a 73-39 victory over Hamburg on Saturday.
Tonight’s
game also features two of the hottest offensive players in the Schuylkill League in Nativity’s Jeff Yordy and the Tide’s
Travis Blankenhorn.
Yordy, who won the individual scoring title last season at 17.5 points per game, has picked right
up where he left off in spring. The junior guard is averaging 27 points per game so far and has cracked 30 points twice this
year, scoring 31 during a 65-37 victory over Shenandoah Valley on Dec. 19 and a season- and career-high 34 last Friday in
the win over the Wreckers.
After averaging 13.4 points per game last season – good for seventh in the league –
Blankenhorn, also a junior guard, is averaging 20.9 points per game. His season high, which is also a career high, was 33
in a 53-37 victory over Williamsport on Dec. 17.
The Crimson Tide will be the favorite again tonight and if Nativity
has any chance of pulling off the upset, a strong start is a must.
"Crimson Tide Hammers Hamburg" This afternoon the Crimson Tide continued its winning ways with an
73-39 victory over the Hamburg Hawks. The Tide was led by Travis "Money" Blankenhorn's 21 points followed by the
"Big Easy" Eli Nabholz and "Jordan "Melo" Melochick, each with 12 points a piece. Ty Painter put
up his best numbers of the season with 8 points. The Crimson Tide coasted in the second half with the starters not seeing
any action in the fourth quarter. The next game for the Tide is the "Battle of the hills" versus cross town rival
Nativity on Monday night. Pottsville (73)
Hinchliffe 3 0-1 7, Jackson 0 0-0 0, Painter 1 6-6 8, Blankenhorn 8 3-4 21, Toomey 0 2-3 2, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Melochick
5 0-1 12, Witman 0 0-0 0, Adams 2 0-1 5, Nabolz 5 2-2 12, Coyle 0 0-0 0, Hampford 2 0-0 6, Totals 24 13-18 73 Hamburg (39) Fink 0 0-0 0, Barter 4 2-2 10, Siedel 1 0-0 2, Schlottman
2 2-2 7, Warner 2 0-0 4, Kisha 6 1-2 16, Lesher 0 0-0 0, Totals 15 5-6 39 Pottsville (7-1) 26 19 20 8 -- 73 Hamburg (1-8) 7 10 8 14 -- 39 3 point FG's: Blankenhorn 2, Melochick 2, Hampford 2, Adams, Hinchliffe, Kisha 3, Schlottman
BOYS BASKETBALL
DIVISION STANDINGS DIVISION 1 W-L
DIVISION 2 W-L
DIVISION 3 W-L Blue Mt 3-0 Wms
Valley 3-0
Mahanoy 3-0 Pottsville 2-0 Minersville
2-1
Nativity 2-0 N Schuylkill 1-0
Tri Valley 2-2
Shenandoah 1-2 Jim Thorpe 1-1
Lourdes 1-2
Marian 0-2 P Valley 1-2
S Haven 0-3
Weatherly 0-2 Tamaqua 0-2 Pine Grove 0-3
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| Photo Courtsey of Pottsville Republican |
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| Photo Courtsey of Pottsville Republican |
Defense lead Crimson Tide
past Tamaqua by mike carnahan (staff writer mcarnahan @republicanherald.com) Published: December 23, 2013
TAMAQUA - It's a story line that's been written plenty of times in the past,
and will be written plenty of more times in the future.
The Pottsville boys' basketball program under coach Dave Mullaney is all about man-to-man defense. "Coach Mullaney just appears to be a defensive guru,"
Tamaqua coach Caszy Kosciolek said. Monday
was no different. And the Crimson Tide may have found themselves two new defensive stoppers, too. Travis Blankenhorn (17 points), Jordan Melochick (16) and Eli Nabholz
(15) all hit double figures for Pottsville, but it was its defensive effort that led the way again in a 50-41 victory over
Tamaqua in Schuylkill League Division I contest at the Tamaqua Athletic Complex.
The victory was the 45th consecutive in the division for the Crimson Tide (6-1, 2-0
D-I). And despite four new starters, they have picked right up where they left off last year when they allowed 36.3 points
per game. In its first seven games this season, Pottsville
is giving up 39.2 points per game. The most it allowed in a game this year came during a 58-43 loss to Wilson West Lawn on
Dec. 11. "Great defensive effort, a great team
effort," the Crimson Tide's Ty Painter said. "Help on defense, we contested all their shots. They had to work for
everything they got. They are a good team. It was a good win for us."
Painter, a junior, and Melochick, a sophomore, are two of the new starters for Pottsville
this season. And both were the main defensive heros for the Crimson Tide on Monday, although everybody had a part. For most of the game, Melochick was responsible for guarding
the Raiders' 6-foot-7 forward, Brett Kosciolek, while Painter drew the assignment of Tamaqua point guard Bo Rottet. Rottet finished the night with 17 points, including eight
in the fourth quarter, while Kosciolek added 14. But it turned out to be a rough night for both. Almost every time Kosciolek got the ball, Melochick was right on
him and got help for a double- and sometimes triple-team on Kosciolek, who finished the night 4-for-17 from the floor. "I just really had to crowd him and make sure he had
to put the ball on the floor," Melochick said. "I didn't want him to put any 3s up so he had to put the ball on
the floor. I got help from my teammates." The Raiders were 14-for-41 (34
percent) from the floor Monday and a focus of the Crimson Tide's defense was shutting down the 3-pointer. The Raiders came
in averaging 6.2 3s per game but were 2-for-12 from beyond the arc Monday, Rottet, who knocked down seven 3s in Saturday's
69-43 rout of Hamburg, hit both. "Pottsville
does that to a lot of teams," Caszy Kosciolek said. "We didn't shoot it particularly well. They take you out of
what you want to do. They contest passes, they contest shots, and you got one shot and done." Offensively, Pottsville was 21-for-37 (57 percent) shooting Monday,
taking advantage of several opportunities inside off cuts to the basket and low-post moves. The key quarter turned out to be the third. The Crimson Tide led
24-19 at 7:36 after the Raiders' Zach Wargula scored on a cut inside. But Pottsville went on a 15-6 run from there, hitting
7-for-10 from the floor. Blankenhorn
started the run, scoring on a move inside. Melochick then put in layup off a back-side cut, Nabholz hit a jumper from the
top of the circle and Melochick put in his own miss to make it 33-23 Crimson Tide at 4:06 of the third. "We always stress that, coming out, first 4 minutes of the
third quarter," Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said. "We thought that if we could win the first four minutes, we
could win the game. And our guys came out really aggressive and we went back to turning our motion a little bit more and trying
to work inside out and get the ball in the post and getting a couple of easy ones like that got us going." Game Summary: Pottsville (50) Hinchliffe 1 0-0 2, Painter 0 0-1 0, Blankenhorn 5 5-6 17, Toomey 0
0-0 0, Melochick 7 1-2 16, Nabholz 6 2-2 15, Hampford 0 0-0 0 Totals 19 8-11 50
Tamaqua (41) Blaker 0 0-0 0, Wargula 1 2-2 4, Rottet 6 3-5 17, Frantz 1 0-2 2, Tr. Skripko 0 0-0 0, MacDonald 0 0-0
0, Marcin 1 0-0 2, Ty Skripko 0 0-0 0, Kosciolek 4 6-6 14, Ch Hartung 0-00 0 Totals:14 11-13 41 Pottsville (6-1, 2-0) 11 13 15 11 -- 50 Tamaqua (5-2,
0-2) 6 11 8 16 -- 41 3-point FG's:
Blankenhorn 2, Melochick, Nabholz, Rottet 2
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| Photo Courtsey of Pottsville Republican |
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| Photo Courtsey of Pottsville Republican |
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| Photo Courtsey of Pottsville Republican |
| Rank | School | W | L | T | | 1 | Allentown Central Catholic
| 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.836000 | | 2 | Blue Mountain | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0.774379 | | 3 | Pottsville
Area | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0.729768 | | 4 | Salisbury Township | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0.712794 | | 5 | Northern
Lehigh | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0.693461 | | 6 | Tamaqua Area | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0.616618 | | 7 | Lehighton
Area | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0.586186 | | 8 | Southern Lehigh | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0.567851 | | 9 | Panther
Valley | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0.565662 | | 10 | Wilson Area | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0.481733 | | 11 | Bethlehem
Catholic | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0.469221 | | 12 | Northwestern Lehigh | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0.399245 | | 13 | Saucon
Valley | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0.396667 | | 14 | Jim Thorpe Area | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0.339153 | | 15 | Palisades
| 1 | 5 | 0 | 0.327394 | | 16 | Palmerton Area | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0.262305 |
OTHERS
TO WATCH: Archbishop Wood (12)2-2, Central Valley (7) 5-1, Crestwood (2) 5-1, Farrell (10) 6-0, General McLane (10)
4-1, Girard (10) 4-1, Glen Mills (1) 4-2, Honesdale (2) 6-0, Indiana (7) 6-1, Knoch (7) 6-0, Mars (7) 4-2, Montour (7) 4-0,
Pottsville (11) 6-1, Scranton Prep (2) 5-0, Sharon (10) 4-1, Steel Valley (7) 5-1, Susquehanna Twp (3) 4-2,
Thomas Jefferson (7) 7-1, West York (3) 6-0.
Pottsville Rolls past Berwick The Crimson Tide rolls past Berwick Bulldogs 71-29 at Martz Hall. The Tide
improved their record to 5 - 1, With a well balanced attack, the Tide had four players in double digits with Kevin Hampford
scoring a career high of 16 points, followed By Travis"Money" Blankenhorn and The "Big Easy" Eli Nabholz,
each had 15 points and Connor Hincliffe also scoring a career high of 12 points. The Tide open up with a 15-11, first quarter
lead and pushed it to 37-14 half time led, with a 22-3 run. The Tide closed the second half with every player getting some
playing time to close out the game at 71-29. The Tide takes it's show on the road, Monday night to battle at Tamaqua,
the first big test in this young season. Pottsville
(71) Coyle 1 0-0 3, Toomey 0 0-0 0, Blankenhorn 7 1-1 15, Nabholz 4 7-8 15, Painter 0 0-0 0, Hinchcliffe 3 3-5 12, Jackson
1 0-0 2, Melochick 2 0-0 4, Witman 1 0-0 2, Adams 1 0-0 2, Hampford 4 2-2 16 Berwick (29) Edwards 1 0-0 3, Melito 1 3-4 5, Reigel 1 2-4 4, Evans 1 6-7 8, Dalio 0 4-6 4, Roberts
2 0-0 4, Goddard 0 1-2 1, Pierce 0 0-0 0, Woodeschnk 0-0-0 0, Balliet 0 0-0 0, Divalero 0-0-0 0 Totals 6 16-23 29 Pottsville (5-1) 15 22 21 13 -- (71) Berwick ( ) 11 3 11 4 -- (29) 3 Point FG's- Hampford 2, Blankenhorn, Coyle
Crimson Tide Clips the Cardinals Wings The Pottsville Crimson Tide clipped the Pine Grove Cardinals wings
to the tune of 72-32 for the 60th straight Schuylkill league win. Travis "Money" Blankenhorn led all scorers with
23 points,including three 3-pointers, followed by Jordan "Melo" Melochick with 17 points and the "Big
Easy" Eli Nabholz scored 16 points. All the Tide players contribute to the win in one way or
another. Pottsville jumped out to a 16-7 lead after the first quarter, and extended that lead to 37-16 lead at the half. The Tide improved it's record to 4-1 on the season. Pottsville (72) Hinchliffe 1 2-3 5, Jackson 1 0-1 2, Painter 0 0-0 0, Blankenhorn 10 0-0 23, Dunkel 3 0-0 6, Toomey
0 0-0 0, Melochick 6 4-5 17, Witman 1 0-0 2, Adams 0 0-1 0, Nabholz 6 3-3 16, Coyle 0 0-0 0, Hampford 0 1-2 1, Totals: 28
10-15 72 Pine Grove (32) Rossi 0 0-0 0, Blankenhorn 1 2-2 4, A. White 1 0-0 2, Cataldo 0 0-0 0, T. White 0 1-3 1, J. White
0 0-0 0, D'Agostino 6 2-4 16, Weinus 1 4-5 6, Keefer 0 3-6 3, Mars 0 0-0 0 Totals: 9 12-20 32 Pottsville(4-1, 1-0) 16 21 14
21 -- (72) Pine Grove(1-5, 0-3) 7 9 9 7 -- (32) 3-Point FG's: Blankenhorn 3, Hincliffe, Melochick, Nabholz, D'Agostino 2 JV Score Pottsville 57-10
"Crimson Tide cashes in on Williamsport
Millionaires"
Travis "Money" Blankenhorn leds the Crimson Tide over Williamsport
53-37 Travis Blankenhorn had a monster night
with a career-high 33 points as Pottsville pulled off it's biggest win so far this season with a 53-37 victory over AAAA Williamsport
on Tuesday in a non-league basketball contest. Travis"Money" Blankenhorn was 6 for 6 from 3 point land in the game,
and added seven rebounds and three assists. His previous career high in points was 24 against Pine Grove last season. Eli
"Big Easy" Nabholz added nine points and four blocks for the Crimson Tide, while Jordan "Melo" Melochick
had six points and seven rebounds. Pottsville led 11-8 after the first quarter and 31-19 at the half. Isaiah Washington had 15 points for the Millionaires as Melochick kept
one of Williamsport's best players (and Penn State bound)under control. Pottsville
(53): Blankenhorn 11 5-7 33, Nabholz 4 0-0 9, Melochick 3 0-0 6, Painter 0 0-0 0, Hampford 0 0-0 0, Dunkel 0 0-0 0, Hinchliffe
2 0-2 5, Witman 0 0-0 0 Totals 20 5-9 53 Williamsport (37): Washington
4 5-11 15, Benjamin 1 0-0 2, Gardner 3 0-1 6, Gosley 3 0-0 6, Boone 2 2-2 6, Simmons 0 0-0 0, Harman 0 0-0 0, Manzitti 0 0-0
0, Smith 0 0-0 0, Johnson 1 0-0 2 Totals 14 7-14 37 Pottsville (3-1) 11
20 16 6 -- (53) Williamsport
(1-3) 8 11 11 7 -- (37) 3-point FG's:
Blankenhorn 6, Nabholz, Hinchliffe, Washington
Crimson Tide Rolls over Governor Mifflin Travis Blankenhorn poured in a game high 20 points to pace four Crimson
Tide players in double figures in their non-league victory over the Mustangs. Joradn Melochick added 14 points for Pottsville, while Eli Nabholz had 12 and Connor Hinchliffe had
10. The Tide got out to a 16-6 laed after the first quarter and led 26-19 t half. Pottsville (58) Blankenhorn 7 3-6 20 Hampford 0 0-0 0, Hinchliffe 3 3-5 10, Melochick 2 9-10 14, Nabholz
5 1-3 12, Painter 0 2-2 2 Whitman 0 0-0 0, Totals: 17 18-26 58 Governor Mifflin (44) Holf 3 6-10 12, Mckinight 0 0-0 0, Ovid 2 1-2 6, Peters 0 0-0 0, Pollack 0 0-0 0, Quigley
0 1-2 1, B. Rodriguez 3 1-2 7, S. Rodriguez 7 2-5 16, Willet 1 0-0 2, Totals 16 11-21 44 Pottsville:
16 - 10 - 16 - 16 - (58) Governor Mifflin 6 - 13
- 11 - 14- (44) 3 point FG's: Blankenhorn (3), Hinchliffe,
Melochick, Nabholz,
Wilson defeats the Tide Wilson used the 3-pointer to outgun the Crimson Tide, as the Bulldogs scored
eight times from beyond the 3 point arc to send Pottsville to it's first loss. Sam Smith led the way for Wilson with 19 points,
including three 3-pointers. Matt Timochenko posted 11 points. The Tide was led by Travis Blankenhorn who scored 22 points for the Tide, Jordan"Melo" Melochick added
8 points for the Tide. Pottsville: (43) - Hinchliffe 3 0-0 6, Painter 1 0-0 2, Blankenhorn 8 5-5
22, Toomey 0 0-0 0, Melochick 2 3-6 8, Witman 0 0-0 0, Nabholz 2 1-1 5 Totals 16 9-12 43 Wilson: (58) - Templin
1 0-0 3, Smith 8 0-0 19, Connolly 0 0-0 0, Gaynor 0 0-0 0, Coad 5 2-2 13, Calloway 4 0-0 10, Rivera 0 0-0 0, Lubas 1 0-0 2,
Timochenko 2 6-8 11, Totals 21 8-10 58
Crimson Tide open with rout of DanvilleBY MIKE CARNAHAN (STAFF WRITER mcarnahan@republicanherald.com) Published:
December 6, 2013 Pottsville's Eli Nabholz battled a variety of injuries last winter
and missed most of the Crimson Tide's basketball season. If Friday
is any indication, the now-healthy junior forward could on the verge of a big year. Nabholz had a career-high 19 points,
while Travis Blankenhorn and Jordan Melochick also hit in double figures, as Pottsville opened its season with a 53-34 rout
of Danville at Martz Hall. Nabholz played in only eight games last season, missing the first 15 with a back injury.
In his third game back against Blue Mountain on Jan. 29, he injured his ankle and missed the next four contests. He then returned
for Pottsville's final five games. "It is amazing coming out, especially with the group of guys we have here,"
Nabholz said. "It is just so much fun to be back out and just play hard for a full game. It is a phenomenal feeling,
especially in Martz." Nabholz scored the Tide's first points of the game on a kick-out 3-pointer from John Toomey,
but had his best quarter in the second with eight points. He hit his second 3-pointer of the game, and then muscled his way
inside to score and complete the three-point play after he was fouled. Nabholz's final points of the quarter came on
a spin move in the lane. He added 12 rebounds and also had two blocks. "The key tonight was just my teammates getting
me the ball when I was open," Nabholz said. "I am not a guy who is going to create plays for myself or create plays
for other people. But I just try to be in the right spot and my teammates found me." Blankenhorn added 16 points
and three steals, while Melochick had 15 points, three assists and four steals as the Tide opened the game on an 8-0 run,
led 19-6 after the first quarter and 29-16 at the half. The Ironmen, who finished 19-5 last season and lost to Shikellamy
in the District 4 Class AAA semifinals, returned just one starter from last season in senior Zack Kozick. The Tide wasted
no time in jumping on Danville, forcing seven turnovers in the first quarter, with five on steals, and converting them into
transition points at the other end. It was a perfect start for Pottsville, which had four new starters in its lineup
following last year's fourth consecutive Schuylkill League championship. "We played good coming out and overall
we played solid defensively," Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said. "We have a lot of inexperienced guys and there
are things we are going to get better at. To start off first quarter, we were pretty solid." After Nabholz hit
his 3-pointer and Toomey hit 1-of-2 from the foul line, the Tide's defense took over. Melochick had three steals in the first
five minutes of the game as Pottsville converted all three into points. Melochick set up Blankenhorn after a steal
for a fast-break layup and then, after another steal, Blankenhorn set Melochick up for layup. After Phil Stemm scored the
first points of the game for the Ironmen, Melochick went in for a layup after a steal to give Pottsville a 10-2 lead. Later
in the first, Melochick scored off a baseline drive and competed a three-point play after he was fouled. Blankenhorn added
a layup and scored off an alley-oop from Melochick, while Nabholz scored another fast-break layup. "That was the
deciding factor, getting out ahead," Nabholz said. The Tide finished the game shooting 21-for-45 (47 percent) from
the floor and held Danville to 10-for-39 (26 percent) shooting. But Pottsville did commit 16 turnovers. "We were
good at times and I was happy," Mullaney said. "But we have so many things to clean up. We had so many unforced
turnovers and we are not going to beat too many good teams doing that."
ALL PRACTICE START TIMES ARE FOR THE VARSITY. JV’s
WILL BEGIN 15 MINUTES PRIOR TO THE VARSITY.
| November |
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed
| Thu | Fri | Sat
| | |
| | | |
1
| 2 | | 3 | 4 LIFT 5:00-5:45 Martz 5:45-7:15 Booster Mtg @ martz at 6:30 |
5
| 6 @ Bishop McDevitt Varsity Only | 7 RULES MTG 7:00 Minersville Workout/LIFT 2:45 Boys’ gym
| 8 | 9 | | 10 | 11 Workout 6-7:30 Martz Lift on own | 12 | 13 Workout 3:30-5 Martz | 14 Workout 2:45 Boys’
gym Lift on own |
15
| 16 PHYSICALS
9:00 MS Cafe | | 17 | 18 1st
day of practice 3-5:30 (Parent/teacher 6-8) | 19 Practice 6:00-8:00 | 20 Practice 6:00-8:00 | 21 Practice 3:30-5:30 | 22 OFF |
23 Practice 11:30-1:30 LIFT
10:30 | |
24 11:30-1:30 | 25 Scimmage @ Martz 3:00
Del Valley and Northern Lehigh | 26 Practice 3-5 Kutztown vs Philly
U | 27 2:30-4:30 practice
LIFT 1:45 | 28 THANKSGIVING
OFF | 29 2:00-4:00 |
30 Medball
10:45 Practice 11:30-1:30 |
|
| December |
| Sun
| Mon | Tue | Wed
| Thu | Fri | Sat
| | 1 Practice
11:30-1:30 | 2 Scrimmage vs GAR
3:00 @ Martz | 3 OFF | 4 LIFT 5:00 Practice 6:00-8:00 | 5 Practice 3:30-5:00 | 6 Danville (H) |
7 OFF | | 8 LIFT 1:15
Practice High school 2:00-4:00 | 9 Practice 3:30-5:00 | 10 @Wilson | 11 Medball 5:00 Practice 6:00-8:00 | 12 Practice 3:30-5:00 | 13 @Mifflin | 14 OFF Christmas
Prom | |
15 Practice High
school 11:00-1:00 LIFT 1:00 | 16 Practice 3:30-5:00 | 17 @Williamsport |
18
Medball 2:45 Practice 3:30-5:00 | 19 @ Pine Grove |
20
Berwick (H) | 21 OFF** or
voluntary (Girls off) | | 22 Practice 2:00-4:00 | 23 @ Tamaqua |
24
OFF?
| 25 CHRISTMAS OFF
| 26 LIFT 2:00 Practice 3:00-5:00 |
27
Practice 11:30-1:30 | 28 @ Hamburg | | 29 Medball
1:45 Practice 2:30-4:00 | 30 Nativity
(H)
| 31 OFF | | | | |
|
| | | January |
| Sun | Mon | Tue
| Wed | Thu | Fri
| Sat | |
| | | 1 OFF
| 2 LIFT 5:00 Practice 6:00-8:00 |
3
Practice 3:30-5:00 | 4 Blue Mountain (H) | | 5 | 6 3:30-5:00 | 7 North
Sch (H)
| 8 LIFT 5:00 6:00-8:00 |
9
3:30-5:00 | 10 @ Panther Valley | 11
Salisbury (H)
| | 12 2:30-4:00
| 13 @ Shamokin | 14 Jim Thorpe (H) |
15
OFF
| 16 LIFT 2:45 3:30-5:30 |
17
3:30-5:00 | 18 Muhlenberg (H) | | 19 Medball
11:00 11:30-1:00 | 20 Pine Grove (H) | 21 LIFT 2:45 3:30-5:30 | 22 3:30-5:00 | 23 Tamaqua (H) |
24
OFF
| 25 11:30-1:30
| | 26 2:30-4:00 | 27 @
Blue Mt
| 28 3:00-5:00 Medball 5:00 | 29 3:30-5:00 | 30 @ North Sch |
31
OFF
| 11:30- 1:30
|
| | 2
11:30-1:00 | 3 Panther Valley (H) | 4
Medball 5:30 3:30-5:30 | 5 3:30-5:30 | 6 @ Jim Thorpe
| 7 | 8 |
| 59 Game Win Streak | | Against Schuylkill League Opponents | | | | DATE | PLACE | OPPONENT | W/L | STREAK | | 1/15/2010 | HOME | Jim Thorpe | | | | 1/19/2010 | AWAY | @ Panther Valley | W | 1 | | 1/22/2010 | AWAY | @ Blue Mountain | W | 2 | | 1/26/2010 | HOME | Tamaqua | W | 3 | | 1/29/2010 | AWAY | @ Pine Grove | W | 4 | | 2/2/2010 | AWAY | @ Schuylkill Haven | W | 5 | | 2/5/2010 | HOME | North Schuylkill | W | 6 | | 2/12/2010 | HOME | Panther Valley | W | 7 | | 2/9/2010 | AWAY | @ Jim Thorpe | W | 8 | | 2/17/2010 | PLAYOFF | Williams Valley-semi finals | W | 9 | | 2/19/2010 | PLAYOFF | Marian - Sch League-finals | W | 10 | | 2/27/2010 | PLAYOFF | Panther Valley | W | 11 | | 3/2/2010 | PLAYOFF | Jim Thorpe | W | 12 | | | | | | | | DATE | PLACE | OPPONENT | W/L | STREAK | | 12/21/10 | HOME | Blue Mountain | W | 13 | | 12/23/10 | HOME | Pine Grove | W | 14 | | 12/28/10 | HOME | Schuylkill Haven | W | 15 | | 12/30/10 | HOME | Nativity BVM | W | 16 | | 1/4/11 | AWAY | Panther Valley | W | 17 | | 1/7/11 | AWAY | Tamaqua | W | 18 | | 1/11/11 | HOME | Jim Thorpe | W | 19 | | 1/14/11 | AWAY | North Schuylkill | W | 20 | | 1/20/11 | AWAY | Blue Mountain | W | 21 | | 1/24/11 | AWAY | Pine Grove | W | 22 | | 1/27/11 | HOME | Panther Valley | W | 23 | | 1/31/11 | HOME | Tamaqua | W | 24 | | 2/3/11 | HOME | Jim Thorpe | W | 25 | | 2/7/11 | HOME | North Schuylkill | W | 26 | | 2/15/11 | PLAYOFF | Marian - Playoff | W | 27 | | 2/18/11 | PLAYOFF | Pine Grove - Playoff | W | 28 | | 12/20/2011 | AWAY | Blue Mountain | W | 29 | | 12/23/2011 | HOME | Pine Grove | W | 30 | | 12/27/2011 | AWAY | Schuylkill Haven | W | 31 | | 12/29/2011 | HOME | Nativity | W | 32 | | 1/4/2012 | AWAY | Panther Valley | W | 33 | | 1/6/2012 | HOME | Tamaqua | W | 34 | | 1/10/2012 | AWAY | Jim Thorpe | W | 35 | | 1/13/2012 | HOME | North Schuylkill | W | 36 | | 1/19/2012 | HOME | Blue Mountain | W | 37 | | 1/23/2012 | AWAY | Pine Grove | W | 38 | | 1/26/2012 | HOME | Panther Valley | W | 39 | | 1/30/2012 | AWAY | Tamaqua | W | 40 | | 2/2/2012 | HOME | Jim Thorpe | W | 41 | | 2/6/2012 | AWAY | North Schuylkill | W | 42 | | 2/14/2012 | HOME | Marian | W | 43 | | 2/17/2012 | HOME | Pine Grove | W | 44 | | 12/20/202 | HOME | Pine Grove | W | 45 | | 12/27/2012 | HOME | Nativity | W | 46 | | 1/2/2013 | HOME | Tamaqua | W | 47 | | 1/4/2013 | AWAY | Blue Mountain | W | 48 | | 1/7/2013 | AWAY | North Schuylkill | W | 49 | | 1/10/2013 | Home | Panther Valley | W | 50 | | 1/14/2013 | AWAY | Jim Thorpe | W | 51 | | 1/22/2013 | AWAY | Pine Grove | W | 52 | | 1/25/2013 | AWAY | Tamaqua | W | 53 | | 1/29/2013 | HOME | Blue Mountain | W | 54 | | 2/1/2013 | HOME | North Schuylkill | W | 55 | | 2/5/2013 | AWAY | Panther Valley | W | 56 | | 2/7/2013 | HOME | Jim Thorpe | W | 57 | | 2/13/2013 | HOME | Williams Valley | W | 58 | | 2/15/2013
| HOME | Mahanoy Area | W | 59 |
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