ORWIGSBURG — Allentown Central Catholic is a basketball team that lives and dies by the 3-point shot.

The Vikings were certainly living well Monday night.

ACC combined 10 3-pointers with a stellar defensive effort en route to a 57-41 victory over Pottsville in a District 11 Class 5A boys’ semifinal at Blue Mountain High School.

The victory advances Central Catholic (22-4) to Thursday’s championship game against Colonial League champion Bangor, a 73-57 winner over Blue Mountain in the other semifinal.

The Schuylkill League champion Crimson Tide see their season end at 19-5.

“They were by far the best 3-point shooting team we’ve seen all season. We knew that coming in,” Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said. “They can really shoot it.

“They’re well-coached, have a bunch of skilled guys who share the ball very well and have a great point guard who makes things happen for them.”

ACC got 3-pointers from five players, with point guard Jay Vaughn and Jordan McChristian each hitting three. The Vikings shot nearly 50 percent from beyond the arc, hitting 10-of-21 from 3-point range.

The triples also came in bunches, as 3-pointers by Vaughn, Chad Kratzer and Nick Filchner triggered a 13-2 ACC run to close the first half, then 3-pointers by McChristian, Vaughn and two from Dat Lambert came in a 14-1, third-quarter run that allowed the Vikings to pull away.

“Pottsville is a very good defensive team, and very physical,” Central Catholic coach Dennis Csensits said. “They set the tone early with their defense. About midway through the second quarter, I thought our guys stepped it up defensively and we were able to play with a lead from that point on.”

The 3-pointers were set up by a patient offense that relied upon penetration by Vaughn to draw in the Pottsville defense, then kick-out passes to shooters on the perimeter. The Vikings often made an extra pass after the kick-out to get a wide-open shot.

Vaughn, who led all scorers with 15 points, also had four assists and four rebounds. McChristian tallied 13 points, while Lambert netted 10.

“You live by the three and die by the three, and we have guys that can shoot the ball. But you have to get good shots,” Csensits said. “You have to get rhythm shots, and you have to play inside-out. That’s something we pride ourselves on at the offensive end, attacking the paint. If they take that away, we’ll go inside-out on you.”

Pottsville stayed with the Vikings for one quarter, trailing 13-12 after a back-and-forth opening eight minutes. The Tide’s crutch, however, was turnovers.

Leading 18-13 with 6:34 left in the second quarter, Pottsville committed back-to-back turnovers that led to five straight points by Vaughn to tie the game. In ACC’s third-quarter run, Pottsville turned it over five times, finishing with 14 for the game.

“Our turnovers really hurt us,” Mullaney said. “Normally, we’re pretty good if we turn it over. We throw it into the stands, or travel or it’s a dead ball. Tonight, it led to something like 20 transition points, and I don’t think that’s happened to us all year.

“We couldn’t do that tonight. If we were going to turn it over, we wanted to get back and play 5-on-5. We just didn’t do that.”

Pottsville was also hurt by poor free-throw shooting, as the Crimson Tide were just 6-for-15 from the stripe. Pottsville missed seven of its first nine free throws, six coming with the score still within three points.

“If you’re going to beat a team like Allentown Central, you have to take care of the ball and you’re going to have to make free throws,” Mullaney said. “We failed in those two aspects of the game.”

Kevin Schenk scored eight first-half points and finished with a game-high 13 points for Pottsville, while Ian Renninger tallied 11 points, six rebounds and an impressive block before fouling out in the fourth.

It was the final game for Pottsville’s four seniors — Renninger, Eli Wood, Ryan Kondrack and Noah Nabholz — who helped continue the program’s successful run with another Schuylkill League championship.

“We have nothing to hang our heads about,” Mullaney said. “We had a great year. We’re Schuylkill League champions. We played a tough non-league schedule.

“Give credit to Allentown Central. I think they’re really, really good.”

Contact the writer: Lboyer@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6026; @pubsportsboss on Twitter

Game Summary

District 11 Boys’ Class 5A Semifinal At Blue Mountain H.S.

ALLENTOWN CENTRAL CATHOLIC (57) — J. Vaughn 6 0-0 15, Lambert 3 2-3 10, Kellman 3 0-0 6, McChristian 5 0-0 13, Filchner 2 0-0 5, Kratzer 2 3-4 8, Kern 0 0-1 0, S. Vaughn 0 0-0 0, Lynch 0 0-0 0, Csensits 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 5-8 57.

POTTSVILLE (41) — Schenk 5 1-2 13, Barnes 3 1-2 8, Wood 1 0-4 2, Renninger 4 3-3 11, Kondrack 1 0-0 3, Stanton 1 1-2 4, Hahner 0 0-2 0, Nabholz 0 0-0 0, Sherakas 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 6-15 41.

ACC (22-4) 13 13 20 11 — 57 Potts (19-5) 12 8 13 8 — 41

3-point FGs: J. Vaughn 3, Lambert 2, McChristian 3, Filchner, Kratzer, Schenk 2, Barnes, Kondrack, Stanton

ANDY MATSKO / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Pottsville’s Ian Renninger takes selfies with his teammates after the Crimson Tide defeated Blue Mountain in the Schuylkill League boys’ basketball championship game Friday at Martz Hall. Behind Renninger is teammate Kevin Schenk.

ANDY MATSKO / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Pottsville poses with the trophy after defeating Blue Mountain 48-26 in Friday’s Schuylkill League boys’ basketball championship game at Martz Hall. Team members include, front row, from left: manager Peter Zwiebel, Matt Salata, Pat McCord, Zak Tobin, Ian Renninger, Mason Barnes, Aiden Stanton and Eli Wood; back row, Riley Stanton, Kevin Dicello, J.R. Hahner, Kevin Schenk, Noah Nabholz, Ryan Kondrack, Damon Yost, Trevor Sherakas and Stephen McCloud.

POTTSVILLE — As the final buzzer went off Friday night, Pottsville’s Ian Renninger got his hands on a cell phone and took a selfie of himself and a few of his teammates on the Crimson Tide bench.

It’s been a comeback season for Pottsville, and it was time to celebrate another championship.

Eli Wood (16 points), Mason Barnes (11) and Renninger (11) all reached double figures in scoring to back up a stifling defensive effort as the Crimson Tide rolled to a 48-26 victory over Blue Mountain in the Schuylkill League boys’ basketball title game.

Friday marked Pottsville’s ninth consecutive appearance in the championship game and its seventh league title since 2010. This season, however, was just the second time during that span that the Crimson Tide (19-4) didn’t enter as the defending league champs.

The Eagles were after their 47-39 victory last season. But Pottsville was back on top in what’s become an all-too-familiar position Friday.

Blue Mountain handed the Crimson Tide their only regular-season league loss 55-47 on Jan. 9. Since then, Pottsville has won 14-of-15, and all of the wins, outside of one, have been by double digits.

“Last year we took a hard loss,” said Renninger, who’s been involved in three Crimson Tide league titles. “Last year was in the back of our heads when we came out on the floor tonight. We had to come out and execute offensively and defensively and we really did tonight.”

Renninger grabbed seven rebounds, while Barnes had a solid overall game, adding nine boards, five assists and three steals.

“I am very excited to get my first Schuylkill League championship,” said Barnes, a sophomore. “We played hard the whole game. We never stopped playing. We played hard on the defensive end. We didn’t make it easy for them.”

Indeed not.

Gavin Conway led the Eagles (19-5) with 10 points, with seven coming in the first half. Blue Mountain came in averaging 58.4 points per game and had defeated Lourdes 78-58 in the semifinals Tuesday.

As is often the case, however, Pottsville’s defense had a huge role in Friday’s victory. It’s an example of how far the Crimson Tide have come since their loss to Blue Mountain in January.

Drew Grace, Blue Mountain’s leading scorer at 13.7 points per game, including 64 3-pointers, scored 35 in first meeting Jan. 9. He was held to three Friday on a 3-pointer in the third quarter.

Nate Nabholz, who had a big night during the Eagles’ victory over Lourdes on Tuesday, tying Grace for the team lead in points with 21, had two Friday. That came on a putback in the fourth quarter.

Blue Mountain ended the night 13-for-41 (32 percent) from the field, and 3-for-16 (19 percent) from beyond the arc. The Eagles also turned the ball over 17 times, while the 26 points they scored was a season low.

“The best part about it is we are playing our best basketball at the right time,” Renninger said. “We are such a different team since that first game (Jan. 9). We knew we had to come back. We watched the film and we saw we weren’t playing as hard as we could. We’ve been playing our best basketball recently and hopefully that will carry us into districts.”

One of the Crimson Tide’s biggest defensive moments of the night came in the third quarter.

Up 33-18, Pottsville put the game away for good with steals on three consecutive Eagles’ possessions. A steals by Barnes turned into a layup by Wood, while another swipe by Wood resulted with his own layup. The quarter ended with a steal by Wood that turned into a layup by Renninger, making it 39-18.

“We didn’t want to make it easy for them to get shots off,” Barnes said. “We knew if we were pressuring them, it wouldn’t be easy for them to score. We kept pressuring them the whole game.”

A steal by Barnes led to him making 1-of-2 free throws, giving the Crimson Tide the lead for good at 3-2 at 6:22 of the first quarter. The Eagles got to within two points twice, at 9-7 on a 3-pointer by Conway and a layup off the baseline by Conway at 1:31 to make it 11-9. Renninger found his outside shooting touch, hitting a jumper from the foul line and then finishing the quarter by hitting a 3-pointer from the top of the circle with 3 seconds left to make it 16-9.

The 3 was just the just the second of the season for Renninger. He later had a two-handed jam in the third quarter to give Pottsville a 27-13 advantage, making it the first time Renninger can remember he hit a 3-pointer and had a dunk in the same game.

“I think I was more excited to hit the 3 than the dunk in this game” Renninger said. “That was a real spark to our team and we just rolled that into the second quarter.”

And the rest of the night, for that matter.

Contact the writer: mcarnahan@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6010; @mdcarnahan71 on Twitter

Game Summary

Schuylkill League Boys’ Final At Martz Hall

BLUE MOUNTAIN (26) — Grace 1 0-0 3, O’Donnell 3 1-3 7, Conway 4 0-0 10, McKivigan 0 0-0 0, Lipko 0 0-0 0, Dean 0 0-0 0, Nabholz 1 0-0 2, O’Keefe 2 0-0 4, J. Biever 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 1-3 26.

POTTSVILLE (48) — Schenk 1 0-0 2, Sherakas 0 0-0 0, Barnes 4 3-4 11, Yost 0 0-0 0, Wood 6 4-5 16, Nabholz 0 0-0 0, A. Stanton 2 0-0 6, R. Stanton 0 0-0 0, McCord 0 0-0 0, Tobin 0 0-0 0, Renninger 5 0-0 11, Kondrack 1 0-0 2, Dicello 0 0-0 0, Hahner 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 7-9 48.

BM (19-5) 9 4 5 8 — 26 Potts (19-4) 16 7 16 9 — 48

3-point FGs: Conway 2, Grace, A. Stanton 2, Renninger

POTTSVILLE — The rivalry between Blue Mountain and Pottsville is one of, if not, the best in the Schuylkill League.

The schools’ boys’ basketball programs have certainly taken that rivalry to a higher level in recent years.

It will continue tonight when the Division I wild card Eagles (19-4) take on the Division I champ Crimson Tide (18-4) for the league title at 7:30 at Martz Hall.

Both teams reached tonight’s title game with blowout wins in the semifinals Tuesday. Blue Mountain beat Division II champion Lourdes 78-58, while Pottsville downed Division III champion Panther Valley 76-36.

Tonight’s game will mark the third consecutive year the two have met for the league championship. Pottsville won 65-55 in 2016, while Blue Mountain knocked off Pottsville 47-39 last year, and it’s the continuation of a trend that started five years ago.

As division rivals, the two get together twice every season. But what has brought even more fuel to this rivalry is that fact that the programs have met every year at least one time in the postseason since the 2013-14 season. In fact, tonight will be the seventh time since 2013-14 the Eagles and Crimson Tide have gotten together for a postseason contest. That included two games in 2014 — Division I tiebreaker and District 11 Class AAA semifinal — and again in 2016 — Schuylkill League and D-11 AAA title games.

Overall, tonight will be the 17th time the two have gotten together in the past five seasons.

So how do these teams prepare for an opponent they are so familiar with?

“I think last year we only had one day, I think we were the Wednesday game,” Eagles coach Dustin Werdt said, referring to last year’s league playoffs. “When we typically play a team, we like to have two days to prepare for them, like Lourdes. It was nice to have two days to get through their sets and talk about what they are going to do defensively and their out-of-bounds plays.

“There is no hidden secret with Pottsville. We are going to follow our typical two-day routine as we always do, even though we won’t need as much time as we normally need. We are not going to get out of our norm just because we know a lot about them. We are still going to sit down and watch some more film

on them and try to figure out what they did to us in the third quarter a little bit more the last time we played them (Pottsville’s 55-45 win in the regular season Feb. 1).”

Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney is taking a similar approach.

“It is difficult,” he said. “You start thinking about, you know all the sets they run throughout the course of the year and you think to yourself ‘What are they going to do this time?’ I think, from our perspective, we try to think about what they may go to, but we still want to cover everything. We don’t want to forget something, leave something out and then regret it come Friday.”

The competitiveness of a rivalry makes this game even better. While the Crimson Tide have, overall, dominated the series through the years, outside of Mahanoy Area, which beat Pottsville for the league title in 2014, the only team in the league in recent years to give the Crimson Tide trouble is Blue Mountain. The Eagles will enter tonight on a two-game winning streak at Martz Hall and have won three of the past four meetings.

This year’s regular-season meetings between the two give at hint of what to look for tonight.

In their first meeting Jan. 9, Eagles junior Drew Grace lit up Martz Hall with a career-high 35 points, including eight 3-pointers. Blue Mountain junior Gavin Conway added 10 points and 10 rebounds as the Eagles drained 11 3s in the game.

Pottsville won the rematch 55-45, using a 20-5 scoring advantage in the third quarter to pull away for the win. Crimson Tide sophomores Kevin Schenk and Mason Barnes had 16 and 12 points, respectively, in the game, while senior Ian Renninger had a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Not only was the Crimson Tide’s defense superior in the third quarter, but offensively, Pottsville’s dribble penetration hurt the Eagles all night long.

Mullaney doesn’t believe there is one specific thing the Crimson Tide, who have won 12 out of their last 13 games since the loss to Blue Mountain on Jan. 9, have to do tonight to win. He does, however, know Pottsville has to guard the 3-point line. The Eagles’ drained 13s in Tuesday’s semifinals against the Red Raiders’ zone, as junior Nate Nabholz and Grace scored 21 points apiece and Conway added 19.

The Eagles have hit 151 3-pointers this season.

“I think this team has grown maybe more than other teams that we have,” Mullaney said. “We need to put everything together Friday and that is our half-court offense, our transition, our defense, our rebounding. We just need to put it all together and play a really good game and beat a really good team.”

It is the same deal for the Eagles, who might be without one of their regular starters tonight. Senior center Jakob Biever missed most of Tuesday’s semifinal after he left the game early on with an injury. Werdt is unsure of his status for tonight. If Biever is unable to go, sophomore Blake Lipko will likely start in his place.

“Basketball is not an overly complicated game,” Werdt said. “We need to make shots, we need to defend and rebound and not turn the ball over. You do those things you are going to be successful no matter who you are playing. We got beat off the dribble quite a bit the last time we played them, so if they continue to do that we are probably going to be in trouble because that means we are not defending very well. Offensively, it is going to be a grind. They make you work to score.”

Contact the writer: mcarnahan@republicanherald

                                                                    

JACQUELINE DORMER / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Pottsville’s Eli Wood goes to the basket as Panther Valley’s Rene Figueroa defends during the Schuylkill League boys’ basketball semifinals Tuesday at Martz Hall.

JACQUELINE DORMER / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Pottsville's Ian Renninger goes to the basket as Panther Valley's Mark Sanchez defends during the Schuylkill League boys' basketball semifinals at Martz Hall in Pottsville on Tuesday evening, February 13, 2018.

                                                         

POTTSVILLE — The Pottsville boys’ basketball team has been struggling in recent games with its outside shooting.

The Crimson Tide picked the perfect time to come out of their slump.

Ryan Kondrack finished with a season-high 14 points, including three first-half 3-pointers, as Pottsville led from start to finish and rolled past Panther Valley 76-36 in a Schuylkill League semifinal Tuesday at Martz Hall.

Kondrack connected on his first two shots of the game as Pottsville (18-4) built an early lead, watched it grow and finally put the game away in the third quarter.

Next up for the Crimson Tide is rival Blue Mountain (19-4) in the championship game Friday night at Martz Hall. The Eagles, the Division I wild card, downed Division II champ Lourdes 78-58 in Tuesday’s other semifinal.

It will be the third consecutive year the two have met in the title game. Pottsville won 65-47 in 2016, while the Eagles grabbed the championship last year 47-39. The Crimson Tide will be playing in their eighth consecutive title game Friday night.

“It feels great,” Kondrack said. “Last year we didn’t come

out like we wanted to, but with the team we have right now, I believe we can win.”

Ian Renninger had a double-double for Pottsville with a game-high 16 points to go along with 11 rebounds. Kevin Schenk added 12 points for the Crimson Tide, while Mason Barnes had seven points, 10 assists and four steals. Eli Wood contributed seven points, five rebounds and five assists.

Kondrack came into the night averaging 3.8 points per game this season and was third on the team in 3-pointers with 21. His previous season high in points was nine in the season opener Dec. 8 against Glen Mills.

But Kondrack got a wide-open look from the corner on Pottsville’s first offensive possession and drained the shot. About a 1:30 later, Kondrack was open from the corner again and knocked it down the shot to make it 6-0.

“It’s definitely important,” Kondrack said about hitting his first shot of the game. “That got a spark going, and after I made the first shot, I was confident to shoot more. And once I keep hitting them, I felt good.

“This season, I haven’t been making my shots like I have in the past. But tonight this was good stuff from me.”

Kondrack’s third 3-pointer of the first half came on Pottsville’s first possession of the second quarter to make it 21-10. He scored on a layup on the Crimson Tide’s first possession of the third quarter to make it 34-19, while his final 3 of the night came on Pottsville’s first possession of the fourth. That made the score 58-25.

The Crimson Tide were 10-of-22 from 3-point land in the game, including 5-of-13 in the first half.

Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said the Crimson Tide would be able to get some looks against Panther Valley’s zone. They did, and knocked down more than enough shots against it.

“We were just trying to attack the middle guy there, and we knew just by watching on film that if we got a shooter on that wing they weren’t really going to cover that’” Mullaney said. “We thought that it would be there, and if it was, we would be able to get short corner or high post out of it. That was kind of open the whole game.”

For the Panthers, who were making their first trip to the league playoffs since 2000, to have a chance, they needed to get off to a fast start offensively. Panther Valley was looking to push the ball and play an up-tempo game.

It worked at times, but the shots didn’t fall.

Panther Valley was 3-of-16 from the floor in the first quarter and 6-for-28 (21 percent) in the first half. The Panthers also turned the ball over seven times over the first 16 minutes and 21 times in the game.

“In the first half, I wasn’t very disappointed with our defense,” Panther Valley coach Pat Crampsie said. “Offensively, we shot the ball uncharacteristic of how we have been throughout the year. That really hurt. If a couple of those drop, it is a little tighter at halftime.”

Sophomore Brandon Stilitino, who led the Panthers with 12 points, hit consecutive 3s to pull Panther Valley to within 11-8 with 3:01 left in the first quarter. That was as close of the Panthers got.

Rene Figueroa, Panther Valley’s leading scorer at 19.6 points per game, was guarded by Wood most of the night and was held to nine points Tuesday. Tristan Blasko (14.5) had four.

The Crimson Tide’s defense really exerted itself in the third quarter. Kondrack’s layup started a 13-0 Crimson Tide run that opened the advantage to 45-19. Panther Valley turned the ball over eight times during the run and got off just two shots.

“It is just something you can’t replicate in practice no matter how hard you try,” Crampsie said of Pottsville’s defense. “That’s why we wanted to force the issue and push the ball. But even when we got some looks in the first half, shots didn’t fall for us.”

Contact the writer: mcarnahan@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6010; @mdcarnahan71 on Twitter

Game Summary

Schuylkill League Semifinal At Martz Hall

PANTHER VALLEY (36) — Marcharro 1 0-0 2, Stilitino 4 0-0 12, Turner 0 0-0 0, Figueroa 4 1-2 9, Depew 1 0-0 3, Distler 0 0-0 0, White 1 0-0 2, Blasko 2 0-0 4, Perez 0 0-2 0, Sanchez 0 0-0 0, Predente 0 0-0 0, Wallace 1 0-0 3, Krapf 0 0-0 0, Brettle 0 0-0 0, Buzzard 0 0-0 0, Juracka 0 0-0 0, Berk 0 0-0 0, Hoban 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 2-6 36.

POTTSVILLE (76) — Schenk 5 0-0 12, Sherakas 0 0-0 0, Barnes 3 1-2 7, Yost 1 0-0 2, Wood 3 1-3 7, Nabholz 1 0-0 2, A. Stanton 1 0-0 3, R. Stanton 0 0-0 0, McCord 1 0-0 3, Tobin 2 0-1 5, Renninger 6 4-5 16, Kondrack 5 0-0 14, Dicello 0 0-0 0, Hahner 2 0-0 5. Totals 30 6-11 76.

PV (15-8) 8 8 9 11 — 36 Po (18-4) 18 14 23 21 — 76

3-point FGs: Stilitino 4, Depew, Wallace, Schank 2, A. Stanton, McCord, Tobin, Kondrack 4, Hahner

 

 

ORWIGSBURG — It seems like “defense” and “Pottsville boys’ basketball” are synonyms.

It’s hard to talk about one without mentioning the other.

After a somewhat disappointing effort in the first half, Pottsville’s defense asserted itself a big way in the third quarter of Thursday’s Schuylkill League Division I showdown at Blue Mountain.

The Crimson Tide rode it all the way to a win.

And control of the division.

Kevin Schenk had a game-high 16 points, but it was a 20-5 scoring advantage in the third quarter, led by the defense, that carried Pottsville to a 55-45 victory.

The win was the ninth straight for the Crimson Tide (15-3, 11-1 D-I) and clinched their ninth consecutive trip to the Schuylkill League playoffs. More importantly, Pottsville took over first place in the division by a game over the Eagles (16-4, 10-2).

The Crimson Tide will clinch the division title outright if they win their final two league games — North Schuylkill (Monday) and Tamaqua (Feb. 8). However a combination of one Pottsville win and a loss by the Eagles in their two final games — Pine Grove (Monday) and Lehighton (Feb. 8) — will give the Crimson Tide the championship, too.

“We knew we needed a big win to get that No. 1 seed in the division,” Pottsville’s Mason Barnes said. “So

we just grind hard at practice, came to the game with a focused mind-set and got stuff done.”

Barnes had an overall solid game with 12 points, five rebounds, three assists and four steals. In his first game since Jan. 22, Ian Renninger came off the bench to put up a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds for Pottsville. Eli Wood also had 10 points and five boards for the Crimson Tide.

Drew Grace led the Eagles, who lost their third straight game, with 15 points, all on 3-pointers. Jakob Biever added 12 points and eight rebounds for Blue Mountain.

The Eagles won the first meeting between the clubs 55-47 on Jan. 9 at Martz Hall. Blue Mountain got off to a strong start offensively Thursday and led 29-24 at the half. A 3-pointer by Gavin Conway from the corner on the Eagles’ first possession of the first half made it 32-24.

Then Pottsville’s defense showed up and took over the game.

The Crimson Tide picked up the intensity with their full-count pressure and proceeded to go on a 20-0 run. It started on drive by Wood — he was fouled and missed the free throw — and ended with a layup by Barnes at 1:03, making it 44-32.

“We were disappointed in our defense in the first half,” Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said. “That is not taking anything away from Blue Mountain, but we were not playing 100 percent. Against a good team like Blue Mountain, you need to be going 100 percent on the defensive end, or they are going to put up 29 points, which is just way too many for us against anybody. They can’t get 29 points in a half.”

The Eagles turned the ball over six times the third quarter and finished 2-of-10 from the floor, including a 1-of-7 showing from beyond the arc. Biever finally stopped the bleeding when he scored on a layup with 36 remaining.

“They defended tough the whole way and they have a way of wearing you down,” Blue Mountain coach Dustin Werdt said. “Eventually you are going to hit a little bit of a slump with how hard they defend every time. I thought we took some bad shots and had some turnovers. It was the turnovers, more than anything, that swayed the game.”

The Eagles got to within eight points twice the fourth quarter, the final time at 54-46 on a Grace 3 at 1:48, but that as close as Blue Mountain got.

After scoring 35 points in the first meeting, Grace scored 12 in the first half Thursday, but his late-game 3 was his only points of the second half. Wood guarded Grace most of the night, while JR Hahner took over when Wood got into foul trouble in the second quarter.

Offensively, Pottsville absolutely killed the Eagles with their dribble penetration as the Crimson Tide did almost all their damage inside paint. Pottsville struggled in the first quarter, hitting 2-of-18 (11 percent) from the floor, but were 21-of-40 (53 percent) the rest of the way.

The Crimson Tide also grabbed 11 offensive rebounds.

Pottsville hasn’t lost since falling to the Eagles the first time around, and have won by an average of 23.8 points per game. The closest was a 48-43 victory at Wilson West Lawn last Saturday.

“We were fired up about that loss,” Barnes said. “We knew we had to come back from it.”

The Crimson Tide have so far.

Contact the writer: mcarnahan@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6010; @mdcarnahan71 on Twitter

Game Summary

POTTSVILLE (55) — Schenk 7 1-2 16, Sherakas 0 0-0 0, Barnes 6 0-0 12, Wood 3 4-8 10, Nabholz 0 0-0 0, A. Stanton 1 1-2 4, Reinninger 5 0-2 10, Kondrack 0 0-0 0, Hahner 1 1-2 3. Totals 23 7-16 55.

BLUE MOUNTAIN (45) — Grace 5 0-0 15, O’Donnell 3 0-2 6, Conway 2 0-2 5, McKivigan 0 0-0 0, Lipko 1 0-0 2, Nabholz 1 0-0 3, O’Keefe 1 0-0 2, J. Biever 6 0-1 12. Totals 19 0-5 45.

Po (15-3, 11-1) 9 15 20 11 — 55 BM (16-4, 10-2) 14 15 5 11 — 45

3-point FGs: Schenk, A. Stanton, Grace 5, Conway, Nabholz

JV score: Blue Mountain 45-37

                                                                    

 

ANDY MATSKO / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Blue Mountain’s Gavin Conway, left, shoots over Pottsville’s Trevor Sherakas during Tuesday night’s Schuylkill League Division I boys’ basketball game at Martz Hall. Conway finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds in the Eagles’ 55-47 win.

POTTSVILLE — The Blue Mountain boys’ basketball team is looking to carve a new identity for itself this season.

Junior guard Drew Grace has certainly done that so far. So have the rest of the Eagles for that matter.

Grace lit up Martz Hall with a career-high 35 points, while Blue Mountain closed out the game on a 9-0 run to down Pottsville 55-47 in a Schuylkill League Division I contest Tuesday evening.

The contest was the first meeting between the two rivals since the Eagles knocked off the Crimson Tide 47-39 in last season’s Schuylkill League championship game at Martz Hall. This is, however, almost an entirely new team for Blue Mountain this year as the Eagles returned just one starter.

Blue Mountain has already pulled off some big wins this season. Tuesday’s was perhaps the biggest yet.

“Coming out here and getting a win against Pottsville is huge for this program and huge for our season,” Grace said. “The ultimate goal is to get back here at the end of February.

“We are streaking a little bit in the league. We just have to finish strong.”

Gavin Conway added a double-double for the Eagles (10-1, 5-0 D-I) with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Nathan Nabholz and Jakob Biever grabbed five rebounds apiece.

Eli Wood led Pottsville (6-3, 3-1) with 19 points, six rebounds and five assists. Aiden Stanton and Ian Renninger added eight points apiece.

Grace is one of Blue Mountain’s new starters this season and so far had been one of the Eagles’ top offensive threats.

He outdid himself Tuesday.

Grace’s night included eight 3-pointers as the Eagles finished 11-for-17 (65 percent) from beyond the arc. That was a higher percentage than Blue Mountain’s 7-for-18 (39 percent) performance from inside the arc.

Grace wasn’t shooting 3s from just beyond the line; he usually fired them up 5-7 feet beyond the arc, as his

high-arching shots over the defense more often than not went in the basket.

“Both my parents went to school here,” said Grace, who broke his hand 11 games into last season and missed the rest of the year. “I love shooting at Martz Hall, it is one of my favorite places to play. I just have to give it up from the guys to Pottsville, they played real tough defense all night long. I also have to give it up to my teammates, they got me the ball when I was open and I was able to make shots.

“There was a little something in the air tonight.”

Grace also saved his best for last, scoring 12 points in the fourth quarter, knocking down three 3s in the process. He hit a trey from the corner at 6:58 and banked in a 3 at 4:41, but his biggest shot came with 2:45 remaining when his final 3-pointer of the night gave the Eagles the lead for good at 49-47.

It came on the following possession after Renninger gave Pottsville a 47-46 lead when scored off a miss by Wood.

Grace’s 3 started a game-ending run that finally allowed the Eagles to pull away for good.

Jack McKivigan hit 1-of-2 from the line at 2:19, while Conway scored on a drive with 1:20 remaining. Grace then iced the win, hitting 3-of-4 from the foul line to set the final.

While Grace had a big game, a key to the Eagles’ success is how well they take care of the ball. Blue Mountain committed 17 turnovers Tuesday, with 12 in the first half. The Eagles had three in the fourth quarter, but none over the game-clinching run.

“We took care of the ball,” Blue Mountain coach Dustin Werdt said. “We didn’t have many turnovers late in the game. I thought we were contesting most shots defensively.”

The Crimson Tide finished the night 19-of-55 (35 percent) from the floor and missed their last six shots of the game. Pottsville found itself playing from behind most the night before finally grabbing the lead three times in the fourth quarter.

But the Crimson Tide couldn’t finish it out.

“We struggled offensively,” Pottsville coach Dave Mullaney said. “They are a good defensive team. I just thought they outplayed us the whole game to be honest with you, it wasn’t just the last couple of minutes. Obviously Drew played really, really well and hit some big shots for them.

“We have to be better all-around but give credit to Blue Mountain, they played a great game.”

Contact the writer: mcarnahan@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6010; @mdcarnahan71 on Twitter

Game Summary

BLUE MOUNTAIN (55) — Grace 12 3-4 35, O’Donnell 0 0-1 0, Conway 3 2-2 10, McKivigan 1 3-4 6, Lipko 0 0-0 0, Nabholz 0 0-0 0, O’Keefe 0 0-0 0, J. Biever 2 0-1 4. Totals 18 8-12 55.

POTTSVILLE (47) — Schenk 1 1-2 3, Sherakas 0 0-0 0, Barnes 2 2-4 6, Wood 8 2-3 19, Nabholz 0 1-2 1, A. Stanton 3 0-0 8, Renninger 4 0-1 8, Hahner 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 6-12 47.

BM (10-1, 5-0) 14 10 12 19 — 55 Potts (6-3, 3-1) 10 13 13 11 — 47

3-point FGs: Grace 8, Conway 2, McKivigan, Wood, A. Stanton 2

JV score: Pottsville 52-45