MEMORY LANE: 1984, Tide brings home long-awaited crown
PHYLLIS
MCNELIS / THE REPUBLICAN The Pottsville boys' basketball team shows its fans who is No. 1 after defeating Northern Lehigh
60-54 for the District 11 Class AAA championship March 9, 1984, at Lehigh University's Stabler Arena, Bethlehem. The district
title was the Crimson Tide's first since 1942.
Editor's note: Pottsville defeated
Northern Lehigh to win its first District 11 basketball championship since 1942 on Friday, March 9, 1984. Here is a reprint
of the story from the March 10 edition of The Pottsville REPUBLICAN:
BETHLEHEM - Pottsville is the District 11 Class
AAA boys' basketball champion.
For the first time since 1942, a Crimson Tide team can lay claim to a district basketball
title.
But the long and arduous 42-year struggle to get back to the throne room didn't come in a cakewalk as most
of their other 30 wins did.
Instead, Pottsville had to battle from beginning to end to defeat Northern Lehigh 60-54
Friday.
In the end it was the Crimson Tide's foul shooting that turned the trick.
Pottsville, which sports
a gaudy 31-1 record and a 29-game winning streak, was a 24-of-32 from the foul line, 10-of-12 in the fourth quarter.
Pottsville will enter interdistrict play on March 16 against York Catholic, the fifth-place team from District 3.
Northern Lehigh, 26-5, didn't allow Pottsville to get its run-and-destroy offense going and, with 4:05 left in the fourth
period, they tied the
game at 48-48 when Keith Oertner hit a three-point play.
The Tide survives
From
there, it was a matter of survival.
After Mick Kondrack, who finished with 12 points, hit a 16-footer from the left
side, Oertner made a steal when Pottsville was spreading the floor, extracting precious seconds from the clock.
Jeff
Jones, who had a game-high 15 points, converted after the steal for another tie, this one at 50-50, with 1:55 left in the
game. But Pottsville's Mike Sukeena, who scored six of his team-high 14 points in the fourth period, responded with a long
shot from deep in the corner for a 52-50 Pottsville lead with 1:29 remaining.
It was from this point, to the finish,
that Pottsville's foul-line shooting would allow breathing room.
Tony Bacon, who also scored six in the fourth period,
12 in the game, connected on four-of-six free throws, and Sukeena on two-of-two.
The closest the Bulldogs would come
in the remaining minute was five points.
Pottsville's defense played a large part in the fourth period when they caused
four Bulldogs' turnovers, converting three of them into points. The Tide also came up with two blocked shots.
"We
won it in the defensive end of the floor," Pottsville coach Jim Steidle said. "Especially in the fourth quarter
and we especially did a nice job in the last four minutes."
Northern Lehigh was held to only six points in those
last four minutes.
Both teams were tentative in the first half, their shooting was off. Pottsville was nine-for-25,
Northern Lehigh 10-for-34, and they combined for 13 turnovers, seven by the Bulldogs.
At one point in the first period,
Pottsville was one-for-six from the field and had four turnovers. But, surprisingly, the Crimson Tide was ahead 10-8 after
overcoming a five-point deficit.
Northern Lehigh's first period was paced by Brett Jones, who scored four of his 14
points, but Nabholz banged in six for Pottsville and Omar Payne was controlling the boards with five of his game-high 14 rebounds,
allowing Pottsville to take a 15-12 lead after one period.
"Omar was the only guy who did a good job for us on
the boards in the first half," Steidle said. "I thought he played well all night. He blocked some shots (six) and
he did some positive things for us."
Things changed drastically in the second quarter, however, as the Bulldogs
outscored Pottsville 10-8 and took charge of the boards with a 14-5 bulge with everyone sharing in the advantage.
Northern
Lehigh had eight offensive rebounds in the second quarter and converted four of them.
"They were hammering us,"
Steidle said.
Nevertheless, Pottsville still remained in control, 23-22, after gaining the lead at the 3:18 mark of
the period on a layup by Kondrack.
Pottsville was using Sukeena to help bring the ball up in the first half because
Northern Lehigh was pressuring Bacon, Pottsville's masterful point guard. However, it was changing the rhythm of the team
so at halftime, Steidle switched back.
"We wanted to get the ball in Tony's hands (in the second half). We had
no fears that he could beat the kid one-on-one, it was just that we thought it would be easier the other way.
"But,
when I saw what happened to the team offensively, I thought let's go back and put the ball in Tony's hands and see what happens
from that point on."
What happened was Pottsville started clicking a little more rhythmatically, taking a 42-38
lead after three periods.
Sukeena collected six points, four from the foul line as he was now more involved in the
offensive flow, and Kondrack and Payne added four each.
The Bulldogs, who fell behind by six on several occasions,
saw Brett Jones bang in six points and Jeff Jones five, but they were also getting in deep foul trouble with Oertner and Jeff
Jones picking up their fourth fouls.
Nabholz picked up his third personal in the third period and went to the bench,
but Bill Heffner came in to add three points and two rebounds for Pottsville.
Then in the fourth period, after the
Bulldogs ran off five straight points, four by Jeff Jones, the struggle began.
As one guy in the Pottsville locker
room said, "It wasn't easy, but it was effective."
Pottsville hit 40 percent to the Bulldogs' 39, but was
outrebounded 37-35.
Game Summary
District 11 Class 3A Championship At Stabler
Arena, Bethlehem March 9, 1984
NORTHERN LEHIGH (54) - Gombes
3 0-1 6, Bechtel 0 0-0 0, Evans 0 0-0 0, B. Jones 7 0-1 14, J. Jones 6 3-3 15, Thomas 2 1-2 5, Howell 1 0-0 2, Oertner 4 4-8
12. Totals 23 8-15 54.
POTTSVILLE (60) - Bacon 4 4-8 12, Payne 3 1-2 7,
Kondrack 4 4-4 12, Sukeena 4 6-8 14, Nabholz 3 6-6 12, Painter 0 0-0 0, Heffner 0 3-4 3. Totals 18 24-32 60.
NL (26-5) 12 10 16 16 - 54 Potts (31-1) 15 8 19 18 - 60
Facts, figures
- Pottsville's first District 11 basketball title came in 1942, when the Tide defeated Catasauqua 49-34 at the Reading
Northwest Junior High gym. Pottsville won the East Penn League title that season, defeating Hazleton in a game played at the
Palestra in Philadelphia.
- Prior to 1984, Schuylkill Haven had won District 11 titles in 1950 (Class B), 1954 (B)
and 1968 (C).
- In the PIAA playoffs, Haven defeated Mount Penn 70-62 before falling to Sacred Heart 58-56. Pottsville
lost in the first round, 65-63 in double overtime to York Catholic. Allentown Central Catholic, which Pottsville beat in the
district semifinals, won the Class AAA state title.
- Both the Crimson Tide and Hurricanes repeated as District 11
boys' champions in 1985. Again, Pottsville fell in the first round of the PIAA playoffs, 54-51 to Middletown. Haven again
reached the second round, beating Mount Penn 65-53 before losing 71-63 to Old Forge.
