Shazier Bethea led Minersville with 15 points followed by Bradley Kostishak who scored 10 points. Dante Carr chipped in seven points in the win.

"It was crazy playing out there," said Minersville's Shazier Bethea. "They were playing great defense, we just had to stick with it and keep going."

It was a defensive battle early on as both teams struggled to find the basket. Pottsville led 2-0 for four plus minutes in the first quarter.

Minersville's head coach Dave Mullaney added: "Pottsville was so good defensively putting pressure on the passing lanes."

The Battlin' Miners closed the quarter strong to take a 7-6 lead and didn't trail since.

Minersville started the second quarter on a quick 7-0 run to extend the lead to 14-6.

"We were just trying to get the ball reversed," said Mullaney. "We wanted to sustain offense and not turn the ball over."

Bethea scored five of his 15 points in the second quarter as Minersville took a 16-10 lead at the break.

Coming out of the break, the mindset was simple for Minersville.

"We wanted to keep going and show fight," said Bethea.

The Crimson Tide battled back in the second half, they cut Minersville's lead to six midway through the third quarter.

Minersville stayed poised as they closed the quarter out on a 7-2 run, capped off by a Jordan Bowers triple as time expired.

"We were looking sloppy a little bit," said Bethea. "Then we started to get it together."

The Crimson Tide gave their fans renewed hope in the fourth quarter as they went on a 9-4 run to cut the lead to 35-30 with two minutes left.

Pottsville's Derek Watkins scored seven points in the half, adding a bucket to cut the lead to 35-32.

Pottsville forced a turnover on Minersville's next possession but couldn't convert as they missed a fast break layup.

Up 37-32, Minersville's Jordan Bowers pulled up and hit a jumper to extend the lead to 39-32.

Pottsville came up short on their next possession. Bethea closed the game out nailing four straight free throws to secure the 44-34 win.

"I thought some of our guys stepped up and made key plays," said Mullaney. "Our guys had to make individual plays and were able to do that."

Kostishak added: "It feels great and it was a big win." "It's one step closer to the Schuylkill leagues."

The Battlin' Miners knew how big this win was.

"Pottsville is a really talented team and very well coached," said Mullaney. "So we feel really fortunate to come away with a win."

Letrel Montone led Pottsville with 13 points. Ryder Bowers scored 11 in the loss.

Minersville will look to stay hot as they travel to Danville Saturday at 2 p.m. Pottsville will look to bounce back as they travel to North Schuylkill Monday at 7:30 p.m.

Minersville (44) - Bethea 5 5-6 15, Manning 1 0-0 2, Kostishak 5 0-0 10, Carr 3 1-2 7, Bowers 3 1-2 8, Zimerofsky 0 0-0 0, Halford 0 0-0 0, Hutsko 1 0-0 2,

Pottsville 34 - Alvarez 1 0-0 2, Bowers 4 0-0 11, Montone 5 3-7 13, Watkins 3 1-1 8, Ivy 0 0-0 0, Bainbridge 0 0-0 0, McGinley 0 0-0 0, Clews 0 0-0 0.

Potts (3-1, 2-1) - 6 4 10 14 - 34

Min (4-0, 3-0) - 7 9 15 13 - 44

Originally Published: December 12, 2024 at 11:09 PM EST

Crimson Tide Clips The Eagles Wings 

Pottsville 53, Blue Mountain 46

POTTSVILLE - The Crimson Tide improved to 2-0 after defeating Blue Mountain, 53-46.

Letrel Montone led Pottsville with 14 points. Derek Watkins chipped in 13 points in the win.

Aidan Grace led the Eagles with 15 points as they came up short.

Blue Mountain (46) - Meade 2 0-0 5, Guers 1 2-4 4, Werner 2 0-0 4, Grace 5 2-2 15, Kirby 1 0-0 2, Baldwin 2 0-0 4, Gaddy 1 0-0 3, Brayford 4 0-1 9.

Pottsville (53) - Alvarez 4 2-4 11, Bowers 3 0-0 9, Montone 3 7-11 14, Watkins 5 0-4 13, Bainbridge 0 0-2 0, Hughes-Crane 0 0-0 0, McGinley 0 0-0 0. Flucker-White 0 0-0 0. Ivy 2 - 0 2-3 6

BM (0-2, 0-1) 13 15 6 12 - 46

POTTS (2-0, 1-0) 9 15 17 12 - 53

His Pottsville boys' basketball team went from leading Hazleton Area by four points to falling behind, 46-37, during a four-minute span in the third quarter of its season opener, Tuesday night, at Hughie McGeehan Gymnasium.

However, Christian Alvarez scored five points to ignite an 8-0 Crimson Tide run over the final 2:11 of the quarter and the Tide outscored the Cougars, 23-13, in the final quarter to pull away for a 68-59 non-league victory.

"I honestly thought the game was getting away from us a little bit," said Wartella, who guided his team to a 19 wins last season. "I was a little worried, but then we hit a couple shots and some guys off the bench gave us a big lift. We're a true team. When one guy's not playing well, we can call on some other guys. They stepped up tonight."

Derek Watkins' steal and layup put Pottsville ahead for keeps at the start of the fourth quarter. He later cashed two more thefts into easy deuces and sank four free throws down the stretch, Letrel Montone added seven points and deftly directed the Tide's motion offense and Ryder Bowers swished his fifth three-pointer to help Pottsville record its first win over Hazleton Area since 2020.

Pottsville's Letrel Montone seeks an opening as Hazleton Area's Dylan Stish applies pressure during the Crimson Tide's 68-59 win over the Cougars in a non-league boys' basketball game, Tuesday, in Hazle Twp.
David McKeown / Staff Photographer
Pottsville's Letrel Montone seeks an opening as Hazleton Area's Dylan Stish applies pressure during the Crimson Tide's 68-59 win over the Cougars in a non-league boys' basketball game, Tuesday, in Hazle Twp.
"We're an older group," Montone, the Tide's senior point guard, said. "We have three senior starters and Christian Alvarez, a junior, has just as much experience as the rest of us. We didn't play our best basketball and I didn't play great in the first half... but we all have confidence in our group as a team."

While Tide ballhandlers played keepaway, their aggressive defensive limited the Cougars (1-1) to only four field goals in the final quarter, none by their super sophomore Dylan Stish.

"We think we can score points this year. ... The ball might not always go in, but we do have scorers as we showed tonight," Wartella said. "I actually was more happy with the way we played defense. They made some tough shots; we made them work for everything. I'm just happy with the overall effort."

Hazleton Area, meanwhile, showed flashes of the play that enabled the Cougars to defeat Allentown Dieruff in ints opener on Friday, but not enough consistency to make it two straight wins to start the new season.

"Give credit to Pottsville because they did a very good job defensively," second-year Hazleton Area head coach Pat Brogan said. "They got all the 50-50 balls. They executed much better offensively than we did and they deserved to win the game."

There were three ties in and four lead changes in the fast-paced first quarter. Luis Guzman had the hot hand for the Cougars with 12 points, including two triples. Bowers was getting warmed up for the Tide with his first two threes. Alvarez contributed five as Pottsville a 20-17 lead into the second period.

Pottsville twice led by six points after two more Bowers three-pointers early in the second quarter, but they were the Tide's only baskets in the quarter. The Cougars whittled away at their deficit on a Stish three-ball and two Guzman hoops until Stish's spinning jumper in the lane tied the game at 26 at the two-minute mark. Stish's rebound bucket following an Estarling Melenciano steal gave the Cougars 28-27 halftime lead that might have been greater had they not turned the ball over eight times in the quarter.

"I don't think we shared the ball like we did in the Dieruff game," Brogan said. "We got careless with the basketball and we made some bad decisions."

The Cougars still gained the upper hand midway through the third quarter after a Franklin Ritz triple, Stish's gliding layup and three-pointer, Gavin Perkosky's steal-and-hoop and two more Stish baskets gave Hazleton Area a nine-point lead, its largest of the night.

Pottsville, though, refused to budge and began its decisive comeback soon thereafter.

"Coach Wartelal kept yelling at us and telling us to pick it up," Montone said. "We were down and started lollygagging, but he reminded us that we were still in the game and that we have playmakers to get back in the game."

The Tide also put the clamps on Hazleton Area's own playmakers when it mattered most.

"We have to understand we have two great players in (Guzman and Stish), but they can't do it alone," Brogan said. "I think sometimes we got caught watching them tonight and expected them to do everything. You can't do that. You've got to move and share the basketball."

Guzman finished with a game-high 24 points and Stish added 20, but no other Cougars scored more than Melenciano's seven.

"We have nine new guys out there," Brogan said. "It's going to take some time for those guys to trust and believe in each other. ... If we learn from this, it's not a complete failure."

Pottsville was a 51-48 winner in overtime in the junior varsity game. Josh Kimber and Andrew Allen paced the Tide with 17 and 14 points respectively. Oscady Vasquez led the Cougars with 21 and Kendrick Ortiz had 12.

Both teams will return to action later this week, the Crimson Tide in their Schuylkill League opener against Division I rival Pottsville on Thursday and the Cougars playing host to Harrisburg in another non-league contest on Friday.

"This is a big-time confidence boost," Wartella said. "We were a little nervous going into the game, (facing) a (Class) 6A school and a very talented team, (and) I wasn't sure how we would show up because it was our first game.

"It doesn't get any easier from here."

POTTSVILLE (68)

Hughes-Crane 0 0-0 0, Bainbridge 1 0-0 2, McGinley 1 0-0 3, Watkins 7 4-4 19, Alvarez 3 6-9 13, Montone 6 4-6 16, Bowers 5 0-0 15, Flucker-White 0 0-0 0, Ivy 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 14-19 68.

HAZLETON AREA (59)

Moran 0 0-0 0, Ritz 1 0-0 3, Stish 9 0-0 20, Saladin 0 1-2 1, Melenciano 1 5-7 7, Staffin 0 2-2 2, Guzman 11 0-2 24, Perkosky 1 0-0 2. Totals 23 8-14 59.

Pott (1-0) 20 7 18 23 - 68

HA (1-1) 17 11 18 13 - 59

3-FG: Bowers 5, McGinley, Watkins, Alvarez, Stish 2, Guzman 2, Ritz.

Originally Published: December 4, 2024 at 12:22 AM EST