Despite upset loss to Allen, Parkland has clinched a Lehigh Valley Conference playoff spot

FROM KEITH GROLLER

It's tough to pick which game to go see on any given Tuesday or Friday night when you're looking at the local boys basketball scene this year.

But tonight I got lucky picked a good one.

Allen and Parkland had a great atmosphere and a great finish with Eric Ayers' game-winning 3-pointer giving Allen its best win of the season. An important one, too, considering that the Canaries need wins to get into districts where they would love to defend their District 11 4A title.

Parkland, which played Pleasant Valley on Thursday night, seemed tired and flat and definitely struggled tor three quarters before making a spirited charge that nearly won the game for them.

It is that kind of year in the Lehigh Valley Conference where no one stays on top for too long.

Amazingly, we're down to two weeks and four games left in the regular season.

And in the LVC we've basically got five teams -- six if you want to include Allen -- battling for the four tournament spots.

Here are the league records:

Freedom 9-1

Parkland and Emmaus 8-2

Easton and Liberty 7-3.

Allen 6-4.

Parkland, despite the loss to Allen, has clinched the North Division title since Whitehall and Northampton are 3-7 in the league.

Emmaus looks like the West champ and Freedom looks like it will win the East, althought the Pates still have to play Emmaus, Easton and Liberty.

The real fight looks like it will be between Easton and Liberty for the wild-card slot and those teams meet again, at Easton on Feb.7. Those two, who always have wars when they met, hooked up in a 32-31 game back in December won by Liberty.

Allen, just a game behind the Rovers and Hurricanes, still has a slim chance to pass them, but lost to both teams previously and would not have a the tiebreaker.

The Canaries, who still have to play Whitehall, Emmaus and Central Catholic, might as well just concentrate on getting the one win they need to snare a district spot.

So, putting it all together, I see Freedom as the No.1 seed, Parkland as the No. 2, Emmaus at No. 3 and either Easton or Liberty (Rovers probably) at No. 4. That would make for a third meeting between the Trojans and Green Hornets in the semis. Parkland has handed Emmaus two of its three defeats this season. And the other semi would also be a third meeting between East Division rivals.

But don't etch that stone.Two weeks are left and as we've seen, a lot of unpredictable stuff can happen and probably will.

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/