District 11 boys basketball memories: Top five games of past 10 years

FROM KEITH GROLLER

This is my 30th season -- at least as a full-time worker -- covering local high school basketball for The Morning Call.

As a part-timer while in college, I covered one game in Whitehall's state championship season in 1981-82, the Zephyrs Christmas tournament win that year in Reading. It was my official introduction to Coach Tracy that night at Geigle Complex and I remember being quite nervous. Actually, being the legend he is, Tracy still makes me nervious.

But as a full-timer, this is my 30th season --29th with the boys after spending the 1982-83 season as the girls beat writer.

So, when I think districts I think about a lot of great performances, teams and games going way back.

Central Catholic created lots of memorable moments with those state championship teams in 1984 and '86. Bron Holland was terrific for Bangor in 1988; Pete Lisicky (seen below while at Penn State) was dynamite for Whitehall in the early 1990s; Ken Lacey was the king of the mountain for Stroudsburg in 1996 and I still maintain that my favorite team to watch was the 1994 East Stroudsburg team featuring the late, great Arthur Perryman.

And who could forget the dramatic game-winners by Whitehall's Jerry Lloyd PeteLisickyand Lehighton's Tom Kresge to win district title games?

But all of those things happened more than 10 years ago.

What has happened in the last 10 years?

Here's a look at my top five district games of the past decade---

5. The Carlos Pujols game when the Central Catholic inside powerhouse scored 29 points and grabbed 18 rebounds in a 60-52 win over Southern Lehigh in the 2008 3A championship game.Ray Barbosa

4. The arrival of Darrun "Money" Hilliard in 2009 when he hit a 3-pointer from the baseline with three seconds left to give Liberty a 41-40 win over Stroudsburg in the District 11 4A consolation game and send the Hurricanes on to the state tournament.

3. Whitehall held Parkland scoreless for 11 minutes, including the entire third quarter, for a 49-45 win over the Trojans in the 2004 District 11 4A finals. It was the Zephs' fourth win of the season over Parkland. The two also met 15 nights earlier in the LVC title game. But despite Whitehall's dominance in the series, the Trojans had the last laugh. Whitehall lost in the second round of the state tournament at the Sovereign Center in Reading, but Parkland went on a remarkable run and went all of the way to the state finals in Hershey before losing to Penn Hills.

2. Jalen Cannon's amazing 22-point, 20-rebound display for Allen in last year's District 11 4A title game when the Canaries posted a 45-35 win over Liberty. Allen avenged two last-second losses to Liberty and held Hilliard to six points.

1. The 2002 Allen Canaries were perhaps the most remarkable team I've ever covered because they needed to win several games just to get into the East Penn Conference tournament and then needed to win the EPC tournament just to qualify for districts. Not only did they do all that, but they went on to win the 2002 4A crown in most amazing fashion. Just a couple of nights after a breathless 81-79 double-overtime win over Easton in the semis when Ray Barbosa scored 39, Allen beat Emmaus 71-69 in the finals in another double-overtime classic. Barbosa (seen above) scored 43 points to offset 23 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks by Emmaus' Aaron Gray. This game is still the gold standard for district title games in my career at The Morning Call.

Maybe we'll get a game over the next 11 nights that will make this list in the future.

The tournament begins with three games on Wednesday night, the best of which is a rematch of last year's district final between Allen and Liberty.

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