Easton gets a Saturday matinee at Geigle

FROM KEITH GROLLER

You knew at some point, if our local participation continued long enough, the PIAA basketball playoffs would take us to Reading's Geigle Complex. It always does.

And it will on Saturday as -- to no one's surprise -- the Easton-Lower Merion 4A quarterfinal will be played at Reading. It has been slated for a 1 p.m. start and precedes a 3A girls game between Neumann-Goretti and Lancaster Catholic. So, the place should be packed by the end of the boys game.

This is the same location where Lower Merion ended Easton's season in overtime back in 2007 in the second round.

It's also where Whitehall's 2005 season ended in the state quarters as well as Allen's 2006 season.

Frankly, it has been the final destination for a lot of great area teams. I have done more than my share of interviews with teary-eyed players and coaches there, even though I missed Liberty losing there in the second round last season.

But there have been some good memories, too, espeically for our girls teams and I remember that the 2004 Parkland team won the Eastern title there en route to Hershey.

We'll see what happens on Saturday. Easton has been able to be win despite not shooting well. The Rovers will have to increase their shooting percentage by at least 15 points to get near 50 percent to have a chance on Saturday.

Lower Merion would likely be the favorite to win the state title if Pennsylvania didn't feature Chester.

Kobe Bryant's old school is 27-3 with a season-opening, three-point loss to Roman Catholic and then a three-point loss to Emmaus at Christmas time. The Aces most recent setback was to Chester by eight in the District One title game.

I am sure Easton can draw some positive thoughts from the fact that the Rovers went 2-1 against Emmaus and Emmaus beat Lower Merion.

But I don't think the comparative scores will matter much come Saturday afternoon.

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