http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/
FROM KEITH GROLLER
It has been basically blowout city so far in the District 11 boys basketball tournament.
We've had four games played so far decided by an average of 22 points. The closest game was Allen's 10-point win over Easton on Weds. night.
Things are bound to get tighter with the quarterfinals this weekend, although I am not sure Allen's Sewards Gym is the place for the nailbiters tonight when Becahi plays Salisbury and CCHS plays Saucon Valley in a 3A twinbill.
Here are some predictions:
FRIDAY'S GAMES
CLASS A
Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg 60, Moravian Academy 50 -- Not sure if the Lions' all-time leading scorer Luke Gutekunst is playing. If he does, it'll be close. If he doesn't, it won't.
Pius X 61, Marian Catholic 45 -- The Royals clobbered the Colts 68-21 back at the end of January. Closer game this time, but still a convincing Pius win.
Pottsville Nativity 59, Lincoln Leadership 43 -- Lincoln has some talent, but has primarily feasted off of inferior competition. Nativity is a much more polished team and more ready for districts coming out of the rugged Schuylkilll League.
CLASS 3A
Bethlehem Catholic 60, Salisbury 54 -- Neither of these teams looked good the last time I saw them. Becahi was routed by CCHS in the LVC semis and the Falcons were listless against Catty in the Colonial League semis. Becahi has a slight edge in talent, but has been very inconsistent this season. If the Golden Hawks come to play, they'll prevail. Otherwise, Salisbury will win again in the district quarters and this time it won't take a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to do it.
Central Catholic 78, Saucon Valley 60 -- The Panthers performed really well against Northern Lehigh the other night, but Northern Lehigh is not Central Catholic. Saucon should be able to score against CCHS, but not nearly enough to pull a shocker.
Pottsville 59, Lehighton 51 -- The Indians enjoyed themselves the other night against Tamaqua, and no one enjoyed himself more than Jordan Knappenberger, who couldn't miss in scoring 39 points. But the Tide is a little tougher than Tamaqua and another successful Lehighton season will end in the quarters.
Blue Mountain 64, Southern Lehigh 59 -- The Spartans haven't played in two weeks. Sharpness will be a factor here. Solehi has been a hard-to-figure team. They have a shot here, but must play one of their best games of the season to advance.
SATURDAY'S GAME
CLASS 2A
Williams Valley 48, Minersville 43 -- The Vikings have already beaten the Miners twice this season in games played in the 40s. I see a trend developing here.
CLASS 4A
Pocono Mountain West 69, Liberty 65 -- A much more competitive game than a couple of Saturdays ago when the Panthers rolled by 26. The Hurricanes have to get back on defense and slow down the MVC champs. If they make it more of a halfcourt game and play the defense they played against Whitehall, they have a chance of knocking off the No. 1 seed.
Emmaus 63, Bangor 57 -- Both teams didn't end well in their league tournaments. But both are capable of winning here and winning again on Wednesday. Ringland and Feiertag are the keys for their teams.
Parkland 71, Allen 67 -- Their previous meeting went a couple of overtimes and I look for the Canaries to compete hard again. But the Trojans seem to have everything figured out now and look like the team to beat in this bracket.
Stroudsburg 67, ES North 60 -- The Mounties usually rise up and play well at this time of year. Last year, they made it to the semis. A favorable draw makes it likely to happen again.
With the weather fairly nice, at least by comparison to what we've had, get out and enjoy the games.
I will be tweeting from Allen tonight @KeithGroller.
Follow along if you can't get out to the games. Tomorrow night at Easton will be much more difficult, however, for tweeting purposes.
The Easton Middle School is simply not social media-friendly, but we'll try our best.
No comments:
Post a Comment