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Pottsville’s Martz Hall is considered the mecca for high school basketball in Schuylkill and even though it is now 55 years it remains among the classiest facilities in District 11.But for two Lehigh Valley teams on Tuesday night, Martz Hall proved to be a dead end.In a doubleheader that had games with a eerily similar pattern, Hazleton Area beat the Liberty girls 62-48 and the Shamokin ended the season for the Allentown Central Catholic boys, 59-53.
Those two defeats were part of a rough second-round slate of games for area boys and girls teams. In boys action, as Sankofa Freedom rallied from a 10-point halfime deficit to beat Bethlehem Christian 75-66 in Class A and Valley View stymied Saucon Valley 42-25 in a Class 4A game.In girls play, Parkland’s girls fell to Central Dauphin 39-23 in Class 6A and Notre Dame-Green Pond fell in double-overtime to Dunmore, 65-59, in a 3A game.
In the doubleheader at Pottsville, the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference teams dug themselves a big early hole, then fought back to make the game competitive, but ultimately didn’t have enough in the tank to keep their seasons alive.Shamokin hotThe District 4 runner-ups came out on fire. The Indians (25-4) made their first four 3-point attempts and six of their first eight attempts in taking an 18-5 lead after one quarter.
Joe Hile, who was voted Pennsylvania Heartland Athletic Conference Division I MVP earlier in the week, showed why he was deserving of the honor in scoring 10 of his game-high 25 points in the first quarter.ACCHS, however, fought back behind Yariel Gonzalez’s 11 points in the second quarter and came all the way back to within 25-23 late in the second period.But Shamokin closed the half with a 6-0 run to go back up 31-23 at halftime and never lost the lead in the second half.
“They’re a really good basketball team and we knew that coming in,” Central coach Dennis Csensits said. “They were going to challenge us defensively and they made us pay by making shots early. And that put us in a position where we almost had to play perfect the rest of the game in order to get over the hump.
We did a lot of good things, but your mistakes become magnified when you put yourself in that position.”EPC MVP was closed guarded by Shamokin’s 6-foot-4 sophomore Colin Steinhart and struggled to get open looks. Lucas Mushrush had a little more success and hit a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter — part of his game-high 19 points — to help ACCHS close the gap.
Allentown Central Catholic’s Yariel Gonzalez drives down the court against Shamokin in a PIAA Class 4A boys second-round playoff game Tuesday, March 11, 2025, at Martz Hall in Pottsville. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)The Vikings against went on a run in the third period, trimming a 38-30 deficit to 38-36, but again Central couldn’t get a tying basket or a stop at the other end that could have swung momentum.The Indians, who will meet Valley View in Friday’s quarterfinals, went back up 47-39 entering the fourth period and never led by less than six in the closing stanza.
Hile added eight more points in the fourth quarter and was on the receiving end of several passes by senior center Jenssyn Shuey, who was a force on the boards and displayed several athletic moves for someone with a 6-foot-3, 230-pount frame. He scored 18 points and had more than his share of assists and rebounds.The Vikings got one last 3-pointer by Mushrush, who to make it 57-51 with 1:01 left, but couldn’t get closer.
Many shots ACCHS normally makes wouldn’t fall due in part of the physical, aggressive defense employed by Shamokin.Asked what made the District 4 representative so tough, Csensits said the Indians were a well-rounded squad.‘They have five really skilled basketball players that can all shoot the ball,” he said.
“And when you can spread the floor like that it makes it difficult because you have to defend a lot of space. I’d say more than any other team we’ve faced we had to do more space on the floor because of their ability to shoot the basketball from so many spots.”Shamokin’s size was also a factor.
“They were a big team that was tough to overcome and we tried to find matchups that worked, and we found some a little too late in the game,” said Vigo, who finished with 12 points. “I’m proud of the guys. We all came together and tried to fight back.
The deficit was too deep to come back from.”Allentown Central Catholic’s Jahrel Vigo drives down the court against Shamokin in a PIAA Class 4A boys second-round playoff game Tuesday, March 11, 2025, at Martz Hall in Pottsville. (Amy Shortell/The Morning Call)Csensits struck a similar tone after the game, saying he was proud of this team which lost its starting point guard Andrew Jones to an ACL in a holiday tournament.
“I’m really proud of our five seniors who played and Alex Williams, our student assistant,” Csensits said. “All of these guys have left their mark on Central Catholic basketball. I told them that.
We’re extremely proud of them. Winning 23 basketball games is hard to do and to go along with all of those wins and the district championship we had some individual accomplishments and milestones along the way. They conducted themselves in a first-class way and they are a first-class group of kids.
’Leading the way were Vigo and Mushrush, who finished with 1,614 ad 1,212 points respectively. Mushrush also finished with an ACCHS record 229 3-pointers.“It was defintely an amazing four years,” Vigo said.
“Lucas and me are like brothers. We’re close off the court and that helps us find each other on the court.”Mushrush will continue his career at Ursinus.
Vigo has yet to make a college decision.Hazleton Area Kaitlyn Bindas (14) pressures Liberty junior Ava Kopetskie (30) in the second round of the PIAA Class 6A on Tuesday March 11, 2025 in Pottsville. Hazleton won 62-48 to advance to the next round.
(John Haeger / Staff Photographer)Caged by CougarsMuch like the boys game that followed, Liberty’s girls fell behind quickly and couldn’t recover. The Hurricanes, who finished 19-9 and were coming off their first state playoff win since 2012, trailed 8-0 at the outset and 20-5 after one quarter. It was 23-5 early in the second period before Liberty settled in and got within 36-19 at halftime as Ava Kopetskie hit a 3-pointer to close the second quarter.
That trey spurred some momentum into the third quarter and got within 38-36 late in the third on a Kendall Medina basket.But Hazleton’s Kaitlyn Bindas hit a big 3-pointer to slow down the ‘Canes surge and the Cougars built the lead back up to 47-39 entering the fourth quarter.Medina, a freshman, kept Liberty within striking distance with six points in the final stanza and it was 47-42 at one point but the Hurricanes wouldn’t get closer.
Senior Anijah Davis led Liberty with 18 points and Kopetskie, a junior, added 14. Medina chipped in 12.Bindas led the unbeaten District 2 champs (28-0) with 18 points and it was Sophia’s choice the rest of the way as Sophia Shults had 15 and Sophia Benyo chipped in 12.
Hazleton will face District 1 champ Perkiomen Valley in Friday’s quarterfinals.Hazleton Area coach Joe Gavio reacts against Liberty in the second round of the PIAA Class 6A on Tuesday March 11, 2025 in Pottsville. Hazleton won 62-48 to advance to the next round.
(John Haeger / Staff Photographer)Veteran Cougars Joe Gavio, who played for Hazleton when the school’s nickname was the Mountaineers and they played in the original East Penn League, credited Liberty for keeping the game competitive.“I thought we were a buck or two away from putting them away which we have done to a lot of teams this year, but to their credit they made some 3s and made some good plays and we had some uncharacteristic turnovers and they came back,” Gavio said. “We haven’t had a lot of close games this year.
We did have a one-point against St. Joe’s by the Sea from Staten Island in a shootout event and that’s a very good team. We also beat Emmaus and they were a pretty good team.
“When we get it going, we’re a pretty good team,” Gavio added. “We had to relax. We were running and throwing the ball all over the place.
I thought we got a little bit tight. And Liberty is getting better. They have a great player [Kopetskie] and some good complimentary players.
To our credit, when we were challenged tonight our girls responded. Anybody would take a 10-point win at this time of year and we got one.’Boxscores from both games will be added soon.
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