NL girls clinch division with 48-30 win Jim Thorpe boys take half-game lead with victory on Lux buzzer-beater

The Northern Lehigh girls clinched first place in their division, while the Jim Thorpe boys took a half game lead with wins last night.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Jim Thorpe-

North Schuylkill

Sam Lux took the inbounds pass from Corey Cinicola and threw in a half-court three-pointer off the glass to give the Olympians a 51-49 victory over the Spartans in a Schuylkill League Divison I barn-burner.

The win gave the Olympians a half-game lead over Pottsville in the division.

The Olympians took a 27-17 lead in the first half as Rashid Epps had 11 of his 16 points.

Lux backed up Epps with 13 points.

Steve Ennis had a game-high 25 points for the Spartans.

JIM THORPE

Dibonifazio 1 0-0 3, Lux 6 0-1 13, Epps 7 2-6 16, Cinicola 3 3-3 9, Johnson 0 0-2 0, Mickens 1 0-0 2, Richardson 3 2-5 8. Totals 21 7-17 51.

NO. SCHUYLKILL

Hogan 3 1-2 7, Ennis 6 11-15 25, Anthony 2 0-0 5, Skinner 0 0-0 0, Rakowsky 1 0-0 3, Flail 0 0-0 0, Dumboski 0 1-2 1, Spotts 0 0-0 0, Chernewski 2 0-0 5, McCloskey 1 1-2 3, Henning 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 14-21 49.

Jim Thorpe 17 10 11 13 - 51

No. Schuylkill 7 10 21 11 - 49

Three-Pointers: Jim Thorpe - DiBonifazio 1, Lux 1; No. Schuylkill - Ennis 2, Anthony 1, Rakowsky 1, Chernewski 1.

Bangor-Palmerton

The Blue Bombers jumped out to an early lead, but the Slaters came back for a 55-46 Colonial League victory.

Palmerton lead 27-19 in the second quarter only to see Bangor score the last seven points of the first half to pull within one (27-26) at intermission.

Elliot Freeman scored eight of his 12 points to push the Slaters to a 42-39 lead entering the fourth quarter. Bangor went on a 8-0 run to start the final eight minutes and grabbed the win.

Andy Mulitsch finished with 13 for Bangor, while Dan Ammerman matched Freeman with 12. Zach Freed and Tyler Kravetz had 13 apiece for Palmerton.

The Bombers pulled out a 62-59 win in the JV game as Brett Snyder had 18 points, Tyler Svetik 12 and Cody Geist 10.

BANGOR

Ruggerio 1-2-4-4, LaValva 0-1-4-1, Mulitsch 5-0-0-13, Ammerman 5-2-2-12, Carey 2-3-8-7, Bouch 1-0-0-2, Freeman 5-0-0-12, Reider 2-0-0-4, Colton 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 21-8-18-55.

PALMERTON

Snyder 0-0-0-0, Andrews 1-0-0-3, Tyahla 0-0-0-0, Svetik 0-0-0-0, Furry 3-0-0-6, Freed 5-0-0-13, Marcin 4-1-1-9, Kravetz 6-1-4-13, Reinhart 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 20-2-5-46.

Bangor 11 15 16 13 - 55

Palmerton 13 14 12 7 - 46

Three-Pointers: Bangor - Mulitsch 3, Freeman 2; Palmerton - Freed 3, Andrews 1.

Pine Grove-

Panther Valley

A perfect 6-for-6 performance from the foul line in overtime helped Pine Grove seal a low-scoring 34-30 Schuylkill League victory over host Panther Valley.

The Cardinals' Kyler Burke hit two of those six free throws on his way to a game-high 11 points.

Zach Stanko paced the Panthers with a 10-point performance, in which a quick six of those came in two first quarter three pointers.

PINE GROVE

Smith 3-3-6-9, Rossi 0-0-0-0, L. Zimmerman 1-2-2-4, Blouch 0-0-0-0, Bohn 0-0-0-0, Hoffman 1-0-0-3, Burke 3-2-2-11, Burke 1-3-5-5, Fehr 0-0-0-0, Hafer 1-0-0-2, Schwalm 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 10-10-15-34.

PANTHER VALLEY

Stanko 4-0-0-10, Ogozalek 0-0-0-0, Mathewson 0-0-0-0, Picht 0-0-0-0, Lewis 2-0-0-5, Mitchell 4-1-6-9, Stano 2-2-2-6. TOTALS: 12-3-8-30.

Pine Grove 7 8 7 6 6 - 34

Panther Vy. 8 5 9 6 2 - 30

Three-pointers: PG - Burke 3, Hoffman 1; PV - Stanko 2, Lewis 1.

Blue Mountain-Tamaqua

The Raiders kept it close through the first quarter before the Eagles pulled away for a 73-61 Schuylkill League win.

Mark Garrity finished with 21 points for Blue Mountain, while Matt LaScala and Matt Maloney added 17 and 11 respectively.

Michael Taylor had 21 points for Tamaqua, while Anthony Bumbulsky chipped in with 16 and Mike Gurscik added 10.

BLUE MOUNTAIN

Maloney 5-0-0-11, Hartranft 3-0-0-8, LaScala 5-2-3-17, Garrity 9-3-5-21, Cryts 1-0-0-2, Tobash 2-3-4-8, O'Brien 1-0-0-2, Rhody 1-0-0-2, Freed 0-2-2-2. TOTALS: 27-10-14-73.

TAMAQUA

Streisel 3-1-2-7, Gurcsik 4-1-2-10, Bumbulsky 4-6-8-16, Bennett 2-2-2-7, Taylor 7-3-4-21, Fegley 0-0-0-0, Hubosky 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 20-13-18-61.

Blue Mt. 17 23 15 18 - 73

Tamaqua 16 18 13 14 - 61

Three-pointers: Blue Mt. - LaScala 5, Hartranft 2, Maloney 1, Tobash 1; Tamaqua - Taylor 4, Gurscsik 1, Bumbulsky 2, Bennett 1.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

No. Lehigh-Northwestern

Northern Lehigh jumped out early and never looked back en route to a 48-30 Colonial League victory over Northwestern Lehigh to clinch first place in the North Division and the top seed in the playoffs.

Aimee Oertner netted 11 of her game-high 22 points in the Bulldogs' prolific first half, while Maggie Levan hit 10 of her double figure 12 points in the opening two quarters.

Sara Jones recorded five of her nine points in the Tigers' 16-point fourth quarter, while Nycole Everett chipped in with four of her nine in the same stanza.

NORTHERN LEHIGH

Levan 5-2-2-12, Bastardi 1-0-0-2, Stauffer 0-0-2-0, Harakal 0-0-0-0, Werley 0-0-0-0, L. Oertner 2-0-0-4, Josephson 4-0-4-8, A. Oertner 8-6-8-22, Seiler 0-0-0-0, Howell 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 20-8-16-48.

NORTHWESTERN LEHIGH

Gulick 0-0-0-0, Landrigan 0-0-0-0, Groller 1-0-0-2, Jones 4-0-0-9, Suter 1-2-6-4, L. Gimbel 1-2-2-4, A. Gimbel 0-0-0-0, Everett 4-0-0-9, Hill 1-0-2-2. TOTALS: 12-4-10-30.

No. Lehigh 16 11 7 14 - 48

Northwestern 5 5 4 16 - 30

Three-pointers: NL - none; NW - Jones 1, Everett 1.

Palmerton-Bangor

In a Colonial League North Division showdown, it was Bangor that came out on the better end of a 42-36 league victory over Palmerton.

Kelsey Hay's 18-point performance wasn't enough to help the Bombers capture what would have turned out to be a key CL win.

The Slaters were paced by the shooting of Brianna Bisci, who finished with a team-high 10 points.

In the JV game, Bangor escaped with a 35-34 win over Palmerton.

PALMERTON

Smith 1-0-0-2, Reimer 0-2-4-2, Romano 2-2-4-7, Rinfret 2-3-4-7, Farquhar 0-0-2-0, Snyder 0-0-1-0, Hay 6-5-8-18. Totals: 11-12-22-36.

BANGOR

Kuchar 0-0-0-0, Kessler 1-0-0-3, Kosek 1-5-7-7, Hopkins 0-0-0-0, Sullivan 0-0-0-0, Bisci 2-6-8-10, McDonald 2-1-5-5, Schiavone 2-0-2-5, Benton 2-0-0-4, McCollian 4-0-0-8. Totals: 14-12-22-42.

Palmerton 9 8 7 12 - 36

Bangor 6 17 8 11 - 42

Three-pointers: Palmerton - Romano 1, Hay 1; Bangor - Kessler 1, Schiavone 1.