Panther Vy. falls in 2A final

EASTON — Panther Valley head coach Pat Crampsie’s game plan on Saturday afternoon was to shut down Moravian Academy’s leading scorer Jordan Holmqvist, who as a junior, has already eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career.

Crampsie’s plan actually worked in the first half as Holmqvist was held scoreless, taking just three shots, all in the second quarter.

The only problem was the rest of the Lions were on fire, opening up a 26-point halftime lead en route to a 72-38 victory in the District 11 Class 2A championship in the Easton Middle School gymnasium.

Regular starters Rene Figueroa, Panther Valley’s leading scorer, who was averaging 18.8 points per game, and Allen Perez missed the game for disciplinary reasons, forcing Crampsie to make some adjustments.

After Tristen Blasko gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead, the Lions ran off 10 straight points and they didn’t stop there. The closest the Panthers would come the rest of the way was four points before trailing by 10 (18-8) at the end of the first quarter.

“We played with confidence today,” said Moravian Academy head coach Steve Gabryluk, who took over the team three years ago and it didn’t win a game that first season. Saturday’s win was the 19th this year, a school record. “Every team we play comes out to try and stop Holmqvist and he’s learned to be patient. Today we came out firing as a team and eventually it freed him up.”

The Lions actually broke the game open in the second quarter when they outscored the Panthers 14-2 in the last five minutes of the first half to break the game open, 42-16. Before intermission, the Lions drained seven three-pointers, three by Abe Atiyeh, two by Peter Chiaradia and two by Abel Saft.

“You’ve got to credit Moravian Academy,” said Crampsie. That’s a heck of a team and they were firing on all cylinders today. We tried everything to slow them down and they knocked a bunch of threes down early and got us in a whole and it was a real tough one to climb out of.

“We were so concerned about Holmqvist. He’s a heck of a player averaging 19 points a game. Mark Sanchez and Ronnie Distler did a fantastic job on him early. We wanted to make some other guys beat us and they did. They were knocking down those shots, they were moving the ball well. Even those that I thought were pretty contested with a hand out on them they were still making them.”

The Panthers had to change their tactics in the second half to try and stop Chiaradia, who had 15 first half points and Atiyeh who had 11, giving Holmqvist a chance to get untracked. He had 13 points in the third quarter as the Lions lead blossomed to 61-30 and finished up with 18 adding five more in the final stanza before both teams cleared. their benches.

“We feel great about getting here,” added Crampsie. “Right now it’s disappointing because we were never able to get any traction and they just continued to build on that. I thought we’d be able to string together a run or two because we did that throughout the year and it never quite happened.

“States is going to be a huge challenge, but we wanted to get there, go out there and extend our season a little more. We got there so we’re happy for the opportunity.”

STAT CITY … The Panthers actually outrebounded the Lions 27-22 with Blake White pulling down six and Blasko five. Chiaradia, who had a double-double for the Lions, pulled down 10 rebounds to go with his game high 21 points.

FIRST ONE … It was the first ever District 11 championship for Moravian Academy, while the Panthers were making their first appearance in a championship since winning district gold in 1986.

NOT FINISHED YET … The Panthers (19-6) have a week off to regroup before they enter the PIAA playoffs against District 12 champion Math, Civics and Science (14-13) at Abraham Lincoln High School in Philadelphia at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Moravian Academy hosts District 12, No. 3 team Paul Robeson at Freedom High School in Bethlehem at 3 p.m. Saturday.

PANTHER VALLEY

Marcharro 3-2-3-10, Stilitino 0-0-0-0, Turner 0-0-0-0, Depew 0-0-0-0, Wallace 0-0-0-0, Distler 2-0-0-4, White 0-0-0-0, Blasko 6-2-3-14, Sanchez 4-2-4-10, Brettle 0-0-0-0, Edwards 0-0-0-0, Prudente 0-0-0-0, Buzzard 0-0-0-0, Juracka 0-0-0-0, Berk 0-0-0-0, Hoben 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 15-6-10-38.

MORAVIAN ACADEMY

Joseph 0 0-0 0, McKay 0-1-2-1, Atiyeh 5-0-0-13, Holmqvist 6-5-5-18, Feerrari 0-0-0-0, Quainno 3-0-0-6, Surya 1-0-0-2, Kandola 0-0-0-0, Ewungkem 0-0-0-0, Meissner 1-0-0-2, Saft 2 -0-0-6, Trapasso 0-1-2-1, Chiaradia 8-3-8-21, Dubreuil 1-0-1-2. TOTALS: 27-10-18-72.

Panther Vy. 8 8 14 8 - 38

Mor. Ac. 18 24 19 11 - 72

Three-pointers: Panther Valley - Marcharro 2; Moravian Academy - Atiyeh 3, Saft 2, Chiaradia 2, Holmqvist 1.