COAL TOWNSHIP — Shamokin coach Chris Zimmerman wasn’t exactly pleased with how his Indians advanced to the championship game of the 48th annual Shamokin Knights of Columbus Tournament.
The Indians (6-2) were never in real trouble in their 63-51 win over Southern Columbia in Saturday’s opening round, but they never really asserted themselves either and let the Tigers (4-3) hang around right up until near the end, when Southern cut the lead to seven points midway through the fourth quarter.
Even in protecting the lead, Shamokin was less than impressive, making just 11-of-19 foul shots in the fourth quarter and 13-of-25 for the game.
Shamokin will face Minersville, a 56-26 winner over Lourdes, in today’s title game at 8:30 p.m.
“Southern played their butts off,” Zimmerman said. “Our depth wore them down but our depth didn’t play particularly well, either. We had bodies to use and used them. They outhustled us and frankly, we were lucky to win.
“We were 13-of-25 from the foul line, we had 19 turnovers and I didn’t think the guys were very focused. At the end of the year it will show up as a win, but we didn’t play well.”
Southern Columbia, coming off a solid win against Danville earlier in the week, took the early lead. Shamokin, behind the early shooting of Jakob Weaver, came back to take a 17-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Indians built the lead to 36-27 by halftime and would have given themselves breathing room in the second half by making some foul shots. But Southern out-rebounded the Indians and though the Tigers ended up turning the ball over 22 times because of fatigue, they did to Shamokin what the Indians usually do to other teams.
“It wasn’t so much the rebounding but how we played overall,” Zimmerman said.
“Every time we went on a four or five-point run, we did something to negate it. We were trying to hit home runs instead of singles.”
For his part, Southern coach Joe Britto was happy but not so happy.
“Yes, we played hard, but we didn’t play with energy at times,” Britto said. “We lack the go-get-it mentality to turn it on when we have to. It’s one thing to play hard but another thing to play hard and under control.”
Guard Mike Klebon had a tough shooting night (4-for-16) but still recorded a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds for Southern. But he was the only Tiger in double figures, and Southern only shot 32 percent (19-for-59) from the floor. Kyle Mostik had eight points and seven rebounds, but also fouled out.
Weaver paced Shamokin with 17 points and had six rebounds. Ryan Sebasovich had 13 points and five of the Indians’ eight steals, and Jacob DiRienzo scored 11 points, hitting 4-of-5 shots.
In the first game, Spencer Tobin scored 15 points, David Graham added 11 and Chris Leshko netted 10 as Minersville (6-1) limited Lourdes to one point in the second quarter to top the Red Raiders (3-4).
Lourdes made just 8-of-36 shots from the floor and was 0-for-7 from 3-point range.
Minersville led 14-9 after the first quarter but rolled into a 32-10 halftime lead with their 18-1 advantage in the second quarter.
Larry Czeponis led Lourdes with seven points and nine rebounds, and Luke Holleran added six points.
Game Summaries
Shamokin K. of C. Tournament
At Shamokin Area H.S.
MINERSVILLE (56) — McBreen 1 2-3 4, Fekette 3 1-2 7, Hashin 0 2-2 2, Brown 2 0-0 5, Leshko 4 0-0 10, Steppie 0 0-0 0, Gushen 4 3-6 11, Brennan 1 0-0 2, Tobin 4 7-9 15, Fedornack 0 0-0 0, Moran 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 15-22 56.
LOURDES (26) — Nguyen 0 0-0 0, L. Holleran 1 4-6 6, Buccanelli 0 0-0 0, A. Holleran 0 0-0 0, Maneval 0 0-0 0, Pawelczyk 2 0-0 4, Fobia 2 0-0 4, Padula 0 1-3 1, Allen 1 1-1 3, Feese 0 1-2 1, Czeponis 2 3-5 7, Adams 0 0-0 0. Totals 8 10-17 26.
Miners (6-1) 14 18 13 11 — 56 Lourdes (3-4) 9 1 10 6 — 26
3-point FGs: Brown, Leshko 2
SOUTHERN (51) — Young 1 0-0 2, Ciocco 0 0-0 0, Palacz 1 1-2 4, Klebon 4 6-7 17, Mostik 4 0-0 8, Wilson 3 0-0 6, Tomaschik 2 0-0 5, Keiser 0 0-0 0, Brokus 2 0-0 5, Michaels 0 0-0 0, Marzeski 1 0-0 2, Henry 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 7-9 51.
SHAMOKIN (63) — Sebasovich 5 1-4 13, DiRienzo 4 2-2 11, Reiprich 1 4-6 6, Weaver 5 4-6 17, Moyer 2 0-0 5, Campbell 1 0-0 3, Fegley 0 0-0 0, F. Taylor 3 2-7 8, Zablosky 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 13-25 63.
Southern (4-3) 14 13 10 14 — 51 Sham (6-2) 17 19 10 17 — 63
3-point FGs: Palacz, Klebon 3, Tomaschik, Brokus, Sebasovich 2, DiRienzo, Weaver 3, Moyer, Campbell