Bo Rottet and Brett Kosciolek are no strangers to playing for championships.
In baseball, that is.
Their goal entering Wednesday’s Schuylkill League boys’ basketball semifinal against Minersville was to get Tamaqua to its first league title game in basketball in 21 years.
A big second half helped the Blue Raiders achieve that goal.
Rottet and Kosciolek combined for 26 points over the final two quarters as Tamaqua surged past the Miners 59-53 at Martz Hall.
The victory moves the Blue Raiders (19-4) into Friday’s championship game against Pottsville, a 59-31 winner over Mahanoy Area, at 8 p.m. at Martz Hall.
It will be Tamaqua’s first appearance in the Schuylkill League final since the Blue Raiders beat Marian to capture the 1994 crown.
“That was our goal all season,” Rottet said. “We’re in the final two out of 18 teams in the Schuylkill League. It’s a great feeling.”
For two-plus quarters, it looked like
Minersville would be one of those final two.
The Division II champion Battlin’ Miners (18-4) dominated the boards in the first half, using a patient offense and a strong inside defense to build a 24-19 halftime lead.
Chris Leshko, David Graham and Spencer Tobin combined for 21 of the Miners’ 24 points, with Tobin pulling down nine rebounds.
Minersville outrebounded the Blue Raiders 22-11 in the first half and held Tamaqua to just five shots from the floor in the second quarter.
“The first half we did a nice job crashing the offensive boards,” Minersville coach Cliff Woodford said. “We got a lot of second-chance points and we took advantage of that. We were patient, and we got the shot that we wanted. We got good step-ins, and when we missed the shot we were getting the rebounds and getting put-ins.
“In the second half, we got a little impatient.”
The Miners’ lack of patience stepped to the fore midway through the second half.
After putbacks by Kosciolek and Nate MacDonald tied the game at 29, layups by Jon McBreen and Brian Brennan gave Minersville a 33-29 lead.
A layup by Tobin with 1:35 left in the third quarter pushed the Miners’ lead to 35-32.
Minersville, however, committed three turnovers and shot 0-for-4 from the field over the next 5:23 as Tamaqua went on an 8-1 run to take control.
“We were making one or two passes, then we tried to go 1-on-1 and were taking people off the dribble,” Woodford said. “Some things were there, but it wasn’t what we were doing the first half.
“We needed to be a little more patient in the second half.”
Those adjustments included Kosciolek tightly guarding Tobin, and Rottet driving to the basket.
At 6-foot-7, Kosciolek had five inches on the tallest Miner — 6-2 Leshko — and six inches on the 6-1 Tobin. The Blue Raiders took Tobin completely out of the game in the fourth quarter, holding him scoreless.
More importantly, they kept him off the boards. After nine rebounds in the first half, Tobin had none in the second half.
“We started boxing out a lot better in the second half,” Kosciolek said. “We weren’t boxing out too well, and the ball was bouncing their way in the first half.
“We came out in the second half and played with a lot more energy.”
Offensively, the Blue Raiders relied on Rottet in the fourth quarter, and he delivered.
Driving to the basket with regularity, Rottet scored 16 of his game-high 23 points in the second half. His penetration resulted mostly in trips to the free-throw line, where the 6-foot senior shot 6-for-8 in the fourth quarter and 12-for-15 in the game.
His only field goal in the fourth quarter — a 3-pointer from the right wing — gave Tamaqua a 48-40 lead with 2:19 left.
“I was just trying to make something happen,” Rottet said. “Taking it to the basket, getting on the foul line, that’s been our game the majority of the season. In the third and fourth quarter we were able to get into a groove.”
Graham paced Minersville with 16 points, including seven in the final minutes as the Miners made a late charge.
Minersville sliced the deficit to 54-51 on a Leshko triple with 23.1 seconds left, but could get no closer as Tamaqua hit 5-of-6 from the line to ice it.
The Blue Raiders shot 15-of-20 from the foul line in the fourth quarter and 23-of-32 for the game.
“Minersville just outworked us in the first half,” Tamaqua coach Caszy Kosciolek said. “They outrebounded us, they played better defense than us, they got to more loose balls than us.
“In the second half, we really got after it defensively, we rebounded much better and there was a flow to our offense. Subsequently, we got high-percentage shots. We played much smarter.
“It’s a tribute to these kids. It’s been a slow progression since they were freshmen. It was really nice to finish this game off.”
Game Summary
Schuylkill League Boys’ Semifinal
At Martz Hall
TAMAQUA (59) — Blaker 2 1-3 6, Rottet 5 12-15 23, MacDonald 2 3-5 7, Skripko 0 1-2 1, Kosciolek 7 4-5 18, Zuber 1 2-2 4, Miller 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 23-32 59.
MINERSVILLE (53) — McBreen 3 0-0 7, Hashin 1 2-3 4, Leshko 4 3-3 13, Graham 6 3-3 16, Tobin 5 0-1 11, Brennan 1 0-0 2, Stephen 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 8-10 53.
Tam (19-4) 13 6 16 24 — 59 Min (18-4) 15 9 11 18 — 53
3-point FGs: Blaker, Rottet, McBreen, Leshko 2, Graham, Tobin
Schuylkill League
basketball playoffs
All games at Martz Hall
GIRLS
Tuesday’s semifinal scores
Minersville 49, Pottsville 48
North Schuylkill 47, Marian 42
Friday’s championship
Minersville (22-1) vs. North Schuylkill (21-2), 6 p.m.
BOYS
Wednesday’s semifinal scores
Tamaqua 59, Minersville 53
Pottsville 59, Mahanoy Area 31
Friday’s championship
Tamaqua (19-4) vs. Pottsville (23-0), 8 p.m.
Advance Tickets
Advance tickets cost $5 for adults and $3 for student/senior citizens and will be sold at all participating schools during school hours. All tickets will cost $5 at the Martz Hall doors.
Get live updates
Follow Friday night’s Schuylkill League basketball championships live online through social media updates on Twitter by Leroy Boyer
(@pubsportsboss).