Tamaqua coach Caszy Kosciolek wasn’t sure if Nate MacDonald was going to come out for basketball this season.
He’s certainly glad the 6-foot-1 senior did.
MacDonald contributed three baskets at critical times in the second half to help the Blue Raiders outlast North Schuylkill 39-33 in a District 11 Class AAA boys’ basketball quarterfinal Friday night at Martz Hall.
The victory advances the fourth-
seeded Blue Raiders (20-5) to Tuesday’s semifinals, where they will face top-seeded Pottsville (25-0) for the fourth time this season. The Crimson Tide routed Blue Mountain 60-31 in another quarterfinal.
“Nate, all year, has given us so much,” Kosciolek said. “November 17th we walked in ... I didn’t know if he was coming out for the team. I get by the ball rack, and boom, he’s there.
“Everybody contributes, but Nate being there gives us that extra big man. He’s a great defender.
“He was Johnny on the spot a couple of different times. He was huge.”
MacDonald’s buckets and the scoring of Russell Blaker helped Tamaqua survive an ugly, back-and-forth, physical struggle between the two Schuylkill League Division I rivals.
The Blue Raiders, coming off an overtime loss to Pottsville in the Schuylkill League championship game, collected the game’s first six points as MacDonald scored on a layup 10 seconds in, Blaker hit a pair of free throws and Brett Kosciolek buried a baby hook shot.
North Schuylkill (17-6), however, answered with an 8-0 run that stretched into the second quarter, holding Tamaqua scoreless for a 6-minute, 33-second stretch.
Tevin Murray tallied six of his 10 points in what eventually became a 12-3 run that gave the Spartans a 12-9 lead with 2:51 left in the first half.
Murray finished with a double-double of 10 points and 14 rebounds.
“It was a game of runs. It was that way the whole game,” North Schuylkill coach Curt Ziegmont said. “We missed a lot of shots in the first half, especially around the basket. It just wasn’t our night.
“We turned the ball over a few times, they capitalized on them and won the game by six.”
Tamaqua then went on a 6-0 run to close the first half, using a full-court press to force two turnovers that led directly to points, with two coming on a slam by Brett Kosciolek.
The Blue Raiders’ lead stretched to 19-14 with 5:30 left in the third quarter before Justin Heaton tallied four of his 10 points in a quick 6-0 Spartans spurt that put North Schuylkill up 20-19.
Enter MacDonald.
The senior put Tamaqua back in front with a driving layup, then recycled a Thad Zuber missed 3-pointer to give the Blue Raiders a 23-20 lead after three quarters.
After Blaker capped the 7-0 run with a 3-pointer moments into the fourth quarter and Murray hit a pair of free throws, MacDonald again scored on a putback, this time grabbing the rebound of a Brett Kosciolek miss to give Tamaqua a 28-22 lead with 6:05 remaining.
“We needed him to step up, because they were doubling Brett,” Caszy Kosciolek said of MacDonald, who finished with eight points and eight rebounds. “We found the way at times to get him the ball and score.
“He’s a worker, a grinder, a blue-collar-type of player that gets those loose balls, gets those offensive rebounds. They are the type of contributions that get you 20 wins for the year.”
North Schuylkill sliced the deficit to four on three occasions in the fourth quarter, but could get no closer.
Blaker, who led all scorers with 13 points, scored six of those in the final frame. The Blue Raiders then iced it from the line, hitting 6-of-8 in the final 1:19.
“Russell has struggled lately. I told him before the game ‘You’re going to have a big game. We need you,’ ” Caszy Kosciolek said of Blaker. “We needed him to step up and make shots and take the ball to the basket. He did a really, really nice job of scoring for us. He played with a lot of confidence.”
In a game where the Blue Raiders’ two 1,000-point scorers, Brett Kosciolek and Bo Rottet, were held to nine and seven points, respectively, it was the play of Blaker and MacDonald that put Tamaqua over the top.
Next up, a fourth meeting with unbeaten Pottsville.
“The old survive-and-advance,” Caszy Kosciolek said. “No one says by how many ... they ask if you won. We’ll take it.”
Game Summary
District 11 Class AAA quarterfinals
At Martz Hall
NORTH SCHUYLKILL (33) — Marlow 0 0-0 0, Murray 4 2-2- 10, Mercado 2 1-2 5, Jordan 1 1-4 3, Heaton 4 0-1 10, Carney 1 0-0 3, Mazeika 0 0-0 0, Mazur 1 0-0 2. Totals 13 4-9 33.
TAMAQUA (39) — Blaker 4 3-4 13, Rottet 2 3-6 7, MacDonald 4 0-0 8, Skripko 0 0-0 0, Kosciolek 3 2-2 9, Miller 0 0-0 0, Zuber 0 2-3 2, Shilko 0 0-0 0, Scott 0 0-0 0, Murphy 0 0-0 0, Wassell 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 10-15 39.
N. Sch. (17-6) 6 6 8 13 — 33 Tamaqua (20-5) 6 9 8 16 — 39
3-point FGs: Heaton 2, Carney, Blaker 2, Kosciolek