It was a new era for the Mahanoy Area boys’ basketball team this season with five new starters under a new head coach.
But the Golden Bears found themselves in a familiar position Saturday afternoon at Martz Hall.
District 11 champions again.
Matt Yedsena had a game-high 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, including the go-ahead bucket by Mike Joseph, to lift Mahanoy Area to a thrilling, 51-49 overtime victory over Minersville in the Class AA title game.
Joseph gave the second-seeded Golden Bears (20-5) the lead for good when he sank a seven-foot, baseline jumper with 16 seconds left. The top-seeded Miners had last two final shot attempts, including a desperation 3-pointer by David Graham from in front of the Minersville bench that bounced off the backboard, and then the front of the rim, as the final buzzer went off.
Saturday’s title was the third consecutive for Mahanoy Area, with the previous two coming in Class A. The championship was
the eighth in program history and the first in Class AA since 1999.
Mahanoy Area hammered Pius X 62-42 in last year’s Class A title game at Martz Hall.
“I feel on top of the world,” Yedsena said. “We didn’t contribute much the last two, but we went from working those guys in practice, like everybody knows Dylan (Mahmod), Tyler (Cavenas), Andy (Kuzma) and Larry (McNeil). This one is actually ours. This is all us.”
Saturday was second down-to-wire game the two teams played this season. Mahanoy Area won the regular-season meeting 59-58 on Jan. 15 on a last-second putback by Brian Miller off a Yedsena missed jumper.
It was also the second overtime game of the district playoffs for the Golden Bears, who beat No. 3 Marian 60-57 in Wednesday’s semifinals.
Next up for Mahanoy Area is the District 4 runner-up, either Loyalsock or Wellsboro, in the first round of the PIAA Tournament next Saturday, with Martz Hall the likely site.
“This is just a surreal feeling,” said Joseph, a sophomore who scored 13 points Saturday. “All the hard work we put in, it is just paying off and it is a great feeling. We played an all-around great game and I am just so proud to be a part of this team.”
Miller added 14 points for Mahanoy Area, while Joseph also had six assists.
David Graham and Spencer Tobin had 15 points apiece for Minersville, with Graham grabbing nine rebounds.
The Miners open the PIAA playoffs against District 12 runner-up Freire Charter next Saturday.
“I am proud of the way the kids battled back in the second half,” Minersville coach Cliff Woodford said. “It just didn’t turn our way.”
The game was headed for a rout early, thanks in large part to hot starts from Yedsena (13 first-half points) and Joseph (nine), to go along with the Miners’ cold shooting. Minersville was 5-for-25 (20 percent) over the first 16 minutes as Mahanoy Area led 22-10 with 3 minutes left in the first half and 28-19 at halftime.
But thanks to nine, third-quarter points from Graham, and a change offensively, the Miners slowly crawled back into the game.
“That’s the first thing I said to the kids at halftime, ‘Our shots are going to fall,’ ” Woodford said. “Just be patient, penetrate and kick to the open shooter. We switched it up. We went to a post man because Miller was in foul trouble, so we tried to get the ball down low a little bit more in the second half. It was effective. It got us back in the game.”
Minersville hit from the outside, too, with all four of their fourth-quarter field goals on 3-pointers. The final was a Graham trey from the corner that gave the Miners a 44-41 advantage with 3:21 left in regulation.
Yedsena tied the game at 44 with 1:03 remaining when he hit a 3 off an out-of-bounds play. Tobin had a chance to win the game with 3 seconds left in regulation but missed a 3-pointer.
Yedsena turned out to be the difference in overtime.
“He is one of the guys where he is a slasher, he can do so many good things,” first-year Golden Bears coach Scott Hudson said. “He’s a player where if you don’t account for him, he is going hurt you.”
Tobin gave Minersville the lead after he hit two foul shots at 3:25. But Yedsena found an open Miller inside on a cut, and Miller turned a layup into a three-point play.
With 1:04 to go, Yedsena penetrated the lane and passed to an open Miller, who laid it in to make it 49-46. Chris Leshko tied the game one last time when he drained a 3-pointer from the top of the circle with 33 seconds left.
Yedsena set up Joseph’s winning bucket, passing underneath to Joseph on the baseline. He then drained the fall-away jumper.
“Matt made a great pass to me and I just took the shot and it went in,” Joseph said.
Leshko missed a runner with 7 seconds remaining, while Miller missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Leshko ended up with the rebound and Collin Hashin brought the ball up court. He lost the handle as ball rolled to the front of the Miners’ bench. Graham grabbed the loose ball and fired up the shot, just missing.
The Golden Bears then celebrated another title. As they were celebrating after the game, the team spotted former coach Mickey Holland up in the stands of Martz Hall. The team went up to greet him and got a picture taken with the legendary coach, too.
“I am a little bit in shock right now,” Hudson said. “But it is good. Our kids gutted it out.”
Game Summary
District 11 Class AA Championship
At Martz Hall
MAHANOY AREA (51) — Miller 6 1-2 14, Luddy 0 0-0 0, Wronski 1 0-0 2, Yedsena 8 1-5 20, Styka 1 0-0 2, Joseph 4 4-6 13, McGee 0 0-0 0, Price 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 6-13 51.
MINERSVILLE (49) — McBreen 3 1-2 8, Stephen 0 0-0 0, Fekette 0 0-0 0, Hashin 1 0-0 3, Leshko 3 0-0 8, Stoppie 0 0-0 0, Graham 5 3-6 15, Brennan 0 0-0 0, Tobin 3 7-9 15. Totals 15 11-17 49.
Mah (20-5) 18 10 6 10 7 — 51 Min (19-5) 9 10 13 12 5 — 49
3-point FGs: Miller, Yedsena 3, Joseph, McBreen, Hashin, Leshko 2, Graham 2, Tobin 2