DANVILLE — There are plenty of outstanding defensive teams in the Schuylkill League.
But it’s unlikely Minersville saw the type of pressure defense this season it saw out of Loyalsock on Wednesday night.
“We prepped three days for the full-court, man-to-man,” Miners coach Cliff Woodford said. “Maybe we should have had two weeks.”
That defense forced 11 first-quarter Minersville turnovers. The Lancers raced out to a 16-point lead and never looked back in a 69-55 victory in the second round of the PIAA Class AA Basketball Championships at Danville Area High School.
Ben Sosa (20) and Omar Little (16) reached double figures in scoring for the District 4 champ Lancers (25-3), the No. 5-ranked team in the Pennsylvania in the most recent Pennlive.com rankings. But it was the full-court, man-to-man pressure defense that keyed Loyalsock’s win and put it into the quarterfinals for second time in the past three years.
Next up for the Lancers is Mastery Charter North, the third-place
team out of District 12, on Saturday. Mastery Charter North beat District 3 champ Trinity 67-61 on Wednesday.
Chris Leshko had 16 points for Minersville (20-6), the District 11 runner-up, while David Graham added 10. The Miners played a much better second half, but the damage had already been done.
Minersville turned the ball over 23 times in the game.
“We knew they were going to come out and face guard, full-court man-to-man, a little bit of run and jump,” Woodford said. “The one thing we stressed at practice was controlling the tempo a little bit better than what we did. We wanted to get a couple more passes before we took a shot. They got us into their style, their tempo of game, got us into quick shot. Even though we had some layups, they got a little bit faster than what we wanted to do.
“Give them credit. They have six seniors and they have won at almost every level. It is a very good team.”
The Miners turned the ball over on their first five possessions of the game as the Lancers got out to a 7-0 lead. Kyle Datres opened Loyalsock’s scoring with a 3-pointer from the wing, while buckets from Little and another by Datres made it 7-0 at 6:15.
Graham finally got Minersville on the board when he drove on the lane and scored on a layup at the 6-minute mark.
Sosa, who scored eight points in the first quarter, completed a three-point play at 3:55 to make it 15-2. Leshko drained a 3 from the corner to make it 15-5, while a Collin Hashin bucket inside made it 17-7 with 3:03 left in the first quarter.
But Loyalsock finished the first quarter on an 11-3 run — Leshko drained another 3 for the Miners — finished off by a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Mike Pastore, making it 28-12.
Minersvile opened the second quarter on a 6-0 run as Hashin scored on a layup, Leshko hit a runner and Hashin put in another layup to cut the deficit to 10 at 28-18 at 6:01. The Miners switched to a 2-3 zone to try and slow the tempo. Minersville was also getting into foul trouble.
“The last game (a win over Freire Charter) we went to a 1-3-1 and we knew we couldn’t go into a 1-3-1 here because they put their shooters at the corners,” Woodford said. “It slowed it down a bit.”
But that was as close as the Miners got. The run prompted a timeout by Loyalsock coach Ron Insinger and the Lancers finished the half on a 16-2 run to go up 44-20 at halftime.
Wednesday’s loss ended what’s been a great season for Minersville. The Miners won the Schuylkill League Division II title and reached the league playoffs for the first time since 2011. Minersville’s District 11 runner-up finish, as well as its appearance in the state playoffs, was its first since 2001.
Minersville will lose Hashin and Spencer Tobin to graduation but Jon McBreen, Leshko and Graham should return.
“Practices with this group are fun to be with,” Woodford said. “They work their tails off. They worked their tails off in the offseason and because of that, it has gotten us to where we are now.
“This is a great group. They share the ball. There is no selfishness. They recognize some of the mismatches and who is hot, so let’s get them the ball. This is a very unselfish group. That is their best quality.”
Game Summary
PIAA Class AA Second Round
At Danville H.S.
MINERSVILLE (55) — McBreen 2 0-0 4, Stephen 1 0-0 2, Fekette 1 0-0 2, Hashin 3 1-2 7, Brown 2 0-0 5, Leshko 6 1-1 16, Stoppie 0 0-0 0, Graham 4 2-4 10, Brennan 2 0-0 4, Tobin 2 0-2 5, Moran 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 4-9 55.
LOYALSOCK (69) — Baggett 0 0-0 0, Casale 2 3-3 7, Datres 3 0-0 7, Little 6 2-4 16, Pastore 4 0-1 9, Sosa 9 2-4 20, Diggs 0 0-0 0, Schmucker 0 0-0 0, Taylor 1 0-0 2, LaPoint 3 0-0 6, Malone 0 0-0 0, Muggleton 1 0-0 2, Worth 0 0-0 0, Graver 0 0-0 0, Klingerman 0 0-0 0, Williams 0 0-0 0. Totals 29 7-12 69.
Miners (20-6) 12 8 15 20 — 55 Loyal. (25-3) 28 16 17 8 — 69
3-point FGs: Brown, Leshko 3, Tobin, Datres, Little 2, Pastore