LANSFORD — The Panther Valley Tip-Off Tournament has belonged to Mahanoy Area in recent years.
Championships there have been a prelude to even bigger prizes come February and March.
It’s hard to say how this year will play out, but the Golden Bears certainly played this weekend like a team that will be competing for championships later in the season.
Tournament Most Valuable Player Mike Joseph had a game-high 21 points as Mahanoy Area started strong and beat Marian 58-49 in the tournament’s title game at the Panther Valley Middle School gym.
Saturday’s was the third consecutive tip-off title for the Golden Bears (2-0), who beat Jim Thorpe 58-46 in the opening round Friday. The previous two seasons, Mahanoy Area has earned postseason
championships, including Schuylkill League and District 11 Class A titles in 2014 and a District 11 Class AA championship last year.
The last time Mahanoy Area and Marian met was in the District 11 Class AA semifinals last February, a 60-57 overtime Golden Bears’ victory.
Saturday didn’t come close to that drama.
The Golden Bears led from the start, beginning with Marcus Styka’s 3-pointer 58 seconds into the game. Mahanoy Area never trailed, building a 14-2 advantage after the first quarter and a 27-16 lead at the half.
This weekend’s victories were the first two for Ethan Eichhorst as Mahanoy Area’s head coach. Eichhorst, who was a Golden Bears’ assistant last year, took over for Scott Hudson.
“We wanted to keep them off the boards,” Eichhorst said. “Their big guys really crash hard. Playing our man-to-man defense, which we do strive on, I think we executed those pretty well.”
Mike Wronski added 11 points for the Golden Bears, including three 3-pointers, while Matt Yedsena had 10 points.
Joseph scored seven in the tournament opener against Jim Thorpe, and added six rebounds and four assists Saturday. He also steadied a potential dicey situation late in the first quarter and into the second.
Yedsena picked up his second personal foul midway through the first quarter, while Wronski soon followed with his second foul. Joseph then took over, scoring 10 of the Golden Bears’ next 12 points with those two on the bench.
When Joseph banked in a pull-up 3-pointer with 1:57 left in the first half, Mahanoy Area led 22-12.
“He played phenomenal,” Eichhorst said. “His teammates found him the ball and he put himself in great opportunities to create shots for himself. He stepped up really big when Matt and Mike were on the bench.”
But the bench also played well as Matt Derr and Randy Derr gave the Golden Bears quality minutes Saturday.
John Woitko had 13 points to lead the Colts (1-1), who figure to be in the running for the Schuylkill League Division III race this season. Marian couldn’t get going Saturday, starting 0-of-8 from the floor in the first quarter and finishing 18-for-46 (39 percent) for the game.
The Colts also committed 16 turnovers.
Mahanoy Area led by 16 points twice early in the fourth quarter, but Marian wouldn’t go away. The Colts cut the deficit to eight on Ethan Kuczynski’s 3-pointer with 41.3 seconds left in the game. But Joseph hit the first foul shot of a 1-in-1 situation, grabbed his miss, was fouled again, and sank two more foul shots to give the Golden Bears a 58-47 lead.
Brandon Mohammed added 11 points for Marian, while Josh Inama had 10 rebounds.
Game Summary
Panther Valley Tip-Off Tournament
Championship
MAHANOY AREA (58) — Wronski 4 0-0 11, Yedsena 5 0-0 10, M. Derr 0 0-0 0, Styka 2 3-3 8, McGee 1 0-3 2, Joseph 6 7-8 21, R. Derr 3 0-0 6, Fedor 0 0-0 0, Reeves 0 0-0 0, Flaim 0 0-0 0, Blackwell 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 10-14 58.
MARIAN (49) — Cortese 1 0-1 2, Woitko 5 0-0 13, Puza 2 0-0 4, Paisley 3 0-0 8, Karchner 0 0-0 0, Kuczynski 1 0-2 3, DeAngelo 0 0-0 0, Mohammed 5 0-2 11, Plesh 0 0-0 0, Munney 1 0-0 3, Inama 0 5-6 5. Totals 18 5-11 49.
MA (2-0) 14 13 19 12 — 58 Mar. (1-1) 2 14 15 18 — 49
3-point FGs: Wronski 3, Styka, Joseph 2, Woitko 3, Paisley 2, Kuczynski, Mohammed, Mummey