TOWER CITY - Winning basketball is nothing new at Williams Valley under Denny Kasper, who is currently in his 19th year as the Vikings' head coach.
This season has been more of the same.
Williams Valley (18-3), the Division II champ, is back in the Schuylkill League playoffs for the second consecutive season and eighth time since 1998. The Vikings' record also is their best regular-season mark since 2008-09, when they finished 21-1 (25-3 overall), the last time they reached the league finals.
Tonight, Williams Valley looks to return to the league championship game, taking on Division I and four-time defending league champ Pottsville (20-3) in the nightcap at Martz Hall at 7:30 p.m.
The first game has Division I wild card Blue Mountain (19-4) taking on Division III champ Mahanoy Area (20-2) at 6 p.m.
Both games are rematches of last year's semifinals.
Despite the success, Williams Valley hasn't always been known for its defense, such as Pottsville or North Schuylkill. But this season, the Vikings have been one of the best defensive teams in the league, and will bring a basic, but different, look to tonight's semifinals.
While the other three teams will play man-to-man, Williams Valley will come out in a 2-3 zone. It isn't the most glamorous but it has been effective for the Vikings, who have allowed 42.3 points per game this season.
"It has been real big," Williams Valley senior Stephen Sedesse said of the defense. "We've been scoring a lot, too, but to hold teams low in points is always good."
The Vikings are averaging 54.5 points per game offensively, with Sedeese (14.6 ppg), senior Ben Rautzahn (11.7) and sophomore Nick Rodichok (10.7) all averaging in double figures.
But it's been the 2-3 zone that has led the way.
"We feel that if we can keep an opponent in the 40s, we have a very good chance of winning," Rautzahn said.
For the most part, Williams Valley has done that. The Vikings have allowed 50 or more points in a game just four times this season, going 1-3 in those games.
"I just think we tend to fly around," Sedesse said of why the zone has worked so well. "Sometimes we do get lazy but we pretty much fly around on defense and cover our zones."
Playing a 2-3 zone came out of necessity.
Williams Valley isn't very deep and used a six-player rotation most of the year. With the personnel he had, Kasper figured that playing an up-tempo style wouldn't work and slowing the game down would give the Vikings the best hope of winning.
"Actually, to teach a 2-3 is even more difficult than a man," Kasper said. "Most coaches like to coach and teach man but you have to have the players. With a zone, it's about trust, you get your drops right, your coverages right. There are different coverages and we are a certain way.
"It kept us in games. There were a couple of games where we were nip and tuck and our defense gave us a chance to win the game at the end."
That was the case during the first two games of the season against Minersville on Dec. 13 and Jim Thorpe on Dec. 19. While the offense was still trying to find itself, the Vikings held both the Miners and Olympians to 41 points and came away with 46-41 and 44-41 victories, the beginning of a 10-0 start to the year.
Williams Valley's first loss came to Mahanoy Area, 58-34, on Jan. 14.
"We got everybody to buy into what we were doing," Rautzahn said. "Everybody has committed to it."
The most points Williams Valley allowed this season came during a 73-64 loss at Camp Hill on Jan. 30. But Kasper felt the Vikings' worse performance came Jan. 20, a 69-54 loss to Nativity.
The Vikings successful season has also been in part to the play of three first-year starters - Rautzhan, Rodichok and junior Cody Miller (9.0 ppg).
"I just do what the team asks me to do, whether it is picking it up on the defensive end, setting the tone, getting everybody in gear and score, it all depends," Rautzahn said.
The Vikings' depth will get a major test tonight. Senior Brendan Miller (5.3), a four-year starter, broke his right hand during last Thursday's 56-46 victory over Lourdes and is out for the rest of the season.
Senior Jared Matter (3.1), who was the Vikings' sixth-man most of the year, will start in Miller's place.