Trinity and Scotland are back on top

Trinity and Scotland now have 21 District 3 titles; Wilson girls are AAAA champions
By Gorden Blain
HERSHEY -- A pair of traditional playoff mainstays won PIAA District 3 boys basketball championships Monday night at Hersheypark Arena.

Now both of them are serious contenders for PIAA State championships.

Scotland won its 13th district championship by dominating 2007 district and state champion Reading Central Catholic 64-33 in the Boys A championship game. Trinity won its 9th district championship by defeating Delone Catholic 51-41 in the Boys AA championship game.

In the final game of the long District 3 championship weekend and Monday night’s tripleheader (3,242 paid) that was postponed on Friday night, Vanessa Rivera scored 16 points to lead Wilson to a 50-44 win over Central Dauphin East in the District 3 AAAA championship game. Taylor Napoli had 13 points and Amanda Sawlsville had 10 for Wilson, which won its first district championship since 2000 and fourth overall.

McKenna Regets lead C. D. East with 12 points. It was the second straight season that the Panthers lost the district championship game. Danielle Everson had 11 points.

Scotland (20-4) will open the PIAA State tournament Friday night against Millville (22-5), the third-place team from District 4, at Chambersburg High School at 6 p.m.

Central Catholic (15-12) will open the state tournament on Friday at 6 p.m. at Governor Mifflin High School against the second place from District 1, Faith Christian (22-5).

Trinity (18-8) will open the PIAA State tournament Saturday at 6 p.m. at Hersheypark Arena against Central Martinsburg (12-16), the third place team from District 6. Delone Catholic (24-4) will face Southern Columbia (17-10), the third place team from District 4, in the first round on Saturday at 2 p.m. at New Oxford High School.

Wilson (26-3) opens the AAAA girls state tournament on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Governor Mifflin High School against Lower Merion (21-8), the eighth-place team from District 1. East (21-7) opens the tournament against the third-place team from District 11 Nazareth (20-8) at Milton Hershey School at 8 p.m. Friday.

In the AA championship game, neither team found the Hersheypark Arena baskets friendly as Delone led 16-11 at halftime

“We only had 11 points at halftime and that’s pretty hard to do,” said Trinity coach Larry Kostelac.

But Trinity heated up just enough to subdue the Squires in the second half.

Senior guard Eric Pochak sank three three-point shots and added two free throws in the third quarter as the Shamrocks scored 13 unanswered points at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarters to go from trailing 27-25 to leading 38-27 with 6:44 left in the game.

Pochak scored 20 points, all but three in the second half, to lead Trinity.

“I was feeling it tonight,” said Pochak. “I wanted the ball and I wanted this district championship.”

Sophomore forward Eric Kindler had 10 points for Trinity. Junior forward Chris Hartmann had 20 points and guard Cody Smith had 10 points for Delone.

Delone rallied in the fourth quarter to close to within four points. Hartmann scored seven points and Adam Naymick’s layup with 1:00 left in the game trimmed the Trinity lead to 44-40. But Kindler and point guard Matt Donahue finished off the Squires at the foul line by combining to sink seven of 10 free throws in the final 53 seconds.

After displaying an array of talented players who can score, play defense and rebound, the Cadets, who have won four PIAA State A championships since 1994, have another state gold medal on their agenda.

“The district championship is nice,” said Scotland coach Randy Taylor. “But winning the state title is very, very special.”

Central Catholic led 11-6 late in the first quarter but then Scotland ratcheted up its defensive pressure on the Cardinals’ point guard Cameron Furman and Scotland junior center Byron Johnson’s defensive presence inside led to a number of blocked or altered shots. The Cadets outscored Central Catholic 12-2 to take a 18-13 lead midway through the second quarter.

“We used four and five guards to try to wear them down as the game went on,” said Taylor.

Central Catholic narrowed the gap to 18-17 before Scotland closed out the first half with a 6-0 flurry finished off by Johnson, who blocked a Central Catholic shot and then ran the length of the court to cap off a fast break with a layup.

Johnson’s defense was as dominant as his offense as the Cadets’ playmaker in the paint.
Johnson scored 22 points. Khalid Gresham had 12 and Taaj Cousin scored 10 for the Cadets. Alex Swavely led Central Catholic with 10 points.

“I told Byron the he could be the MVP for us and not score a point,” said Scotland coach Randy Taylor. “We can still be pretty good the way he plays defense.”

“Defense wins games,” said Johnson. “That’s what (coach Taylor) tells us.”

The Cadets threw the haymaker in the third quarter by outscoring Central Catholic 20-4 to take a 44-21 lead.