Hile, Indians roll into championship

Feb. 27—SUNBURY — Shamokin had lost as the higher seed in its last two District 4 Class 4A semifinals, and don't think junior Joe Hile wasn't aware.

"Definitely had this one circled on my calendar in my room," Hile said. "Triple-circled."

Hile scored a game-high 21 points, and the Indians broke their semifinal curse with a 69-46 victory over Central Columbia on Tuesday night at Lockcuff Memorial Gynasium at Shikellamy High School.

"We felt like the last two years we were good enough to win this game, but we came up short," said Shamokin coach Chris Zimmerman, whose team will be playing for its first district title since 2014. "There is some relief because these kids work so hard and they deserve it."

The Indians (19-6) will face Danville in the championship game Friday at 8 p.m. back at Shikellamy. It's the first district championship game appearance for the Indians since 2019, a loss to Danville. Central Columbia falls to 14-10, and will face Lewisburg in consolation game at 5 p.m. at Shikellamy on Friday.

Shamokin took a 10-point lead in the first quarter when Case Lichty's steal and layup made it 16-6. The Blue Jays scored seven in a row, capped by Jackson Gump's bucket, to pull Central Columbia within 18-15 early in the second quarter. Jensen Sarisky's putback had Central Columbia within four, but Shamokin ended the first half with a 10-1 run — Hile had six points in the spurt — and the Indians opened a 36-22 lead at the break.

Hile had 16 points in the opening half on 8-of-9 shooting, and the Blue Jays, which hurt Mifflinburg with backdoor cuts in the quarterfinals, just couldn't get the same type of looks against the Shamokin defense.

"You can still deny the basketball and not get beat backdoor if you are in perfect position," Zimmerman said. "I thought our positioning on and off the ball was really good."

Hile added, "We saw (backdoor) cut a lot on film, so we practiced. We knew the backdoor was going to come. We knew we had to deny (the ball), but we also knew we needed help off the ball to take the backdoor cut away."

Central Columbia freshman Mason Kingery knocked down a 3-pointer near the edge of the Braves' logo at halfcourt to cut the margin to 36-25 at the start of the second half. Shamokin answered with a 14-2 run that ended any hopes of a Central Columbia comeback. Rylan Price hit a corner 3-pointer with five minutes left in the third quarter to give Shamokin a 50-27 lead.

Jenssyn Shuey chipped in 17 points for Shamokin, while Price finished with 10 points.

Kingery scored 11 points in the loss, while Gump chipped in nine. Kemp Bowman and Andrew Beagle each finished with eight points.

Though the Indians finally got past the semifinals, they know their work isn't finished.

"It's no secret that our ultimate goal is a district title and try to make a run in the state playoffs," Zimmerman said. "Friday is going to be a big one for us."

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DISTRICT 4 CLASS 4A BOYS BASKETBALL

SEMIFINAL

at Lockcuff Memorial Gymnasium, Shikellamy H.S.

SHAMOKIN 69, CENTRAL COLUMBIA 46

Central Columbia (14-10) 46

Mason Kingery 4 0-0 11; Kemp Bowman 4 0-0 8; Cam Humphrey 0 1-2 1; Jackson Gump 4 1-2 9; Andrew Beagle 4 0-2 8; Larson Kocher 1 0-0 3; Jensen Sarisky 2 0-0 4; Christian Nowak 0 2-2 2; Nolan Beagle 0 0-2 0. Totals 19 4-10 46.

3-point goals: Kingery 3, Kocher.

Did not score: Finley Huber, Jayden Crabb, Landon Hart, Brady Woodring.

Shamokin (19-6) 69

Rylan Price 3 3-3 10; Joe Hile 10 1-3 21; Colin Stinehart 2 1-2 5; Case Lichty 2 0-0 4; Jenssyn Shuey 7 2-3 17; Logan Steele 3 0-0 6; Cru Schroyer 2 0-0 4; Andrew Schreffler 1 0-0 2. Totals 30 7-11 69.

3-point goals: Price, Shuey.

Did not score: Gavin Renn, Landon Kramer, Alex Borrell, Brandt Krieger, Ryan Bickert.

Score by quarters

Central Columbia;13;9;11;16 — 46

Shamokin;18;18;20;13 — 69