PIAA basketball: 8 GameTimePA teams advance to Sweet 16 of state tournament

Eight high school basketball teams from the GameTimePA coverage area are headed to the second round after wins on Friday night.

Seven are from the York-Adams league and one is from Franklin County.

Eastern York, York Suburban, Central York, Chambersburg and Red Lion advanced on the boys' side, and York Catholic, Dallastown and Delone Catholic won on the girls' side.

The York-Adams league is guaranteed at least one quarterfinalist as Central York and Red Lion will meet for the fourth time this season.

Here is a look at how the first round played out for teams from Adams, Franklin, Lebanon and York counties.

Friday, March 8

Boys

Class 4A

Eastern York 56, South Allegheny 55: Anson Marcos passed the ball from the foul line to Brady Seitz, who dribbled, took two steps toward the basket and scored with 3 seconds remaining to send the Golden Knights into the second round. They will play Valley View, a 62-57 winner over Shamokin Area, at Easton MS at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The teams were never more than one or two points away from each other for most of the game. After South Allegheny held a one-point edge after the first quarter, Carter Foote-Renwick and Justin Strausbaugh combined for nine points in the second quarter to pull the teams into a 23-all time at the half. The offenses came alive in the second half, with each team scoring more than half of their points. Strausbaugh set the tone, scoring 13 of his game-high 21 points in the second half. Carter Wamsley added 13 points for Eastern York and Foote-Renwick finished with nine.

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Neumann Goretti 86, Littlestown 63: The Saints turned a seven-point halftime lead into a runaway, and gave their coach his 600th win in the process. The District 12 champs will face District 3 third-place team, Berks Catholic, in the second round. Littlestown closes out the season at 18-8.

Class 5A

Shaler 73, Greencastle-Antrim 58: Jordan Hunt led three Blue Devils in double figures with 13 points. Eli Sterling added 12 and Conner Wright had 10 in a game G-A led early. After trailing by six at the end of the first quarter, Shaler turned things around in the second and never lost the lead the rest of the way. Shaler's Keeyan Smetanka led all scorers with 21 points. The Titans will face another District 3 team in the second round, champion Mechanicsburg at a site and time to be determined.

York Suburban 52, Thomas Jefferson 48: The Trojans jumped out to a 28-22 lead at the half behind a combined 17 points by Kai (nine) and Kane Stryhn (eight points), and then held on as Thomas Jefferson mounted a comeback in the second half. Kai Stryhn led all scorers with 16 points. Kane Stryhn and CJ Rissmiller each added 11. Evan Berger and Nick Trklja led Thomas Jefferson with 13 points each. The Trojans will play Moon Area in the second round at Hollidaysburg HS at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Girls

Class 3A

York Catholic 37, Imhotep Charter 33: The Irish knocked off District 12 champion Imhotep to set up a second-round meeting against District 2 champion Holy Redeemer. Holy Redeemer defeated Bloomsburg 55-38 on Friday. The teams will meet at Millersville at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Class 6A

Peters Township 69, Lebanon 49: The Cedars kept Peters Township's pair of Division I recruits contained in the first half, but Gemma Walker and Natalie Wetzel came alive in the second half. The pair combined for 51 points, most coming in the final two quarters, to send the Indians into the second round against Spring-Ford, a big winner over Northeastern. The Cedars, who were led by junior Lili Harrison's 16 points, close out the season at 24-5.

Norwin 54, York High 29: The Bearcats didn't come away with the win, but they did take the next step in their program's development. Last year they won their first District 3 game. This year they qualified for the state tournament for the first time. They ran into a buzzsaw after the long trek to Norwin to finish the season 16-11. Ciarra Gibbs led York with nine points.

Dallastown 43, Central Bucks East 36: The Wildcats scored first, and then never trailed to advance to the second round against Parkland, a 51-34 winner over Downingtown East. The teams will play at Governor Mifflin HS at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Alonna Dowell hit 1 of 2 free throws more than two minutes into the game to put CB East behind. Both teams relied on a sticky defense and limited second-chance shots. Praise Matthews was the only Wildcat in double figures, and led all scorers with 13 points.

Spring-Ford 71, Northeastern 37: The Bobcats never found their shot against host Spring-Ford, which averages just over 60 points per game. Especially beyond the arc. Northeastern hit just one 3-pointer, and Mikayla Coleman had that late in the third quarter. Spring-Ford,  which will play Peters Township in the second round, outscored the Bobcats 33-3 beyond the arc. Coleman led Northeastern with 17 points.

Saturday, March 9

Boys

Class 3A

Devon Prep 73, Delone Catholic 32: Devon Prep jumped on the Squires in the first quarter, taking a 27-10 lead after eight minutes. Shane Doyle led Devon’s charge with 11 first-quarter points en route to a game-high 19. Zane Conlon had seven of his 11 points in the first quarter. Liam O’Brien led the Squires with nine points.

Class 6A

Lower Merion 85, Cedar Crest 55: John Mobley scored 17 points to lead Lower Merion over visiting Cedar Crest. The Falcons hung with the Aces for a quarter, before Lower Merion went on a 24-12 run in the second quarter to open the gap. Owen Chernich was the only Crest player in the double figures with 11.

Central York 69, Garnet Valley 60: The Panthers scored the first six points of the game, led by as many as eight in the second quarter and had to rally after trailing by a point to start the fourth quarter.

They snared the lead for good when RJ Jackson finished a fastbreak. That was followed by a pair of free throws from Ben Rill and a one-handed offensive rebound putback by Saxton Suchanic to turn a one-point deficit into a 51-46 lead.

And that all happened without a field goal from leading scorer Greg Guidinger. The senior had hit free throws to that point, but didn't hit his first -- and only -- field goal until there was 4:11 remaining in the game.

Central coach Jeff Hoke wasn't surprised his team was ahead even without much scoring help from Guidinger. That's because he helped in every other facet of the game.

"That kid is so unselfish," Hoke said. "He gets every rebound, his defense was great today. That's why he's a big-time player. He does everything to win. He doesn't care who scores. He honestly doesn't care."

Guidinger finished with 10 points thanks to going 8 of 12 from the free throw line.

Juniors Ben Rill and Ben Natal picked up the scoring slack, finishing with 17 and 15 points, respectively. They led the team even though they spent minutes on the bench for injury or fouls.

Rill, who tweaked his ankle in the first quarter, missed several minutes to get it wrapped and said after the game that it won't be a problem moving forward.

Natal sat nearly eight minutes over the third and fourth quarters after getting his fourth foul.

But like Rill and Natal picked up the scoring for Guidinger, Doug Layer Jr., RJ Jackson and Saxton Suchanic dropped in buckets when called on.

Those buckets were needed, because boy, could the Jaguars shoot. Four players knocked down nine 3-pointers and they had another three or four that fell from a step inside the arc.

Quinn O'Hara led the Jaguars with four 3s to finish with 14 points. Jake Sniras had 13 points and Brady Krautzel finished with 12 points.

With no one taller than 6-4, the Jaguars couldn't match the Panthers height inside, but their strong passing game fed their outside shooters.

"They are a very, very disciplined team," Hoke said of the Jaguars. "I was proud of our guys for their defense because that team can really shoot. They have six shooters on that team."

Next up for the Panthers is a very familiar opponent. They will play Division I foe Red Lion for the fourth time this season. The Panthers won two of the games, but the Lions won their last meeting by one point.

The teams will play at Dallastown at 7 p.m. Wednesday, with the winner advancing to the state semifinals.

Chambersburg 72, Central Bucks East 41: J.J. Kelly nearly outscored CB East by himself. He finished with 40 points in a game that was a rout from the start. The Trojans will play Parkland at Central Dauphin East at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Red Lion 78, Emmaus 65: The Lions started slowly, falling behind Emmaus 13-11 at the end of the first quarter. But they picked up the pace in the second quarter and led by three at the half.  Joe Sedora led the Lions with 27 points. They will play Central York for the fifth time this season on Wednesday.

Girls

Class 4A

Delone Catholic 53, Pope John Paul II 19: Megan Jacoby, Brielle Baughman and Kaitlyn Schwarz combined for 15 first-quarter points as the Squirettes held PJP to just four points. Delone’s defense was too much for PJP, which didn’t hit double figures in any quarter. Jacoby finished with 18 points to lead Delone, and Baughman added 10. Delone will play Allentown Central Catholic at Warwick at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Universal Audenried 75, Eastern York 34: Arianna Seitz led the Golden Knights with 19 points to finish her career as the school’s No. 2 scorer. She was the only Eastern player in double figures, but Molly Townsley was close with nine on three 3-pointers. Audenried outscored Eastern 22-12 in the first quarter and never looked back. Junior Shayla Smith led all scorers with 32 points.

Allentown CC 65, Northern Lebanon 44: ACC jumped out to a six-point lead at the end of the first quarter and doubled that by halftime. Armani Brickhouse led Allentown with 25 points. Olivia Shutter canned four 3-pointers to lead Northern Lebanon with 24 points and was the only one on her team in double figures. ACC will play Delone Catholic on Wednesday at a site and time to be determined.

Gold-medal performance: York Suburban girls win first district title in overtime

Class 5A

McKeesport 61, West York 32: McKeesport’s defense allowed just four Bulldogs to score, and only Faith Walker finished in double figures. The Duquesne recruit hit from inside and outside and went 9-for-12 from the free throw line to finish with a game-high 21 points. Cam Forsythe, Brooke Nalls and Maya Shah were the only other scorers for West York. McKeesport jumped out to a 13-5 lead after the first quarter and never looked back. Rachael Manfredo led McKeesport with 19 points.

Armstrong 44, Palmyra 33: The Cougars close out the season at 18-9.

Indiana 33, York Suburban 32: It wasn’t the way York Suburban wanted to see their season end, but they can’t argue about the team’s success this year. A Division II title, spot in the league tournament final and some gold in the form of a District 3 title are all worthy of celebration. But a long state run wasn’t meant to be. Held to one of their lowest point totals of the season, Lydia Powers was the only Trojan in double figures with 10 points. Indiana held York Suburban to three points in the first quarter, but the Trojans returned the favor in the second, limiting Indiana to just one point.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: PIAA basketball: GameTimePA teams advance to state tourney's Sweet 16