Stroudsburg boys basketball clinches district playoff berth for first time in six years
Tarik El-Bassiouni is only in his second year at the helm of his alma mater, but he's led Stroudsburg to a district playoff berth.
It'll be the first time since the 2016-17 season that the Mounties will participate in the postseason tournament, and they had to do it on the road against a crosstown rival, Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg, which is led by El-Bassiouni's predecessor, Matt Gallagher.
"The game was very hostile," El-Bassiouni said about the environment. "You could tell both teams really wanted it — we each had 10 wins, so the next one gets you in the playoffs. Even though it was a Saturday at 12:30, it felt like a Friday night matchup at 7, that's for sure."
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Notre Dame and Stroudsburg challenged each other physically the entire game, to the point where several players received technical fouls and had to be separated on two occasions. Stroudsburg forward Richard Gilmore smiled when he was asked about the intensity, saying, "The team rule is if you get a technical, you can't play the rest of the game. All I'm going to say is we will be doing a lot of running at practice."
Gilmore was the leading player on the floor against Notre Dame, scoring a team-high 22 points and blocking three shots. Kamoni Smith-Johnson scored 16 points and grabbed five rebounds as well.
"That's the Rich that I know, and I want the world to see," El-Bassiouni said. "I challenged him and told him, 'For us to clinch this and do something we haven't done in a long time, I need that version of him.' He was a man on a mission today."
Notre Dame's Xavier Spears led all scorers with 27 points, but the Spartans struggled with Stroudsburg's defensive pressure. The Mounties turned defense into offense and scored a season-high 60 points for their 11th win, which is the magic number to qualify for districts.
Gallagher and the Spartans are the defending 1A district champs and, at 10 wins, will likely have a chance to defend their title.
As for Stroudsburg, they are still in contention for conference tournament with an EPC record of 6-6, which is tied with three other teams for essentially the final two spots of the eight-team playoff.
"We've put ourselves in the position to make the EPC playoffs possibly," El-Bassiouni said. "From where they've been, to get there would be special."
Stroudsburg's three of its final four games are against mountain teams — home games against East Stroudsburg North and Freedom before traveling to Pleasant Valley, then ending the season against fellow district qualifier Pocono Mountain West.
This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: Stroudsburg boys hoops headed to districts after a six-year drought
