Mahanoy Area's Tanner Zawada (Photo by Eli Doyle).

TAMAQUA — Mahanoy Area’s version of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid surely can drive any boys’ basketball team tizzy and dizzy. You never know which one is going to pull the trigger and drop you for a loop.

Such was the case Thursday evening in a Schuylkill League Division I matchup with Tamaqua.

There was bad, ugly and a lot of good by the time the final buzzer sounded when the Golden Bears finally turned away the Blue Raiders in a 66-52 victory.

Still unscathed at 8-0 overall, 5-0 in the league, the defending champion Bears turned loose Jace Yedsena down the stretch as Butch Cassidy broke a few ankles spinning and flushing dunks to chalk up 19 points.

Meanwhile, the Sundance Kid, Tanner Zawada, choreographed the entire show. He finished with a game-high 22 points, draining seven field goals and shooting a perfect 7-for-7 from the foul line.

Their supporting cast also played key roles as fast-improving 6-foot-6 junior Ryan Zilker dipped into the well for 10 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, Payton Sendatch checked in with eight points and steady senior William Mayberry added seven.

“They’re a lot better team than their record shows. I have a lot of respect for them,” Mahanoy Area head coach Teddy Styka said of Tamaqua. “Tanner and Jace are two great players, and they’ve been here for a few years, and their leaders. So, we expect that from them.

“The rest of our players are starting to learn from those two. I like the way we’re starting to come around.”

Things weren’t meshing early, however, as the Golden Bears shot just 4-for-16 from the field in the first quarter and trailed 18-9 after one frame.

“It was a matter of time before our shots started to fall,” Zawada said. “Once we got things going, we knew we were good.”

It’s been a frustrating start of the season for the Blue Raiders (1-7, 0-5 D-I). They’ve come so very close to pulling off a major win over a quality team but just can’t seem to get over the hump.

“You’ve got to do the little things to win games like this,” Tamaqua head coach Jim Barron said.

Oh, there was enough firepower from Tamaqua’s end. Cooper Ansbach and Noah Mateyak sank 17 points each, while teammate Luke Kane knocked down 12.

It looked like Tamaqua was about to close in on the Bears when Ansbach let loose with a triple that brought the crowd to a roar with 4:32 to play. That bucket made it interesting as the Raiders came back from what seemed to be a blowout down by 50-36 right before the end of the third quarter.

The Blue Raiders got a huge lift in an 8-2 spurt before the Bears got cranked up when Yedsena pulled of a dazzling display of basketball. First, he raced to the bucket for an uncontested breakaway, then pulled off terrific drive to the iron. He went between his legs, twisted full circle, went flying like a torpedo to the iron and did one of his patterned slams.

Boom! Game, set and match. Butch Cassidy pulled the trigger that brought the Raiders to their knees.

“I missed a couple of shots early, but then I got back on track,” Yedsena said. “I started to attack to get to the rim. We’re really a good defensive team and that’s something we wanted to do from the start of the season.”

Game Summary

MAHANOY AREA (66) — Sendatch 3 1-1 8, Mayberry 2 2-2 7, Yedsena 8 2-5 19, Zawada 7 7-7 22, Oblas 0 0-0 0, Zilker 5 0-0 10, Gallagher 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 12-15 66.

TAMAQUA (52) — Ansbach 7 2-4 17, McCabe 0 1-2 1, Mateyak 6 1-2 17, Vecolitis 0 0-0 0, Davis 2 1-1 5, Schickram 0 0-0 0, Kane 6 0-0 12, Kamant 0 0-0 0, Tamagini 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 5-9 52.

MA (8-0, 5-0)       9 … 25 … 16 … 16 — 66

Tam (1-7, 0-5)     18 … 8 … 14 … 14 — 52

3-point FGs: Sendatch, Mayberry, Yedsena, Zawada, Mateyak 4, Ansbach

JV Score: Tamaqua 60-48