Minersville's Bradley Kostishak shoots and makes a 3-pointer at the buzzer of the first quarter as Minersville defeated Pine Grove 71-47 in a Schuylkill League Division I boys' basketball game Tuesday at Pine Grove (Phot by Kelly Wiley).

PINE GROVE — Minersville continues to stay hot with the regular season nearing its end.

Shazier Bethea netted a game-high 22 points as Minersville defeated Pine Grove 71-47 in a Schuylkill League Division I boys’ basketball contest Tuesday at Pine Grove Area High School.

The win solidifies Bethea and the Battlin’ Miners (18-3, 12-2 in D-I) as Division I co-champions with Mahanoy Area (20-2, 12-2 in D-I) after the Golden Bears defeated Blue Mountain 57-41 on Tuesday.

“We knew we had an opportunity to have a pretty good team,” Minersville coach Dave Mullaney said. “It was the effort of everybody buying in, not just what the coaches are saying, but buying into a role. You know, maybe it was a role where they’re doing a little less than they actually wanted to do. But they are a selfless group. Like I said, it shows.”

It was foot on the gas pedal for Minersville from the start.

Bradley Kostishak scored four of the Battlin’ Miners eight consecutive points to begin the game. Minersville went ahead 8-0 before Pine Grove’s Quinn Brommer split a pair of free throws to collect the Cardinals’ (7-15, 4-10 in D-I) first score of the matchup with 5:03 to play in the first quarter.

Jordan Bowers added five points on a 3-pointer and a backdoor feed from Kostishak for Minersville. Kostishak got a post-hook to fall for two and Dante Carr slammed a dunk and netted a free throw for a 3-point play, then Kostishak closed the quarter with a deep 3 off the glass at the buzzer as Minersville led 25-3 at the end of the frame.

In the second quarter, Pine Grove began to find some rhythm.

Hayden Felty collected four points to begin the second frame and Brommer later added five as the Cardinals showed signs of life. Brayden Lyons and Brommer eached netted two free throws as Pine Grove outscored Minersville 15-9 in the second quarter and trailed 34-18 at halftime.

Following the break, Bethea threw a laser that connected with Carr for an alley-oop dunk to kick start the second half. It was full steam ahead for Bethea and the Miners from there. Bethea collected nine of Minersville’s 19 points in the third quarter including a slam of his own that put the Miners up 53-28 with under a minute to play in the third.

There was no quit in Pine Grove as Chase Sarge and Felty each added a bucket to begin the fourth quarter. Felty had six points in the final frame and Alex Dubbs added an offensive rebound and recycle for the Cards.

For Pine Grove, Sarge totaled a team-high 13 points, Brommer chipped in 12 and Felty added 10.

“I think it is the same message all that time,” Mullaney said about his Battlin’ Miners’ playoff berth. “We can still get better from this point moving forward. We’re going to have to prior to next week so we’ll come out and play a game tomorrow and hopefully play the way that Minersville wants to play and build off that.”

Kostishak totaled 14 for the Battlin’ Miners.

Minersville is set to play a non-league game at Tri-Valley on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

As things sit right now, Mahanoy Area will earn the No. 1 seed for the league playoffs based on its District 11 power rating, with the Golden Bears at 0.731819 and the Battlin’ Miners at 0.722262.

With that, along with the other four league playoff qualifiers, sets the Schuylkill League boys’ playoff schedule as follows:

Saturday’s quarterfinals at Martz Hall (times to be determined): Minersville vs. Weatherly, Pottsville vs. Tri-Valley

Wednesday’s semifinals at Martz Hall: Min-Wea winner vs. Nativity, 6 p.m.; Potts-TV winner vs. Mahanoy Area, 7:30 p.m.

Friday’s championship at Martz Hall: Semifinal winners, 7:30 p.m.

Game Summary

MINERSVILLE (71) — Hutsko 2 0-0 4, Zimerofsky 1 0-0 2, Manning 2 2-2 7, Bethea 9 0-0 22, Adams 1 0-0 2, Kostishak 5 3-4 14, Fessler 2 0-0 6, Halford 2 0-0 4, Rogers 0 0-0 0, Carr 2 1-1 5, Bowers 2 0-0 5, Mealey 0 0-0 0. Totals 28 6-7 71.

PINE GROVE (47) — Sarge 5 3-4 13, Kimmel 1 1-2 4, Shanahan 0 0-0 0, Schneck-Haines 1 0-0 2, Brommer 3 4-6 12, Lyons 0 2-2 2, Dubbs 2 0-0 4, Barra 0 0-0 0, Snyder 0 0-0 0, Felty 5 0-2 10. Totals 17 10-16 47.

Min (18-3, 12-2)   25 … 9 … 19 … 18 — 71

PG (7-15, 4-10)  3 … 15 … 12 … 17 — 47

3-point FGs: Manning, Bethea 4, Kostishak, Fessler 2, Bowers, Kimmel, Brommer 2

JV score: Minersville 61-13

Officials: Hower, Scicchitano