Nativity head coach Mike Walborn gives instructions during a timeout in Friday's District 11 Class A semifinal against Lincoln Leadership (Photo by Leroy Boyer).

LEHIGHTON — Nativity and Weatherly entered Friday’s District 11 Class A boys’ basketball semifinals looking to avenge regular-season losses.

Both came up short of their goal in games that resembled the previous ones.

In a doubleheader at the Lehighton Elementary School, Nativity fell to Lincoln Leadership 65-60 in the opener while Weatherly was routed by top-seeded Bethlehem Christian 86-52 in the nightcap.

Bethlehem Christian (21-2) and Lincoln Leadership (17-5) advance to the District 11 Class A championship game and qualify for the PIAA Tournament.

The Hilltoppers (14-10) and Wreckers (14-11) will square off in the Class A consolation game at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Minersville High School, with the winner advancing to a PIAA play-in game against a team from District 6.

“There are actually no failures in life,” Weatherly coach Luke Medico said, putting things in perspective. “If we go ahead and we choose to put our heads down and say we just got clobbered by 34 and call it day, then we’ll indeed be losers.

“But we’re only losers if we don’t do anything about this. And I know that won’t be the case with this group.”

Nativity lost to Lincoln Leadership 79-74 in a non-league game Dec. 20 in Allentown.

Friday’s rematch was a game of runs, with a third-quarter outburst by the Lions putting the Hilltoppers in a hole they could never fully dig out of.

Lincoln Leadership used a 13-1 run in the first half to take an 18-6 lead. The Lions set the tone for their dominance on the boards with several buckets after offensive rebounds.

Dwight Prud’homme, a burly 6-foot-6 senior center, scored four points in the spurt and pulled down seven of his 12 rebounds in the first half. Robert Baker, a 6-3 forward, had nine of his 14 rebounds in the first half.

Defensively, 6-foot forward Emil Rodriguez blanketed the Schuylkill League’s leading scorer, Trey Keating, to just one shot in the first quarter and no points over the game’s first 10 minutes, 16 seconds.

The Hilltoppers countered with an aggressive full-court trap press that caused fits for Lincoln’s guards. Nativity forced eight second-quarter turnovers, closing the first half on a 13-0 run to take a 26-25 lead at intermission.

Keating got his offense going with several steals, scoring eight of his 19 points in the outburst.

“I’m extremely proud of my team,” Walborn said. “To get back in the game as we did … that’s a learning experience. I couldn’t be more proud of them.

“We had a horrible shooting first quarter. We pressed our way back into the game and didn’t get a couple of calls that didn’t go our way that would have helped.”

Deeani Velez opened the second half with a 3-pointer for Lincoln Leadership and Nativity never led again. The Lions went on a 20-3 run to open the third quarter, building a 45-29 lead with 39 seconds left in the frame.

Baker had six of his 10 points in the run, while the Lions used a physical presence around the basket to shoot 6-of-9 from the foul line. That presence got Nativity into foul trouble, with Sammy Walborn and Noah Dolbin both picking up their fourth fouls in the third quarter.

“The guy down low is a big guy. He’s a big guy,” Walborn said. “If we can’t play physical against him on defense but he’s allowed to play physical on offense against us, we’re going to get the fouls. He’s tough to cover. He’s a big body down there.”

Still, Nativity didn’t quit, outscoring Lincoln 23-8 over the next seven minutes. Dolbin single-handedly took the game over, scoring 12 of his team-high 22 points in the run. He also finished with 17 rebounds.

Nativity got the deficit to one at 53-52 with 2:50 left, but Velez scored on a layup and hit a big 3-pointer to push the lead back out to six. Prud’homme kept the Lions out in front with 13 of his game-high 23 points in the fourth, hitting 5-of-6 from the line.

Nativity got it to one possession twice, on 3-pointers by Keating and Jake Bowman, but never had a chance to hit a tying shot.

“They hit their shots. Kudos to them, they did what they had to do to get the win,” Mike Walborn said. “That’s a solid team. We’ll learn from this and be ready to go.”

Weatherly lost to Bethlehem Christian 83-49 on Jan. 25 in Bethlehem and for the first 12 minutes it looked the Wreckers would fare much better.

A pair of 3-pointers by Corbin Wagner and seven of Ian McKeegan’s team-high 15 points had the score tied at 23-23 with 4:25 left in the first half.

“We had exceptional guard play,” Medico said. “We have an athletic team. They’re awesome and they work hard. But they were bigger and they were athletic.”

Bethlehem Christian, however, dominated the game from there. Junior Gabe Transue, a 6-2 guard, was the star for the Panthers, scoring 41 points and pulling down 14 rebounds.

Transue was everywhere, dominating the boards, scoring off transition and driving through the lane for layups.

Deion Swift added 20 points and Myles Harris netted 16 for Bethlehem Christian, which closed the first half on a 16-3 run, then put up 33 points in the third quarter to force a running clock with 57 seconds left in the third period.

Wagner and Niko Saldukas each added 10 points for Weatherly.

“They are just a better basketball team,” Medico said. “They have 5-7 players that are very good basketball players and good individual players. That’s how they play.

“Our guys thrive off creating chaos because we are quick, but we weren’t able to do that tonight.”

Game Summaries

District 11 Boys’ Basketball

Class A Semifinal

At Lehighton Elementary

NATIVITY (60) — Kreitzer 0 0-0 0, Walborn 2 1-2 7, Dolbin 8 6-8 22, Pasker 4 1-2 9, Keating 5 8-9 19, Bowman 1 0-0 3, Clarke 0 0-0 0, Lutzkanin 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 16-21 60.

LINCOLN LEADERSHIP (65) — Velez 4 0-0 11, Baker 3 2-4 10, Rodriguez 6 2-2 14, Prud’homme 7 9-13 23, Gil 0 0-0 0, Forbes 2 0-0 4, Henegan 1 1-2 3, Medina 0 0-0 0, Parker 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 14-21 65.

Nat (14-10)            6 … 20 … 9 … 25 — 60

LLA (17-5)              14 … 11 … 20 … 20 — 65

3-point FGs: Walborn 2, Keating, Velez 3, Baker 2

Officials: Hymans, Groody, Rizzo

District 11 Boys’ Basketball

Class A Semifinal

At Lehighton Elementary

WEATHERLY (52) — McKeegan 5 4-5 16, Saldukas 4 0-0 10, Donish 4 1-1 9, Stauffer 0 1-2 1, Wagner 4 0-0 10, Adler 2 1-2 7, Kokinda 0 0-0 0, Davis 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 7-10 52.

BETHLEHEM CHRISTIAN (86) — Harris 6 0-0 16, G. Transue 17 5-5 41, Rex 1 0-0 2, Brown 0 0-0 0, Swift 6 6-8 20, Kasper 3 0-0 7, Wescoe 0 0-0 0. Totals 33 11-13 86.

Wea (14-11)          17 … 9 … 17 … 9 — 52

BC (21-2)                 18 … 21 … 33 … 14 — 86

3-point FGs: McKeegan, Saldukas 2, Wagner 2, Adler 2, Harris 4, G. Transue 2, Swift 2, Kasper

Officials: Haas, Bonavita, Peterson