District 11 Class 3A Boys’ Basketball: Catasauqua defeats Minersville in physical matchup
Catasauqua boys' basketball team lifts the District 11 Class 3A trophy after defeating Minersville 61-50 on Saturday at Martz Hall (Photo by Karlee Feger).
POTTSVILLE — Catasauqua’s physical gameplay was too much for Minersville to handle on Saturday.
Frankie Pujols led Catasauqua in scoring with 19 points and Haamad Jenkins added 16 as the Rough Riders defeated Minersville 61-50 to capture the District 11 Class 3A Championship to cap a trio of district playoff games at Martz Hall.
“I’m just really disappointed for our kids,” Battlin’ Miners coach Dave Mullaney said. It was not our best performance tonight on a big stage, which really hurts. It was not from a lack of effort though. I think (Catty’s) ability to take us 1-on-1 off the dribble created fouling opportunities, and we did get in foul trouble. And that did affect the game, for sure.”
A total of 44 free throw attempts were taken on 34 collective fouls called on Minersville (22-5) and Catasauqua (18-10) combined. The paint certainly served as a proverbial demolition derby lot throughout the contest.
In the first quarter, the two squads battled back-and-forth and exchanged the lead midway through the frame after Dante Carr found a slashing Bradley Kostishak for an inside bucket. Turnovers hit the Battlin’ Miners hard early.
Minersville totaled six early turnovers, including two steals by Frankie Pujols that swung the momentum back toward the Rough Riders. Aalani Nix nailed a 3-pointer with seconds remaining to put Catty ahead 13-10 at the end of the first.
Shazier Bethea nailed a 3 for the Battlin’ Miners to tie the game 13-13 to begin the second quarter. Both squads battled back-and-forth like a chess match until the Rough Riders were able to pull ahead with a 5-0 scoring run. Jenkins weaved through Minersville’s defense for an easy layup before Nix hit a triple on the following possession to put Catasauqua ahead 26-21 with 1:07 on the clock in the frame. Kostishak answered for the Miners with a post-hook, but Jenkins was able to counter with another layup.
Jordan Bowers attempted a buzzer-beating shot for Minersville that didn’t go, and the Rough Riders were ahead 28-23 at the break.
Logan Hutsko, a senior center, received his fourth foul for Minersville with 7:20 remaining and limited the Battlin’ Miners height on the floor. Pujols opened the second half for Catty with a baseline layup before Reece Lopez nailed a 3 following a Miners turnover. Catasauqua led 33-23 just 40.0 into the third quarter.
“That is just what Frankie is,” Catasauqua coach Eric Snyder said. “He’s a leader, he leads by example, and he works as hard as anybody on the court. No matter what it takes, he’ll do whatever it takes.
“We use out speed, our quickness and our defense. If we could do that, we could shoot a lot of layups. They are higher percentage shots than 3’s.”
Bowers hit Carr for in the lane for two points to get Minersville on the board for the first time in the third with 6:01 left in the frame. Later, Carr sunk an around-the-world layup, but every time the Miners found some rhythm, Catty answered right back. Bethea and Pujols exchanged 3-point-plays. Lopez hit another triple for the Rough Riders, Pujols followed with a steal and fastbreak layup, and Nix added two more points before the final buzzer in the third.
Bowers knocked down a deep fade-away for Minersville before the buzzer to cut the deficit to 11 heading to the fourth quarter.
The Rough Riders led 45-33 at the beginning of the fourth quarter and continued to add on.
Minersville play tough through the final buzzer and cut the deficit to eight after a drive and finish from Carr with 2:26 left in regulation. Catasauqua was able to keep the Battlin’ Miners at distance and use free throw opportunities to put the game away.
Bowers fouled out with 35.8 remaining for Minersville, while Carr and Hutsko remained on the floor with four fouls each. Matthew Fotta shot 3-for-4 from the free throw line, while Jenkins and Lopez each split a pair as the Rough Riders rolled to a 61-50 district championship victory.
Nix finished with 10 points for Catasauqua, who shot 18-26 as a team from the free throw line. Jenkins went 9-for-10 by himself for Catty at the line.
For the Battlin’ Miners, Carr topped all scorers with 21 points, Bethea chipped in 13 and Bowers added 10.
Both Minersville and Catasauqua will move on to the PIAA Class 3A Tournament. Matchups, sites and times will be announced.
“I think we’re going to take a couple days off and regroup a little bit, and get refocused,” Mullaney said. “We’ll probably be on the road, I guess now. We’ll have a tough opponent, you know it’ll be like the last couple weeks of the season. That is just what we have dealt with, good opponent, after good opponent.
