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By DAVE KONOPKI davek@leader.net
Saturday, March 15, 2003 Page: 1B
POTTSVILLE – Just when it appeared a berth in the PIAA Class A Eastern Final
was within its grasp, the qualities that carried the Bishop O’Reilly boys
basketball team through the postseason – outstanding perimeter shooting and an
aggressive defense – disappeared.
Muncy broke a 43-43 deadlock with a 14-2 run and the Queensmen made just
two baskets in the final 4:55 – including a half-court heave at the buzzer –
in a 59-48 loss against the Indians in a PIAA Class A state quarterfinal
Friday night at Martz Hall.
District 4 champion Muncy (27-3) will play District 3 champion Scotland
(23-7) on Tuesday at a site and time to be determined. Bishop O’Reilly, which
captured the District 2 championship, ends its season at 21-9.
“We made some crazy decisions on defense and I don’t know where that came
from,” said Queensmen head coach Mark Belenski, whose team was supported by a
large contingent of O’Reilly faithful in the program’s Martz Hall debut.
“I was happy with our shot selection (in the fourth quarter), but they
didn’t go in. We didn’t make the shots and they made the shots.”
The Indians and Queensmen exchanged the lead eight times through the first
three quarters, with neither team holding more than a six-point lead. The
Queensmen led 15-9 after one quarter, but Muncy used a 14-2 run late in the
second quarter – led by three three-pointers by sophomore guard Adam Fry – to
grab a 28-24 halftime lead. The game was tied 37-37 entering the final
quarter.
O’Reilly’s Chris Lynn nailed a jumper to make it 43-43 with 4:56 remaining
in the game.
From there, it was all Muncy. Fry made one of two free throws to give the
Indians a 48-43 lead with 2;46 remaining. Holding the lead, Muncy spread the
floor and forced the Queensmen to foul. The Indians made nine of 12 free
throws in the final 1:46 to seal the win.
“When they got up by five points and went into the four corners, we had 15
fouls and they had five or six,” said Belenski. “We had to foul and put them
on the line. And they made their foul shots.”
The Indians, winners of 20 consecutive games and 26 of their last 27, went
to a box-and-one defense to slow down O’Reilly’s Matt Flanagan in the fourth
quarter. The hot-shooting junior scored 20 points through the first three
quarters, but was held scoreless in the final period.
“We didn’t execute our offense toward the end of the game,” said Belenski.
“When (Muncy) went to the box-and-one, we stood around instead of running the
offense that was called.”
Belenski said the loss won’t diminish a season that featured the team
reaching its goal of 20 wins and one of the deepest state playoff runs in the
program’s history.
“We had a great season.”