The Parkland boys basketball team has won in a lot of places over the years, earning 106 wins and six championships just over the last five years.
But if the Trojans can’t play at home, their second choice would probably be at Easton Area Middle School.
Parkland won its 15th straight game at the Forks Township facility Saturday afternoon, using a big second half to turn back Allen 60-50 in the District 11 6A quarterfinals, and now get a return trip to EAMS on Wednesday night for the semifinals.
The fourth-seeded Trojans (20-6) will play No. 8 seed Pocono Mountain East (13-11), a shocking winner over No. 1 seed and Eastern Pennsylvania Conference champ Northampton, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the second game of a semifinal doubleheader.
Sixth-seeded Liberty, which dispatched No. 3 Nazareth 75-65, will play No. 7 seed Whitehall at 6 p.m. Wednesday at EAMS. The Zephyrs knocked off No. 2 Pocono Mountain West 50-47 on Saturday at Pleasant Valley.
Parkland is the four-time defending 6A champion and back in the semifinals for the sixth straight year after pulling away from Allen in the third quarter.
The game was tied at 22 at halftime, but the Trojans got back-to-back baskets by Tyler Beck and a 3-pointer by Jude Ruisch to open a seven-point lead and never looked back.
Beck and Ruisch were part of a balanced scoring attack that had four players score between 13 and 11 points, and first-team all-league player Blake Nassry added nine.
“We’re still trying to put things together, but we’re pretty close,” said Parkland coach Eddie Ohlson. “A couple of guys stepped up for us. Tyler Beck had a really good night for us, and Nassim Adams did a really good job of controlling the game. Javian Porter came in, and he was Javian again. We’ve been looking forward to seeing that. So, overall, we’re happy for the win. We want this season to continue because we enjoy our time with each other.”
Parkland, like the other 6A winners on Saturday, will get three more games, including an appearance in the state tournament.
The Trojans reached the PIAA 6A title game two years ago and the quarterfinals last year.
If they are going to make another deep run, they will need to share the ball as they did against Allen when they collected 14 assists on their 21 field goals.
Adams was the leading catalyst with five assists, while Beck had three and Nassry and TJ Lawrence added two apiece.
Parkland was 21-for-37 from the field and had just six turnovers.
“We kind of lean on getting scoring from every position,” Ohlson said. “Guys stepped up late and were able to get the hoop for some easy baskets, and we were also pretty good from the foul line.”
The Canaries, one of just two EPC teams to beat Parkland this season, hung with the Trojans through the first half.
“I thought the game was physical, and I thought we were a little sluggish in attacking their physical play in the first half,” Ohlson said. “We didn’t play as physical on defense as we could have played. The refs were letting us play, and we adjusted a little bit and were more physical in the second half. We lost their shooters in the first half and did a better job of finding them in the second half.”
While the 52-49 loss to Northampton in the EPC title game was jarring for Parkland, it might have been just what the Trojans needed.
“We had a great week of practice,” Ohlson said. “We practiced for four days and got in a scrimmage against Executive, and got back to basics and who we are. We were able to put that game behind us.”
The Trojans were looking forward to playing Northampton and trying to exact a measure of revenge against the Konkrete Kids.
Instead, they will have to recalibrate and get ready for Pocono Mountain East, a team they have beaten eight times in a row, but haven’t played since 2022.
“We have to put that Northampton game in the past, but remember the feeling of that loss and just keep moving on and keep pushing,” said Beck, who finished with 13 points, five rebounds, and four steals. “Today, rebounding set the tone. If you get all the rebounds, you can control the game basically.”
Adams felt he was playing more like himself against Allen.
“We had a really good week at practice, and we just had to come out playing together, play like ourselves and not give up easy baskets,” Adams said. “I like playing here. It’s a really good gym.”
Liberty ends Nazareth season
The Hurricanes split their regular-season meetings with the Blue Eagles, but in the most important meeting of the season, it was Liberty that took command early and never relinquished control.
In making the district semifinals for the third time in four seasons, Liberty went on a 12-0 run in the first quarter to go up 14-5.
Luke Heffernan was the early catalyst with 13 of his career-high 17 points coming in the first half as the Hurricanes led 14-8 after one quarter and 39-33 at halftime.
Then it was time for first-team all-league player Jake Pukszyn to lead the way.
Pukszyn, who has been the standard bearer for Liberty basketball throughout his four seasons with the program, had 11 points, four rebounds, and four assists in the third quarter alone as the Hurricanes took a 56-39 lead into the final period.
“It was really the other guys who won us this game … Luke was amazing, Samir Brown was amazing and I am so happy for them and for us to be moving on,” said Pukszyn, who finished with 21 points in the game and 1,321 in his career which puts him third all-time in scoring at Liberty behind only Darrun Hilliard and Warren West.
Pukszyn also totaled seven assists and seven rebounds and was 7-for-12 from the field and 7-for-9 at the foul line.
“We were super resilient today, and part of that is our brotherhood,” Pukszyn said. “Every time something went wrong, we just had to stay together and build the brotherhood even more than before.”
Pukszyn added seven points in the fourth quarter when Nazareth fought back behind Blake Nagurney and got as close as 61-54. Pukszyn’s three-point play got the margin back to 10, and Brown, who had nine points and four rebounds, chipped in a pair of free throws to keep Liberty in control.
Nagurney made six of his team’s 10 3-pointers and scored 31 points, but no other Blue Eagle reached double figures in scoring.
“I’m just so proud of our kids,” said Liberty coach Nigel Long. “We talked a lot about getting out to fast starts, and we got out to a fast start here, and it was a different fast start because we got a great contribution from Luke Heffernan and Samir Brown early, which was good to see. We got the lead, and sustained it over the course of the game. Credit Nazareth for being well–coached and they have tough kids. We stayed resilient, and every time we needed to respond, we did.”
Long acknowledged that Pukszyn didn’t have a good first half with just one point.
“He knows that he didn’t play well, but in the second half, he found that gear that we know he has,” Long said. “Credit to our team for everyone contributing, and now we have three games at least, and we can turn our attention to playing Whitehall on Wednesday.”
Whitehall bests West
The Zephyrs got 25 points from Sudge Hoderewski, including eight in the fourth quarter, to hold off Pocono Mountain West 50-47 at Pleasant Valley.
Whitehall (12-12) led 11-6 after one quarter and 23-16 at halftime. Hoderewski scored eight in the third quarter to help the Zephs expand the lead to 37-28 after three periods before they held on as West got back within one in the final period. Hoderewski made two foul shots to make it a three-point game with 1.3 seconds left, and a long pass by West got batted away as the final buzzer sounded.
It was the second straight year the Panthers (19-5) were upset by a lower seed in the quarterfinals.
Whitehall is making its fourth straight appearance in the semifinals.
The game marked the end of a record-breaking career by West senior KJ Coles. He scored 17 points, and Teddy Stiehler added 18, including nine in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t to keep the Panthers season alive.
Parkland 60, Allen 50
Allen 11 – 11 – 6 – 22 – 50
Parkland 13 – 9 – 13 – 25 – 60
ALLEN (50)
Pearsall 4 1-2 12, Wise 5 5-6 17, Walker 1 0-1 2, Wimberly 2 1-2 5, Hawkins 3 1-3 8, Chapman 3 0-0 6. Totals 18 8-14 50.
PARKLAND (60)
Lawrence 1 0-0 2, Adams 3 6-6 12, Porter 5 2-2 13, Nassry 4 1-2 9, Beck 4 5-6 13, Ruisch 4 0-0 11. Totals 21 14-18 60.
3-pointers: Allen (6) Pearsall 3, Wise 2, Hawkins. Parkland (4) Ruisch 3, Porter.,
Officials: Hymans, Pincin, Cordero.
Liberty 75, Nazareth 65
Liberty 14 – 19 – 23 – 19 – 75
Nazareth 8 – 19 – 22 – 16 – 65
LIBERTY (75)
Heffernan 7 1-1 17, Pukszyn 7 7-9 21, Brown 3 3-3 9, Teague 4 1-2 11, Bilger 0 1-2 1, Lucas-Bishop 4 2-4 10, Kashner 3 0-0 6. Totals 28 15-21 75.
NAZARETH (65)
Noel 2 1-4 5, Rodriguez 1 1-2 3, Nagurney 10 5-6 31, Hahn 3 0-0 8, Kershner 2 5-8 9, Leluga 1 0-0 3, Grzenda 1 0-0 3. Totals 20 15-24 65.
3-pointers: Liberty (4) Heffernan 2, Teague 2. Nazareth (10) Nagurney 6, Hahn 2, Leluga, Grzenda.
Officials: Bullock, Keiter, Peterson.
Whitehall 50, PM West 47
Whitehall 11 – 12 – 14 – 13 – 50
PM West 6 – 10 – 12 – 19 – 47
WHITEHALL (50)
Lloyd 1 0-0 3, Tanner Dogmanits1 1-2 4, Hoderewski 10 4-4 25, Talon Dogmanits 3 0-0 6, Richards 1 0-0 2, Rozycki 5 0-0 10. Totals 21 5-6 50.
PM WEST (47)
Cruz 1 0-0 3, Coles 5 5-5 17, Smith 2 0-0 6, Behr 1 1-2 3, Stiehler 8 2-3 18. Totals 17 8-10 47.
3-pointers: Whitehall (3) Lloyd, Tanner Dogmanits, Hoderewski. PM West (5) Coles 2, Smith 2, Cruz.
Officials: Donatelli, Pina, Lopez.
