STATE COLLEGE — The State College girls’ and boys’ basketball teams may have taken slightly different routes, but they both arrived at the same place: the District 6 Class AAAA Basketball Finals at Mt. Aloysius College on Saturday, Feb. 27.
At stake for both teams will be a berth in the 2016 PIAA State Basketball Tournament, but since only one team goes from each bracket, Saturday’s games are all-or-nothing for both Little Lion teams.
The Lady Little Lions come into this game as the No. 1 seeded team in District 6 and ranked as the No. 5 quad-A team in the state. They lost only three games out of 22 for the season, and they lost just one game to a team not named Cumberland Valley.
That loss came at Harrisburg on Jan. 5, 45-42, but State College righted that indiscretion with a 55-40 blowout of the Lady Cougars at home on Jan. 29.
Cumberland Valley was another matter. The two-time state champs came into State College on Dec. 15 and handed the Lions their first loss of the season, 50-34. A month later in Mechanicsburg, CV steadily pulled away for a 42-30 win.
That was it. Since that second Cumberland Valley game, the Little Lions have won nine straight and are coming off a stretch where they’ve beaten their last five opponents by an average of 27 points.
Now, no matter what happens in the D6 semi-final, SC will take on a team that it already knows very well.
That opponent will either be No. 3 seeded Mifflin County (9-11) or No. 2 seeded Altoona (14-7). State College saw Mifflin twice this season in Mid-Penn Conference play, winning both in very competitive games.
The Little Lions also played Altoona twice, both early and late. SC opened the season with two wins in the Altoona Tip-Off Tournament, the second of which was a 36-34 win over the Lions. Then on Feb. 4, Altoona came into State College and caught a very hot State College team playing at the top of its game. State College won going away, 69-54.
Despite the 4-0 record against both teams, Altoona and Mifflin both still can challenge SC. Mifflin can get very hot from outside the arc, and Altoona can physically match up inside and cause problems. Not to mention the fact that beating a good team three times is not easy.
Of course, State College’s senior-dominated team has been here before. Led by the 27 points per game from All-State forward Kyla Irwin, SC has valuable playoff experience and should be able to concentrate on the task at hand.
The situation for the State College boys is somewhat different.
After getting off to a dismal start to the season that put even getting to the playoffs in question—SC was 3-8 at one point — SC turned it around big time.
The Little Lions finished by winning 9 of their last 11 games and four of their last five. SC climbed back to claim a 12-10 final record (8-6 in the Mid-Penn) which was enough to take the No. 1 seed in District 6.
Yet only one team goes to the state tournament in the boys’ bracket as well, which means Saturday’s game is also a win-or-go-home.
The Little Lions will face the winner of the matchup between No. 2 Central Mountain (13-9) and No. 3 Altoona (10-12).
State College played Altoona twice during the regular season and split the two games. Altoona won early, 52-50 at State College, and then the Little Lions returned the favor with a 46-43 win at Altoona on Feb. 5. The rubber match, if it happens, will no doubt be a down-to-the-wire affair similar to the first two meetings.
SC did not see Central Mountain. The Wildcats’ 13 wins included victories over Selinsgrove (twice), Mifflinburg (twice), Jersey Shore (twice), DuBois (66-50) and Milton (77-60). Central Mountain did face Altoona in the final game of the season on Feb. 18, and Altoona held on for a 49-38 win at home.
CM averages 63 points per game and is led by senior guard Alex Garbrick (13.5 ppg) and junior Kyle Everhart (13.7). But even though the Wildcats are the higher seed, at first glance it seems they would have to play extremely well to avenge that earlier loss to Altoona.
In any case, State College comes into the championship playing solid basketball. The Lions are led by 6-foot-5 swingmen Tommy Sekunda (15.6) and Drew Friberg (17.2). Both players can go in or out and were the keys to the State College revival during the season.
A win for the Little Lions would complete the circle for this season, but it will likely have to come in the final minutes of the game — if not the final seconds.
