CENTRE COUNTY — The St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy boys, the State College boys and the Penns Valley boys all qualified for the 2025 District 6 basketball tournament that is scheduled to begin this week.
Here is a quick look and the status and the schedule of each of these teams:
NO. 1 SJCA TO TAKE ON FERNWOOD OR BLACKLICK VALLEY
The WolfPack took out Line Mountain, 73-51, on Monday, Feb. 3, but since then took close losses to three excellent teams, DuBois Central Catholic, Greenwood and Juniata Valley.
The losses, however, did not affect the team’s standing in the D6 rankings, and it will enter the playoffs still ranked No. 1 in the single-A bracket.
As the top seed, SJCA will get a bye and meet the winner of No. 4 Ferndale against No. 5 Blacklick Valley. Those two teams met on Tuesday, Feb. 18, in Ferndale at 7 p.m. Results of the game were not available prior to The Gazette’s publication deadline.
The winner will face the WolfPack on Friday, Feb. 21, at a site and time yet to be announced.
The No. 2 seed, Williamsburg, will take on No. 3 Conemaugh Valley or No. 6 Bishop Carroll on the same night.
The victors in the semifinals will meet on Wednesday, Feb. 26, at Mount Aloysius College.
STATE COLLEGE TO SEE MIFFLIN COUNTY IN THE D6 6A CHAMPIONSHIP ON FRIDAY NIGHT
The State College Little Lions have had an up-and-down 9-12 season that ended with losses to Central Dauphin and Tyrone in the last two regular season games.
Still, the Little Lions retained the No. 1 seed in the D6 6A bracket and will play for the District 6 championship on Friday, Feb. 21, against No. 2 Mifflin County at Bald Eagle Area High School.
Mifflin and State College did not meet in the regular season, and Mifflin will enter the game with two wins in its last four games.
The 10-12 Huskies beat Altoona and Mid West in their last two games but lost to Lower Dauphin and Mechanicsburg in the two prior to that.
The winner of the game, as the District 6 champion, will play either the District 10 champion or the District 8 champion in the regional final to be held on Friday, Feb. 28, at a site in District 6.
Only one team from the region will advance to the PIAA state tournament and will have a home game against the No. 3 team from District 7.
NO. 8 PENNS VALLEY WILL TAKE ON NO. 9 MARION CENTER AT HOME
The Penns Valley Rams, 11-10 for the season, qualified as the No. 8 seed out of 11 qualifiers in the D6 3A rankings.
As No. 8, PV will take on No. 9 Marion Center at home on Tuesday, Feb. 18, with the winner advancing to take on No. 1 Forest Hills. Results of the game were not available prior to The Gazette’s publication deadline.
Marion Center was also 11-10 for the year and will enter the game on a four-game winning streak. The team had wins over River Valley, Homer Center, Penns Manor and Harmony Area prior to seeing PV in the playoffs.
PV lost its last regular season game to 18-3 Bishop Guilfoyle but will enter the game with five wins in its last eight games.
The winner will go against No. 1 Forest Hills, 20-1, on Friday, Feb. 21, at Forest Hills.
Forest Hills has lost only to 5A Greater Johnstown and beat Richland, P-O, Central Cambria, Westmont-Hilltop and Bedford in its last five games.
The winner will see either No.4 Westmont or No. 5 West Shamokin in the semifinals on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
