Click here to subscribe today or Login.
WILKES-BARRE TWP. — If overtime beckoned Thursday night, so be it. Holy Redeemer wasn’t going to let Mid Valley win with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
Mid Valley tried to, all right, until Collin Cook interrupted the plans.
The Redeemer sophomore blocked a 3-point attempt in the final seconds, then threw the ball jubilantly into the air to celebrate the Royals’ 38-36 victory in the District 2 Class 3A boys basketball championship game
Both teams advance to the PIAA Class 3A state playoffs on March 10. Redeemer (17-8) will play the District 12 fourth seed. Mid Valley (22-3) will face the D4 runner-up, either Hughesville (15-9) or Southern Columbia (15-9). Those teams play for the District 4 championship on Saturday.
Redeemer took a 38-36 lead with 1:20 left in the fourth quarter when guard Joey Judge penetrated inside and dished to 6-foot-7 Nick Prociak for the go-ahead basket. Mid Valley had a miss and a turnover to give the ball back to the Royals with 45 seconds left.
Mid Valley was able to foul and finally put Judge on the line with 21 seconds left. Judge missed his first free-throw attempt, Mid Valley’s Brad Kalinowski grabbed the rebound and the Spartans worked the clock to 11.8 seconds before calling a timeout.
Kalinowski took Mid Valley’s final shot from the left side, but Cook blocked the 3-point attempt with three second left, caught the ball in the air and two dribbles later threw the ball into the air.
And just like that, Redeemer had won its first district title since 2011 and only its second in the school’s 10-year history.
“I just felt like the season was on the line, the district championship was on the line,” Cook said. “I just closed out. I didn’t want to give him a shot to win it.”
That was the strategy. Redeemer was willing — albeit the Royals weren’t going to concede — a two-point basket. They didn’t want to lose on a 3-pointer.
“I knew they were getting low on time so I didn’t know if he had a chance to pump fake and get (Cook) in the air and lean into him or he just had to go with the shot,” Redeemer coach Paul Guido said. “Thankfully, he had to go with the shot and Collin had the right angle on the closeout.”
Another sophomore, Prociak, played a big part in Redeemer wiping out a six-point deficit in the third quarter. Mid Valley center R.J. Gouldsbury was giving the Royals problem inside despite being just 6-foot because he carried considerable size. Prociak brought the same mass, but seven more inches in height.
That allowed Prociak to muscle inside for a game-high 16 points.
“He was a strong kid inside,” Prociak said of Gouldsbury, who was also suprisingly quick. “I just tried to go down low as much as I could and my teammates trusted me to get in position and I was able to finish.”
Neither team shot well early on. Mid Valley missed its first eight shots on the second quarter, but recovered to hit five of its last eight including a line-drive 3-pointer by Kalinowski at the buzzer for a 16-14 lead at halftime.
Redeemer regained the lead in the third on consecutive 3-pointers by Jason Stachokus only to see Mid Valley go on an 8-0 run for a 26-20 advantage at 2:37 of the period, the biggest lead either team had all night.
District 2 Class 3A Championship
Holy Redeemer 38, Mid Valley 36
REDEEMER (38) — Jason Stachokus 3 0-0 8, Joey Judge 2 0-0 4, James Kosik 0 2-2 2, Collin Cook 3 2-2 8, Luke Nealon 0 0-0 0, Nick Prociak 8 0-0 16, Bryce Yencha 0 0-0 0, JD Turosky 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 4-5 38.
MID VALLEY (36) — Brad Kalinowski 5 0-0 11, RJ Gouldsbury 5 1-4 11, Noah Tanner 1 1-4 3, JJ Glinsky 3 0-0 8, Brendan Davies 1 1-2 3, Aaron Polon 0 0-0 0, Colin Hazelton 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 3-10 36.
Redeemer`6`8`11`12`—`38
Mid Valley`5`11`14`6`—`36
Three-point goals — HR 2 (Stachokus 2). MV 3 (Glinsky 2, Kalinowski).
For other sports stories, click here.