COVINGTON TWP. – The Holy Cross offense needed to find some scoring.
The Crusaders defense suddenly had an urgent need for rebounding.
Tyler Mozeleski provided both.
The sophomore guard/forward from Yatesville helped make Holy Cross one of the District 2 teams to advance to the second round of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association basketball playoffs with a 52-35 victory over Shenandoah Valley March 11 in a Class 2A boys opener at North Pocono High School.
Mozeleski played a big role in Holy Cross being part of a 14-7 opening round for District 2 basketball teams.
The tournament got much tougher for the local district Thursday and Friday when teams went 4-10 in the second round. The Holy Cross and Holy Redeemer boys, with Greater Pittston connections, were among those eliminated while the Holy Redeemer girls advanced into Sunday’s quarterfinals.
Mozeleski hit five 3-pointers during the two state tournament games.
With Holy Cross facing some difficulties early in its state opener, Mozeleski was a big part of helping the Crusaders take control by halftime. He finished as the game’s leading rebounder and his team’s second-leading scorer in the game.
“We weren’t playing our brand of basketball that we like to play,” Mozeleski said after Holy Cross trailed for all but 38 seconds of the first quarter and didn’t take the lead until early in the second quarter. “We knew to beat them, we had to get back to playing Holy Cross basketball. We wouldn’t beat them at their own game.”
Shenandoah Valley’s frantic early pace forced Holy Cross into seven first-quarter turnovers and opened four-point leads on three occasions.
“We expected them to put up a lot of shots,” Mozeleski said. “They’re a run-and-gun style team. They want to get up and down the floor.
“We knew on defense, we just needed to keep them in front of us.”
The Crusaders slowed down on both ends of the floor and found their open shots, specifically for Mozeleski. He drained 3-pointers in the last 20 seconds of the first quarter and the first 20 of the second to give Holy Cross its first lead, 13-11, and the Crusaders never trailed again.
“My teammates got me the passes right on time when they needed to and I just made the shots,” said Mozeleski, who finished with 11 points and eight rebounds, including seven points and six rebounds in the first half.
Rebounds were at a premium in the first half when Holy Cross senior center Malachi Phillips sat out after playing just the first 2:04 and picking up two fouls.
“Our 6-6 guy was out,” Mozeleski said. “We had to play bigger than we are.
“Tom Montefour and I had to get more rebounds than we normally would.”
Holy Cross was eliminated Friday night when it lost, 63-53, to Constitution from Philadelphia, the state’s top-ranked Class 2A team, according to cityofbasketballlove.com.
Mozeleski hit three 3-pointers to account for all nine of his points in the loss.
The Crusaders cut into a 38-21 halftime deficit, but fell short.
CLASS 3A BOYS
Holy Redeemer also had its season end against a number-one team in the state Friday night.
Neumann-Goretti, also from Philadelphia, won six of the last seven state Class 3A titles when 3A was a large-school class in the PIAA’s old four-classification system. After an enrollment drop, the Saints are a small school, still 3A out of six classes.
With Villanova and Kentucky recruits in the lineup, Neumann-Goretti overpowered Holy Redeemer, 72-27.
The District 2 champion Royals had opened the state tournament March 10 with a 64-42 win over World Communications from Philadelphia at Wilkes University.
Nick Prociak, a sophomore center from Jenkins Township, had four points during a key third-quarter stretch that expanded a six-point halftime lead to 14 points.
Prociak finished with eight points against World Communications and two against Neumann-Goretti.
CLASS 3A GIRLS
The Holy Redeemer girls were one of the teams to make it through a much more demanding second round.
The Royals, who have three players from last year’s Wyoming Area Catholic state championship team, knocked off the state’s second-ranked team when they broke District 4 champion Mount Carmel’s 20-game winning streak, 62-50, Friday night.
The Holy Redeemer girls join the Wyoming Valley West girls and the Abington Heights and Nanticoke boys as District 2’s only remaining teams.
Samantha Yencha and Cameron Marcinkowski, freshmen who played on last year’s eighth-grade state champions, had seven and six points. Samantha Rajza, another former Wyoming Area Catholic player, had 10 points.
Annie Bagnall, a freshman from West Wyoming, played in the 65-33 romp over Bodine from Philadelphia in the first round. She did not score.
CLASS 2A GIRLS
Mahanoy Area eliminated Old Forge from the state tournament in Friday night’s second round with a 57-24 rout at Hazleton Area.
Mahanoy Area took a 30-16 halftime lead, then ran away from there.
