While the Mounties didn’t have much of a problem scoring early, taking a 17-13 lead after the first quarter, they weren’t getting the turnovers they normally create with their press and Bucktail used a 10-0, second quarter run to take a 30-24 lead into the break.

“They figured out how to beat our half court trap that we’ve run all season long,” said North Penn-Liberty Head Coach Bear Mattison. “Which wasn’t much of a surprise to me .. there’s so much film on us running that. We changed our press up a bit at halftime and had to get the confidence back into the guys.”

The tweaks worked, as the Mounties scored the first four points of the third quarter and, after a Bucktail free throw made it 31-28 in favor of the Bucks, went on a 14-0 run, fueled by numerous steals created by their adjusted press. 

Adynn Wheeland started the run with a 3-pointer, and after steals and layups by Luke Kreger and Blake Oakley, Wheeland hit a fade-away jumper from the lane to give the Mounties a 38-31 lead with just under three minutes remaining in the third. 

Kreger led all scorers in the game with 23 points, including the last four of the Mounties’ big run and 9 in the frame. Wheeland and Louis Mercantino added 5 points each as Liberty used the 21-6 quarter to take a 45-36 lead into the fourth. 

“Once we came out and got a couple steals to open the second half, the momentum was all ours,” said Mattison, “The guys knew we figured it out and just created a bunch of turnovers and got easy points in the second half.”

The Mounties pushed their lead to 15 early in the fourth quarter behind three buckets from Kreger and a Wheeland jumper made it 53-38 with 6 minutes left. 

Bucktail and Liberty would trade scores over the next 5 minutes of play, but the Mounties never let the Bucks get closer than 11, getting 10 points from Kreger, 6 from Evan McTish and 4 from Oakley to seal the the win.

Wheeland finished with 15 points for Liberty, while Oakley had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, and added 4 steals, 4 assists and a pair of blocked shots. McTish added 10 points and Mercantino rounded out the Mounties’ scoring with 7 points. 

Kreger added 6 steals and 3 assists to his line while Wheeland had 5 assists and 3 steals and Mercantino had 5 assists, 6 boards and 4 steals.

“What a great team win,” said Mattison of his team’s balanced attack, “Everyone is excited. It’s been a few years since going to the District final for us.”

The Mounties (17-8) will face No. 6 seed Lourdes Regional for the District IV Class A title, 45-32 winners over No. 2 seed Sullivan County in the other semifinal, at a time and place to be determined. Check back here for a game preview soon.

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