Minersville players prepare to shake hands after Wednesday's 59-49 loss to Executive Education in a District 11 Class 3A boys' basketball semifinal at Martz Hall (Photo by Leroy Boyer).

Miners fall in Class 3A semifinals

POTTSVILLE — Chris George looked around at his Minersville players in the locker room.

It was a look he hadn’t seen on their faces in 11 weeks.

The Battlin’ Miners suffered their first loss in 21 games Wednesday night, falling to Executive Education 59-49 in a District 11 Class 3A boys’ basketball semifinal at Martz Hall.

The Raptors’ athleticism, length and playmaking ability ultimately proved to be too much for the Miners to handle as Executive Education advanced to Saturday’s Class 3A championship game against Notre Dame-Green Pond.

Minersville’s first loss since a Dec. 11 setback to Pottsville doesn’t end the Miners’ season. It drops Minersville (23-2) into the consolation bracket where they will play Catasauqua in a PIAA play-in game at 1 p.m. at Martz Hall.

George hopes the angry looks he saw on his team’s faces translates into an effort that helps the Miners earn a PIAA playoff berth Saturday.

“One thing I said to the guys is it’s been two and a half months since we lost a game,” George said. “I said to them, ‘We haven’t tasted this for a while, so we’re going to find out how you’re going to respond to that.’

“The nice thing is we get another shot Saturday. We tell them after the wins, ‘Go home, enjoy this win tonight and we’ll focus on the next game tomorrow.’ We said to the team tonight, ‘Go home and let this one hurt a little bit. You haven’t had this feeling for a little while.'”

Minersville did some good things early. The Miners opened the game on a 5-0 run, Nolan Plesnarski hit a pair of 3-pointers and Minersville led 9-8 late in the first period.

Executive Education (15-6), however, cranked up the intensity, upped the tempo and started to hit some outside shots in the second quarter.

The Raptors used a 14-2 run to build a 22-11 lead with 3:40 left in the first half and led by multiple possessions the rest of the game.

Executive Education led 30-23 at halftime and 45-31 after three quarters. The Miners made a spirited charge in the fourth quarter to slice the lead to eight points, outscoring the Raptors 18-14 in the final period, but could get no closer down the stretch.

“If we would have been diving on the floor, spilling our guts out like we were in the fourth quarter … if we would have done that from the get-go, I think it could have been a different game,” George said. “We just weren’t gritty early on. We weren’t being tough. Everything was coming too easy for them.”

Executive Education used good balance, both in the scoring column and on the boards, to put away the Miners.

Eshaan Tung led the Raptors with 17 points, while freshman guard Cameron Michael came off the bench to drain a pair of 3-pointers and score 16 points. Jaxon Loper added 10 points, while Elijah Styles had eight points and 13 rebounds.

The Raptors connected on seven 3-pointers.

“We have some shooters,” Executive Education coach Ray Barbosa said. “Us being able to get to the lane, being able to put pressure on the defense and guys collapsing, our shooters just knocked down shots today.

“Coming into the game, we didn’t know how we would shoot with the big backdrop at Martz Hall. Our guys played their butts off. I’m so happy for them. This is a huge win for us.”

Shazier Bethea led all scorers with 18 points for Minersville, with 13 coming in the second half. He was 10-of-11 from the foul line.

Jordan Bowers tallied 17 points, but Minersville missed several easy shots that could have swung the momentum in its favor at key points of the game.

The Miners shot just 3-for-25 from 3-point range.

“We had looks,” George said. “We had better looks than we had in the two Schuylkill League games. We just didn’t finish. Hopefully Saturday will be better.”

After a getting a quarterfinal bye, the top-seeded Miners were playing for the first time since winning the program’s first-ever Schuylkill League title Feb. 13, a span of 12 days, and looked a little rusty at times.

George felt his team’s defense wasn’t where it needed to be in a game of this magnitude. Barbosa said the Raptors’ ability to dribble penetrate into the lane and attack the rim opened things up for his team’s perimeter shooters.

“We didn’t follow our principles tonight on defense. We didn’t trust each other,” George said. “They’re very athletic. It tests your defense, it tests your principles.

“You have to do the little things, you have to be on a string and you have to be connected, and we weren’t that tonight. Too many times we just had breakdowns.”

Minersville gets a chance to right the ship Saturday, then potentially make a run in the PIAA playoffs. George is confident his squad can rebound.

“We’ll find out what we’re made of character wise,” George said. “I have faith in our guys. We have really good leaders, great seniors.”

Game Summary

District 11 Class 3A Boys’ Semifinal

At Martz Hall

EXECUTIVE EDUCATION (59) — Wilkens 1 0-0 2, Styles 4 0-0 8, Loper 4 0-0 10, Amos 0 0-0 0, Tung 7 0-0 17, Bass 1 4-8 6, Micheal 5 4-4 16. Totals 22 8-12 59.

MINERSVILLE (49) — Rogers 0 0-0 0, Zimerofsky 1 0-0 2, Bethea 4 10-11 18, Bowers 7 3-4 17, Plesnarski 3 0-0 9, Mealey 0 0-0 0, Seddon 0 0-0 0, Adams 1 0-0 3. Totals 16 13-15 49.

3-point FGs: Loper 2, Tung 3, Micheal 2, Plesnarski 3, Adams

Officials: Pina, Mckenna, Peterson