HS Boys’ Basketball: Keating, Bethea, McKeegan and Doyle named to PA Writers All-State team
Nativity's Trey Keating at the free throw line (Photo by Eli Doyle).
The Schuylkill League’s impact on the statewide basketball landscape was impossible to ignore this winter.
Four area seniors — Nativity’s Trey Keating, Weatherly’s Ian McKeegan, Tri-Valley’s Braeden Doyle and Minersville Area’s Shazier Bethea — were recognized Wednesday when the 2025-26 Pennsylvania Sportswriters’ Boys All-State Basketball Teams were released to the media, giving the league representation across three PIAA classifications and underscoring one of the strongest collective senior classes the region has produced in recent memory.
Keating headlined the local selections as a Class A first-team choice, while McKeegan earned Class A third-team honors. Doyle was named to the Class AA third team, and Bethea landed on the Class 3A second team after spearheading Minersville’s historic championship season.
For Bethea, a Millersville commit, the honor served as validation, not only of his individual production, but also of everything the Battlin’ Miners built together throughout his four years in the program.
Bethea is a two-time Schuylkill League MVP and was named to WNEP’s Super 16 Dream Team.
“It means a lot,” Bethea said of his All-State accomplishment. “Our boys’ basketball program hasn’t always been the best. I think for the past four seasons, we’ve gotten better every year. This year we won the Schuylkill League championship. Just working hard every offseason to get better paid off. Putting in the time and effort, and everyone showing up, we put it all together this year.”
Bethea’s senior campaign was the engine behind one of the biggest turnarounds in Schuylkill County over the last decade. The smooth, pass-savvy point guard averaged 21.5 points per game while filling every column of the stat sheet with 208 rebounds, 126 assists, 84 steals and 26 blocks. He finished his decorated career with 1,347 points, 431 rebounds, 363 assists and 231 steals, but his greatest contributions may have been poise and leadership.
Minersville ripped off a 20-game winning streak, finished 23-3 and captured the Schuylkill League championship for the first time in program history. Bethea was named Schuylkill League Player of the Year for the second straight season and consistently delivered in the biggest moments, balancing scoring aggression with floor command.
“It means a lot for the league, especially coming from smaller schools,” Bethea said of all four seniors being recognized. “Being able to play together, compete against each other and help each other get better or get to a bigger spot is huge. It really means a lot. I think this was one of the best senior classes to come out of the league. It also helps the younger kids coming up in the future.”
While Bethea authored the area’s best team success, few players anywhere in the state were as explosive offensively as Keating.
Nativity’s 6-foot-2 senior closed one of the most prolific individual careers in Pennsylvania history by pouring in 711 points this season — the third-highest total in the entire state — while averaging 28.4 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 3 steals per game. Keating buried 103 3-pointers, the second-highest single-season mark in Pennsylvania this year, and shot 81 percent from the foul line despite routinely facing defensive schemes designed to stop him.
A two-time Schuylkill League MVP and WNEP Super 16 Dream Team selection, Keating finished with a Nativity-record 2,297 career points and averaged 24.7 points per outing over four varsity seasons. His 342 career 3-pointers rank as the second-highest total ever recorded by a PIAA player, and he received the second-most votes for Class A Player of the Year this season.
Already a second-team All-State selection in 2023-24 and a first-team pick in 2024-25, Keating, a Juniata College commit, capped his career by repeating on the first team despite carrying an 11-14 Hilltoppers club that often relied almost solely on his shot creation, aggressive defense and fast-paced scoring punch.
Keating’s third appearance on the All-State team marks one of the more impressive postseason résumés assembled by a Schuylkill League player in recent memory.
Weatherly’s McKeegan earned statewide recognition after orchestrating one of the Wreckers’ best seasons in nearly two decades.
The 5-foot-7 senior floor general scored a 444 points while compiling 114 assists, 87 rebounds and 47 steals, averaging 20.2 points, 5.2 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game. McKeegan knocked down 37 3-pointers and repeatedly came through in pressure moments, most memorably with a coast-to-coast layup that forced overtime in tight contest with Nativity before he scored seven more points in the extra session leading to the win.
A 1,000-point scorer and all-league caliber catalyst whose fingerprints were on every major Weatherly win, McKeegan helped guide the Wreckers to a 16-9 record, a berth in the District 11 championship game and the program’s first PIAA tournament qualification in 19 years.
Doyle, meanwhile, capped a standout senior hoops campaign by giving Tri-Valley another All-State basketball name to celebrate.
