Catasauqua Cruised to the Basket and the Gold Medal Defeating Minersville

On Saturday night, fourth-seed Catasauqua’s offense wasn’t afraid to take any shot throughout the game. They defeated the second-seed, Minersville, 61-50 at Martz Hall in the District 11 Class 3A Boys Basketball Championship game.

For the Rough Riders, Franklin Pujols took the lead with 19 points. Hamaad Jenkins also helped his team with 16 points, and Aalani Nix netted 10. Other Catasauqua scorers were Reece Lopez (7), Matthew Fotta (6), and Jeremiah Cofie (3). For the Battlin’ Miners, Dante Carr had a game high 21 points. Shazier Bethea contributed with 13 points, and Jordan Bowers scored 10. The only other scorer for Minersville was Bradley Kostishak (6).

In the first quarter, Minersville was up 10-4 to start, but the Rough Riders started scoring and eventually took a 13-10 lead at the end of the quarter. Going into the second frame, Bethea hit a three-pointer to start the quarter but Catasauqua started to score again taking a halftime lead of 28-23. In the third quarter, the Rough Riders offense seemed to click as they came out of the gate scoring five points in a row. They ended the quarter with a 12 point lead, 45-33. The fourth quarter was a high scoring eight minutes from both sides, but Catasauqua made their foul shots to win 61-50.

Minersville had a total of 17 fouls with Bowers fouling out in the fourth quarter. For the Rough Riders, they had a total of 15 team fouls. Regarding turnovers, Catasauqua did pretty well with not turning the ball over, but Minersville turned the ball over and the Rough Riders scored two points off most of those.

Catasauqua started their season 0-4, and their coach, Eric Snyder, said he is proud of his team for always fighting. People may see Minersville and say they’re tall, but that doesn’t cross Snyder’s mind. He said what they lack in terms of size, they make up with in speed, and that showed tonight.

With semifinal wins for both teams Wednesday night, they clinched a berth in the PIAA 3A Boys Basketball Playoffs. Minersville will travel to District 4 runner-up Warrior Run or a District 4 location. Catasauqua will host whoever the fifth place team from District 12 as we aren’t 100% sure who that team is yet, but Snyder said he thinks it’s Overbrook High School. All first round games across the state in the 3A Boys tournament are scheduled for Saturday, March 8th.