District # 6 Basketball playoffs are set ...

[THE CHOPS]

Basketball playoffs set *****************************************

District #6 releases info:---------------------------------------------------------

The Greater Johnstown boys and Westmont Hilltop girls earned top seeds in the upcoming District #6 basketball tournament set to get underway on Feb. 14.


Twenty-two area teams will participate in the playoffs, "11" boys and "11" girls squads.

The defending Class (AAA) Trojans are 17-3 after Friday night's game with Bishop McCort, with their only losses coming against State College, Forest Hills and the Crushers.

The defending Class (AA) Lady Hilltoppers are 20-1, with their lone loss to Delone Catholic in the SportsFever Challenge.

After the regular season wraps up, Johnstown will have a long layoff, taking on the winner between fourth-seeded Lewistown and fifth-seeded Forest Hills in the Class (AAA) semifinals on Feb. 22nd.

"The kids worked really hard this year," Johnstown coach John Fuschino said. "That was our goal coming in, we wanted to be the one seed and get a bye. It works out well for us because we'll play four games next week, but I think it's just a commitment that this team made to get to the district championship and this was the first step."

Westmont will face the winner of the Southern Huntingdon (8)-Forest Hills (9) game in the quarterfinals on Feb. 18.

"It's nice to get the top seed," Westmont coach Jodi Hillegass said. "The girls have set the goal to win another district championship and we really feel we can but we have to take it one game at a time. The layoff will give us time to rest and a lot of time to work and watch some film."

The other top seeds for the District #6 playoffs include the Saltsburg girls and the Blairsville boys in Class (A), the West Branch boys in Class (AA), Lewistown girls in Class (AAA) and the Altoona girls and State College boys in Class (AAAA).

On Feb. 14th, play will commence in doubleheaders at four different sites including Portage, Central Cambria, Hollidaysburg and Bishop Carroll High Schools.

At Portage, the Blacklick Valley girls will play Bishop Carroll at 6 p.m. followed by the Penns Manor boys facing Williamsburg in Class (A) games.

In Class (AA), the Marion Center girls will play Central at 6p.m. at Central Cambria. The nightcap features the Ferndale boys taking on Homer-Center in a Class (A) encounter.

At Hollidaysburg, a pair of girls Class (AA) games will take place as Bishop Guilfoyle takes on Bellwood-Antis at 6p.m. followed by the Southern Huntingdon-Forest Hills game.

In Class (AA) action at Bishop Carroll, the Cambria Heights girls face Richland at 6 p.m. followed by the Westmont boys playing Cambria Heights.

On Feb. 15th, at Huntingdon High School, in Class (AA) action, the Penns Valley boys take on Southern Huntingdon at 6p.m. followed by the Penns Valley girls against Central Cambria.

At Central Cambria in Class (AA), the Northern Cambria girls face Purchase Line at 6p.m. followed by the Purchase Line boys versus Bishop Guilfoyle.

The Bishop McCort boys and girls open play at Hollidaysburg Senior High with the Lady Crushers playing Tyrone and the boys taking on Central in (AA) games.

On Feb. 16th, a Class (AAA) boys doubleheader at Hollidaysburg Senior High features Lewistown and Forest Hills followed by Bellefonte and Somerset. Also, at Tyrone Area High School, in Class (AA), the Bald Eagle Area boys play Penn Cambria and in Class (AAA), Central Cambria plays Indian Valley.

Quarterfinals in Class (A) will be held Feb. 17th.

The championships begin on Feb. 23rd, at St. Francis University with the Quad -A boys and girls title games. The other six championships will be played Feb. 25th and 26th at times to be determined.

Consolation action for girls and boys (A) and (AA) will be held Feb. 24th at sites and times to be determined.

"THE CHOPS".

[PCBALLA]

How abt some teams/players to watch? some matchups you guys are lookin forward to seein and maybe some 1st round predictions

[Heaven&Hoops]

Quad-A:
Hollidaysburg over Altoona by 7

Triple-A:
Lewistown over Forest Hills by 4
Bellefonte over Somerset by 5
Central Cambria over Indian Valley by 12

Double-A:
Bald Eagle over Penn Cambria by 3
Bishop McCort over Central by 25
Penns Valley over S. Huntingdon by 18
Westmont over Cambria Heights by 8
Bishop Guilfoyle over Purchase Line by 12

Single-A:
Ferndale over Homer Center by 2
Penns Manor over Williamsburg by 8

[PCBBALL]

any tips on what to expect from bald eagle?

[WPIAL~Titan]

Here are my 1st round D-6 Predictions:

Hollidaysburg 49 Altoona 44

Lewistown 66 Forest Hills 55
Bellefonte 61 Somerset 48
Central Cambria 70 Indian Valley 57

Penn Cambria 57 Bald Eagle Area 56
Bishop McCort 49 Central-Martinsburg 29
Penns Valley 74 Southern Huntingdon 55
Westmont-Hilltop 63 Cambria Heights 52
Bishop Guilfoyle 53 Purchase Line 39

Homer Center 50 Ferndale 44
Williamsburg 56 Penns Manor 51

WPIAL Titan's District 6 Playoff Thoughts:


AAAA...State College is the class of 6-AAAA, only a VillanovaU 1985 type of performance gives Hollidaysburg or Toona a shot vs. SC...SC has already qualified for the newly created PIAA "Play-In" Game this year in AAAA, where 6-1 will play 10-2 and 6-2 will play 10-1 to determine who goes into the 32 team PIAA bracket in AAAA...State is led by 6-2 sharpshooting guard Kevin Kanaskie (15ppg) and 6-7 post player jr Eric Meister (14ppg/10rpg)...State's only two losses have come at home in mid-December to one of the WPIAL's top teams Shaler Area by 7 (51-58) and last weekend in a Harrisburg area tourney to state ranked Frankford from Philly by 12 (57-69)...Hollidaysburg is slumping a bit losing by 23 and 25 to State College (home) and Central Dauphlin of District 3 respectively duirng the past week...State College made the western final last year losing to Penn Hills, while Hollidaysburg lost by 26 to Pitts CC in last year's PIAA opening round


AAA...Jtown is the clear favorite in 6-AAA, where only one D-6 team advances to the PIAA tourney, wher they will be paired with the WPIAL's 5th place team (7-5) in the first round...Central Cambria and Bellefonte are the top challengers, along with Lewistown, led by 6-0 sharpshooting junior guard Matt Hilton, who averages nearly 20ppg...One of Jtown's losses came at Forest Hills, 48-47, the Rangers are in the AAA field and are led by 1000 point scorer Jeff Rolla...Perennial AAA power Penn Cambria drops to class AA...Central Cambria has plenty of post season experience qualified for PIAAs last season and shocked WPIAL runner-up Knoch 55-52 in the opening round of PIAAs at Gateway HS, before getting blown out 53-33 by eventual PIAA AAA semifinalist Bradford...Jtown has been there before, too, as they beat South Park by 26 in their opening PIAA game before running smack into the Dwayne Pettus Train in a 56-40 loss to Perry of the Pitts City League at IUP.

AA...Always District 6's deepest classification, because most of the D-6 schools are class AA...West Branch and Marion Center earn the #1 and #2 seeds respectively...Some have questioned the "gaudy" records of the top 2 seeds, as they have primarily feasted on cupcakes in leagues that are perceived as much weaker than the LHAC and Mid-Alleghenies...The winner of the Penn Cambria/Bald Eagle game has a great shot at upsetting West Branch, and Marion Center could draw always-dangerous Westmont Hilltop in the quarters...Tyrone is my sleeper team in 6-AA, as they play a brutal Mid-Alleghenies schedule filled with AAA teams and they are led by a good coach in Mike Harris and several players from Tryrone's very successful football team...3 teams will qualify for PIAAs in 6-AA under the new PIAA brackets as 6-1 will face 7-5, 6-2 takes on 10-3 (with the WPIAL champ, likely Beaver Falls or Quippa looming in round 2 of PIAAs), and 6-3 faces 7-3.



A...Unbeaten Blairsville is the class of 6-A, but look for my sleeper, #3 seeded Bishop Carroll to provide a VERY formidable challenge in a possible 6-A final, the Huskies have knocked off some excellent teams in higher classifications in Westmont, Central Cambria, and Bishop McCort and have taken Jtown to the wire...Some question the soft schedule that Blairsville has played, with their only perceived "quality win" over Greensburg Central Catholic on the road, 98-90...Greensburg CC is a WPIAL playoff team in AA as they finished 15-9 overall and 10-4 in their section, which includes one of the top teams in WPIAL AA in Jeannette...Blairsville is led by excellent jr shooting guard 6-1 Adam Highberger, who is averaging over 20ppg...The pressure will continue to build for Blairsville, the longer they remain unbeaten...Glendale and Conemaugh Valley have had solid seasons and could challenge...3 teams qualify for PIAAs in 6-A as 6-1 will face 9-4, 6-2 will head to the old eastern bracket to face 3-4, and 6-3 will face 5-1.


All for now, hey maybe Cory Isenberg could use some of this info.

WT

[PCBALLA]

any one know abt Bald Eagle? Hopefully PC can survive this week and be ready for next Wed. playoff game. I would look for them to make a run in the AA playoffs b/c while being the deepest AA is also one of the most wide open and one factor that PC always has is the Mentor Coach Frycklund. Look for the boys to be prepared

[Jozey22]

Speaking of Coach Frycklund, will he be retiring as a teacher at the conclusion of the school year?

[Eaglealum]

BEA is pretty tough this year. The Boone twins(6'7") are versital inside guys that can move well, and they have a decent guard too. They are real beatable outside their own gym. I think their booster club refs their home games.

[roaks]

titan--another quality win for the Bobcats would be their victory over Westmont...some may consider tyrone as another...marion center lost to carroll by 2 last night..the stingers were missing their starting forward(Zbur)...

Despite some great regular seasons...the bobcats haven't made it to PIAA's since about 1998 so (hopefully) they are taking nothing for granted...defensively they still surrender a LOT of easy baskets and are prone to foul trouble..offensively when they are on- they can score a LOT

I saw Bishop Carroll host Johnstown last week and at Marion Center last night..Takacs penetrates as well as anyone i've seen in D-6 this year and minemyer has displyed a nice touch inside shooting the left-and-right handed hooks...i'm surprised they didn't get the ball to him a LOT more last night ...carroll went 9 or 10 deep while the bobcats generally go 7...

Saltsburg has had a relatively disappointing season and should have trouble inside with Carroll...however if reed and lupyan are hitting the 3's the game could be tight

--If Homer beats ferndale..a great move by D-6 officials would be to put the Bobcat/Homer game and Saltsburg/Bishop carroll matchup at IUP as a doubleheader

[pantherpower54]

Coach Fryukland will stay as a gym teacher in PC id say for at least another 5 years, Jozey.

As for his basketball team...he seems pretty confident with his boys against Bald Eagle...and he should be. Remember, its not how you start, its how you finish, and his teams been pretty good the past couple of games heading into the playoffs.