City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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Had circumstances unfolded in slightly different manners during Monday’s thrilling semifinal-round twinbill, 2-seed Lancaster Catholic and No. 4 Middletown might have spent Wednesday night jousting in some third-place game.

Had the results changed ever so slightly — say, if one prevailed and the other suffered a setback — each might have been prepping for somebody else.

OK, let’s end that thought and just go with what we do know, instead of sorting through all kinds of possible permutations that never materialized.

And what we do know is Joe Klazas’ Lancaster Catholic Crusaders (23-4) and Chris Sattele’s Middletown Blue Raiders (20-4) will be parked on opposite benches Thursday night (8 p.m.) at Hershey’s Giant Center, where they’ll tip it up in the championship game of District 3’s remarkably competitive Class 4A tournament.

Catholic, the Lancaster-Lebanon League’s postseason champions, advanced Monday night  at Garden Spot with a 39-38 victory over No. 3 Bishop McDevitt thanks to a late Chad Wenger freebie and two ensuing defensive stops.

Several hours later, also at Garden Spot, Middletown squeezed past top-seeded Berks Catholic 44-43 when Ryan Hughes fielded a cross-court pass and buried a corner jumper with virtually no time showing on the scoreboard clock.

If these two are involved in yet another of those heart-stopping cliffhangers, everyone tucked inside Giant Center will find themselves gasping at game’s end — much like the players and coaches determined to win gold and hoist some hardware.

While Klazas’ Crusaders were able to avenge a regular-season loss to McDevitt — 5-11 slasher Jon Ware’s 13 points topped Catholic, while Wenger finished with seven and 6-5 Sean Landis added six — Monday’s victory also was Catholic’s fifth straight postseason win since a 55-54 loss to Lancaster Mennonite in its regular-season finale.

In its first District 3 final since besting Eastern York to capture the 2011 Class AAA crown, Klazas’ club has really turned up the defensive intensity since the postseason arrived, yielding just under 41 points per contest in those five successes.

Catholic also claimed district gold in 2003, the year Bill Southward’s Crusaders finished undefeated and captured the PIAA Class AAA championship.

On the offensive end, the Crusaders look to the senior pair of 6-5 Danny Bomberger (13.2 ppg), Catholic’s top perimeter threat (48 treys), and Landis (10.7 ppg). While Landis has a good first step if he’s facing up a defender from the foul line extended, the nervy yet dangerous Ware (9.3 ppg) is always trying to get to the rack.

Wenger (6.2 ppg) and 6-1 defensive stopper Mark Cannon (4.1 ppg), the other parts of Catholic’s three-guard backcourt, also are capable scorers.

Klazas also won’t hesitate to dip into his bench, frequently flashing an eight-man rotation also featuring 6-3 junior R.J. Van Tash (4.4 ppg), 5-10 senior Brian Downey (3.2 ppg) and 5-10 junior Miles McCaskey (2.9 ppg).

Middletown, meanwhile, is making its first appearance in a District 3 title game since falling to Kennard-Dale in the 1993 Class AAA final — one season after Bob Heusser’s Blue Raiders collared the school’s fourth district championship.

Earlier, Middletown celebrated Class B district titles in 1968, 1972 and again in 1973. Dave Twardzik, the point guard in 1977 when Dr. Jack Ramsay’s Portland Trail Blazers downed the Philadelphia 76ers in six games in the NBA championship series, was the star of Middletown’s 1968 district champs, a team that went on to win a state title.

Middletown’s bid for a spot in this season’s Class 4A final seemed unlikely Monday night when Sattele’s bunch yielded an end-to-end finish with 2.6 seconds left — yet everything turned out just fine for the Blue Raiders. While their long inbounds pass was knocked out of bounds moments later by a Berks Catholic defender, the second entry was not as Luke Mrakovich found Hughes in the opposite corner and the 6-2 junior knocked down a last-second J.

Hughes finished with 16 points and eight boards for the Blue Raiders, who have won four straight. Mrakovich and Tre Leach chipped in eight points apiece, while Tyreer Mills and Chris Plummer chimed in with six each.

While Hughes (17.5 ppg) is the Blue Raiders’ top scorer, Mrakovich and Plummer check in with nearly identical numbers at 13.1 ppg. The 5-10 Mrakovich is Middletown’s No. 1 deep threat (33 treys), but Plummer has knocked down 27 3-balls and Hughes 19 so a balanced attack is clearly in play.

Leach (8.6 ppg) and Mills (7.1 ppg), a pair of 5-9 juniors with all sorts of energy, round out a starting lineup that hasn’t let a lack of size prove to be a hindrance.

Another 5-9 junior, Kyle Truesdale (2.8 ppg), is one of the first guys off the Blue Raiders’ bench. Other parts of Sattele’s rotation include 6-5 senior Michael Mattes, burly 6-1 senior Kobe Sprecher and 6-3 junior David Alcock.

Yet regardless of Thursday night’s outcome, both squads will open the PIAA’s Class 4A tournament playing not too far from their respective homes.

While Thursday’s victor will open state play against District 12’s fourth seed West Philadelphia, the runner-up will take on the No. 3 team from District 4 — a potential opponent that should gain more clarity following Wednesday’s District 4 semifinals.

And if Monday’s semis were any indication — a pair of one-point thrillers that weren’t decided until the final seconds — the Class 4A final should be a dandy.

Of course, had things turned out differently, we’d be talking about someone else.